Towing Experts Needed

I've always used 60-70% max of towing capacity as my rule of thumb for towing with my Tacoma. (Now have a 2024 4Runner which I am considering a small travel trailer purchase)

 

Agree. I'm just under 70%, and it's as much weight as I'd want to pull any significant distance.

 

Had U-Haul agreed to rent you the trailer?

 

Curious about this too. The GVWR of the lightest U-Haul car hauler is 7500 lbs. I doubt they rent it without a waiver.

Although I'm a Falcon>Fairlane guy, that's a nice car. I'd drive it, unless it's got race gearing in the rear or some other constraint. Driving does require shuttling to get the other vehicle (which isn't necessarily easy) and various road dirt/debris that some may want to avoid for various reasons.

The truck will pull that car easy with a dolly (about 750 lbs, and negligible tongue weight). Grade wouldn't concern me at all.

I don't like putting the rear axle on a dolly and that 64 probably doesn't have a locking column - so a dolly would require dropping the driveshaft to do it right. It's not hard but it is a pain in the ass. At least OP will have a truck bed to throw it in

 

Re: U-Haul trailers.

• They are almost always in good condition.
• There is no spare tire. You need to call their help number and wait. Or carry a plug kit and compressor.
• With tandem axles, they come with surge brakes as others have pointed out.
• You cannot use a weight distributing hitch with surge brakes. So hitch weight is dead weight.
• I have pulled several different kinds of U-Haul trailers over the years and they always behaved nicely.
• Each time, my tow vehicle was up it.

If you can convince U-Haul to let you do this, drive that upgrade at night.

 

Via online reservation, yes

But I won’t be going that route anymore..

 

When do you pickup the trailer and make the trip?

 

U-haul will not flinch at renting you a trailer that can carry more weight than your vehicle is rated for. They won't rent you a trailer that, by itself while empty, weighs more than your vehicle is rated for.

Source: myself, through a dozen cross-country moves performed with various vehicles over the years.

I would not hesitate to tow the Fairlane behind the 4G Tacoma. Might try doing it at night for lower temps and less traffic.

 

What's wrong with driving the car? Let a friend drive your truck and you take the car. 350 miles is a tank of gas or two, no big deal. If the car runs anywhere near as good as it looks, should be no problem, and running it that far might actually be good for it.

 

2 weeks, I’ll update this thread with photos when I go

 

Here in Massachusetts (Cali may be different) you have to rent from the Enterprise commercial truck division to be able to tow a trailer. It's a great deal. Last time I checked it was $100 a day with 300 free miles for a 3/4 or 1 ton truck.
Back in 2019 I had an Enterprise rental truck for 4 months. It was a brand new Ford f250 crew cab diesel, but that's a story for another time.

 

There are some tow companies I’ve used that should cost around $650 to ship the car. I recently came back from towing a 68 mustang from Salt Lake City to San Diego, CA. Sure, the U-Haul was $250 with a military discount but factor in the additional fuel consumption and the limited speed on the highway adding hours to the trip and you might be in for more than shipping the car straightaway. Plus avoiding the headache of it being your first tow. I know on some of the inclines through southern Utah and northern Nevada, I was getting about 6-8 mpg and doing 35 mph. My brother and I did it as a bonding road trip so no regrets but if your decision is purely financial, it might be cheaper to ship the car. The truck handled the job like a champ but I definitely was well aware of the added weight- slower acceleration, longer breaking distances that could make it sketchy for a first timer.
Pic for attention.

 

Rented a Ram 2500 HD. I also filled the bed up with a lot of stuff. These 3/4 ton trucks are burley, didn’t even squat much. Towed my car over the Sisikyou pass like nothing. Barely even needed to downshift.

 

I know this has been covered already, but I am still gonna post to benefit people using the search function.

I also know I have a 3rd gen ('22 3.5 4x4 with 6MT) instead, but the 4th gen has similar towing capacity, better braking performance, and has the benefit of more lower end torque, which should deliver better towing performance.

My first tow was towing a car on a trailer with my Tacoma, and I've been in the similar scenario as OP's several times. Similar weight (Honda S2000 on a U-Haul trailer for me), similar amount of miles covered (500 total miles in one trip), similar temperature (100 deg F), and similar grade up and downhill, with some crosswinds for my scenario.

The truck handled the load just fine to be honest, although you'll definitely feel the weight. Brakes adequately (but still give more distance to brake, basic towing knowledge) and goes uphill fine. If you take it easy and don't rush it then you should be fine. I usually get 12-15 MPG, but have gotten as low as 7 MPG when I was towing with wind.

If you're going to be towing this weight regularly, then a 1/2+ ton truck may be a good idea. But the Tacoma should be able to handle it occasionally.

And yeah, side note, I should get air bags/sumo springs if I'm going to be towing my Evo again on a U-Haul trailer lol (stupid U-Haul trailers don't let you adjust your tongue weight properly because of where they require you to strap your car down).

 

Great info

 

This is great info guys for first timers like me.