Towing experiences

In the next week or so, I'm going to be buying and trailering home a 1960 VW Bug from Vermont, about 304 miles each way. Most likely, I will be renting a U-Haul car trailer and towing it home with my 23 Tacoma TRD Sport 4door short bed manual transmission. This is going to be an up and back trip, leave at 0400, get there around 930-10, load up and head home. IF things go smoothly, I should be home in time for dinner.

The bug weighs about 1800 lbs and the trailer weighs approx 2210 lbs for a total of 4010 lbs. The truck is rated for 6400 lbs, so I'm under the max weight.

My mom uses her 17 tacoma to pull her horse trailer and 2 horses which are around 13-1500 lbs each plus trailer weight of 2300 lbs. She has trailer brake setup etc which I do not have.

I've towed things in the past but not really over a long distance like this. It sounds like my truck should be up to the challenge but want to be sure I'm not missing something here.

Appreciate the input

 

Just do it and enjoy the ride, you’ll get so many mixed responses on here just don’t over analyze it. It’ll tow like a V6 and the MPG will be surprisingly crappy. Yes it’ll rev some but that’s it’s sweet spot. Just load it up, secure it well and as long as the tongue weight isn’t crazy for some reason just hit the road and have fun.

 

U haul trailer has surge brakes...so you're good.

It'll tow fine, just keep it in "S" mode or out of overdrive.

 

I've towed maybe 3k lbs with the U-Haul 12' trailer with my 6MT on flat areas. Keep it out of 6th and maybe 5th gear. I'd rather have a half ton but it'll do it. Have fun reversing with that tall gearing.

Check the surge brakes. The one on my rental wasn't operating properly so it felt like I was getting lightly rear ended at each stop.

 

You won't have any issues with the weight. I pulled the same trailer with my Mitsubishi on it, and recently picked up a Volvo Amazon that I towed home. Both weigh more than a bug. I barely knew it was back there. Keep it in S mode and use the ETC.

 

The Uhaul car hauler has surge brakes, so you don't need any setup on your truck.

Just make sure your hitch and ball are rated for the weight, and mainly just take your time. You'll notice the increased stopping distance pretty quickly, so you can adjust your following distance, etc.

The biggest impacts will be emergency braking, lane changes, and the extra width of the trailer. Everything else is covered by managing your expectations of speed, etc. I wouldn't go above 65 (the trailer will probably suggest a 55 mph limit).

Just realized you said you have some towing experience, so some of this is probably redundant. You know the drill: "no hurries, no worries".

 

That’s ballpark what my boat and trailer weigh. Like other posts say…. It’s working fairly hard to make it happen, but it doesn’t seem stressed by the experience.

 

It'll pull 8k+ lbs pretty decently, although without a brake controller, definitely give yourself a bit more space for stopping, and you if you are going through hilly/mountain roads, follow semi truck rules. Use engine as the brake, and save your brakes as much as possible for when you need to stop, because you will only get one chance to come to a complete stop when going down hill.

I do recommend the Redac brake controller though, and the mounting plate you can get for it on etsy (it does need to be hard-mounted to the vehicle to work properly, get the mounting plate). About an hour to install clean and neatly.

Although u-hual trailers do come with their own hydralic surge brakes, if you do use u-hual, you shouldn't need the controller as another person above mentioned.

 

Wait. WHAT???

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-tacoma-towing-bible.4031/

 

Not that I would recommend it, especially without a weight distribution hitch or higher capacity suspension, a sway bar or RAS system would be highly reccommended.

With a manual and mostly stock it will still happily cruise along at 65mph pulling that much. Just pulled 1500 Sierria that weighs even more a couple months ago as well, was just as happy as a peach.

I tow those around IRL as well.

 

^^ Yea, like a fucking football field.
This post is absolutely going to take 1st prize for the worst (and most dangerous) advice given this week on TW.
And that's a tall order..

 

@Robe30,

Congrats on the VW bug. Your truck is fully capable.

Make sure you position the car appropriately on the car trailer so that more weight is on the tongue (front of the trailer.) You ~may~ not want to pull all the way forward on the car trailer as that could put too much weight on the hitch. Also.. be prepared to climb out the window of the bug as the uhaul car trailer fenders frequently block the doors from opening.

 

I have AAL and air-bags in the rear.. otherwise the truck would've had major squat in this picture (aka the carolina croutch.)

 

Just becuase It will pull 8k decently with perfect weight distribution, doesn't mean I recommend pulling 8k, I do tow trailers and cargo for a living. Anything below 6k will ride just fine with good weight distribution is the point I'm making, especially for someone asking about 4.5k

 

Same as everybody else. I've towed a number of cars on car trailers, sometimes with too much tongue weight, but never had any issues. My 2017 rear leafs are flat at this point.

 

You actually said 8,000 PLUS, pretty decently, just give yourself a little extra space if you don't have trailer brakes.
Just wondering where it would get sketchy for you. Towing all proper like, and sans the brakes, of course.
Dammit man...

 

No, it fucking A plus won't.