1st Gen. Towing Capacity

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping someone can ease my nerves when it comes to towing. Never towed anything before.

I'm moving from Bakersfield, CA. to Amarillo, TX in a few weeks and planning on towing a 6x12 trailer from U-Haul with my Tacoma (2002 V6 with a 3.4L engine). The truck is in great shape. However, I am concerned with the mountains. I will be climbing two mountains: one on Hwy 58 towards Tehachapi, California (4k feet elevation) and another in Flagstaff, Arizona (7k feet elevation). Truck states GVWR of 5,100 lbs. Trailer itself weighs 2,400 lbs (per Uhaul) and I plan on adding roughly 1,500 pounds of stuff. I'll know for sure when I take it to a nearby scale. Plus I plan on adding another 500 lbs to the truck bed. Is there anything I should be concerned with? Trailer has surge brakes so I'm assuming downhill should be fine. I'm mainly worried I won't be able to pull the trailer up the hill.

Thanks a lot for the comments!

 

TBH, I would find another mean to tow such as renting a U-Haul box truck for your load and trailer for your Tacoma

 

Worth looking into a uhaul and tow the truck. Try to minimize those VERY hard miles on your engine.

 

UHaul box truck is $2,500 minimum as oppose to $900 for the trailer, and Uhaul is the cheapest I have found. Will it be too much wear and tear on the engine, is that the reasoning for looking into other options though they may be more expensive?

Thanks,

 

The truck can do it, it won't do it well though.

Just from my experience going between phoenix and flagstaff, even when my truck was stock and unloaded it couldn't maintain 65mph going up the hill. Now with oversized tires and the weight of armor I frequently drop below 50 mph going up.
Add a few thousand pounds, my guess would be that you'd be in the 35mph range on pretty much every significant hill, holding up semi's. Probably holding 4.5k rpms for long stretches of time and heavy engine load.
There's some pretty long downhill sections too I'd be worried about your brakes for.

If you can avoid it I would.

This is all kind of guesses on my part, extrapolating from my experience adding weight to my truck through armor and camping equipment and seeing its effects. Hopefully others who have actually done it (towed near our 5k cap) can also chime in with their experience.

Edit: Didn't fully read your route, you won't be going up the I17 like I was thinking of. I've never driven the I40 into Flagstaff so I don't know how the hills there compare. I think my point still stands though, you will likely be going very slow, and putting a lot of load on the engine.

 

Got it. I was trying to save some cash by renting the trailer, but it sounds like the savings are not worth the stress on the engine. I appreciate the input.

Thanks,

 

Maybe it helps to know moving expenses are tax deductible....

 

The I-40 hills are way worse than the I-17 hills lol. All your points are all the more valid that truck will struggle.

I towed a 14' aluminum boat (super light) up to Flagstaff from Prescott, AZ on the route OP will take, and I could barely maintain 55, nearly redlining her in 3rd gear. That altitude really robs these engines of what little power they've got to begin with.

 

If you do decide to do it, drive the hills at night when its cooler.
You might also look into "pods" as a means to ship the cargo. I understand they're reasonable $.

 

A month ago I one-way rented a 22ft diesel box truck from Penske plus a car carrier trailer for my 1962 Triumph TR3 to start my 1000 mile move from Saint Louis to Santa Fe.

Penske was great to deal with. The total rental cost for truck and trailer was somewhere around $1600-1800. (I’d need to double check). And with diesel it was easier on fuel than UHaul’s gasoline trucks.

Be sure you check estimated costs on the Penske website before you start hauling with your Tacoma.

 

Truck rentals outbound from CA are extremely expensive. 2-3X more than heading in the other direction.


Good luck with your move.

 

It will pull it, just might not go the speed you want. If you dont mind dropping back a couple gears and settling into the right lane at 50 mph or less on the hard pulls you will probably be fine. If you want to roll at 75 the whole way, gonna be a hard slog. 3.4's are a little thrashy sounding anyway so if you have an alternative, would be more comfortable.

I was in second going up Wolf Creek pass.

 

Kingman to flagstaff isn’t too bad. It’s very gradual and builds up once you hit Seligman. But at that point you would most likely be stopping for rest.


I did a snow storm from Kingman to Flagstaff NYE 2018 in a Honda Fit with gear. We managed 35mph going up the hills into FS.

 

I've driven from the Bay Area to North Dallas and back at least 4-5 times now. Not a fun drive especially in AZ and some parts of NM because of the elevation changes. You're planning to tow 4,500lbs. That's quite a bit for the 5VZ. Just as a FYI, my trans temp was already climbing towing a 1,100 trailer on some of those inclines. Turn off overdrive if you have an automatic trans. You'll be surprised how fast the temps go up...literally in a matter of seconds. It might be better to just rent a uhaul pod and sell anything you don't necessarily need. Driving the truck with just a load in the bed is a more pleasant drive. At least this time of year, the winds aren't that bad. If you were driving in spring, I would tell you no way. I've have even driven a 25ft RV on the same route before in April and I was white knuckling it the whole way. It was so stressful especially with a 4 month old that I would never do it again. Not worth it.

 

I towed a dump trailer with around that weight and my truck handled it fine. I wouldn't hesitate to tow that cross country. Cruised it at around 60mph. I also have a 3.4, but mine is a manual with bigger brakes and 4.88 gears.

 

Thank you all for your input. Its been very helpful. Since most of the comments have recommended not to tow, I'll find an alternative. I called PODS last night and they charge $4,500 for a sea train. It's insane. I'll look into Penske though, and perhaps renting out of state.

Thanks,

 

A manual transmission 3.4L will handle the job better than an automatic. If you have an automatic and choose to tow don’t have it in overdrive. There have been people here who’ve destroyed their truck towing in overdrive.

 

I went from S.D. CA to Idaho and while the truck would do it, I went with a full vehicle trailer. Wear and tear, engine is going to run hotter than it normally would, what if it breaks down . . . it's not worth it. I will say this though, renting vehicles and trailers to get out of CA is WAY more expensive than the same route coming from anywhere TO CA. Get an online estimate, then do the estimate in the other direction. It's robbery. I wound up driving the truck and trailer from ID to Utah to save $400, took a plane from Salt Lake back to Boise and still saved a couple hundred. :-D

 

It's not robbery, at all.
There aren't enough trucks in places where people are leaving and there are too many trucks in places where people are going.
The local home depot is a Penske location here in VA. At times, there are so many trucks and trailers in the parking lot, that it can be difficult to find a spot to park to go in and shop.

Uhaul publishes an annual "migration" report, which documents what they're seeing in terms of one-way rental.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...op-growth-states-again-in-2023-302024334.html

california has been at the bottom of the list for four years running.
High demand = High cost

 

Definitely give Penske or other truck rental places a look. Uhaul is pretty expensive compared to most others.