Tacoma towing capacity

I thought I'd pass this along as I tow quite a bit with my Tacoma. This '11 Tacoma is my third 2nd generation Tacoma and I really do like these trucks. I have several trailers of my own and two an average of three days a week including my Kubota B2400 tractor. Over the weekend, I hauled a friends Bobcat up to his house in the mountains. I would not recommend towing this much with the Tacoma, but it did it amazingly well. Without getting into detail, the weight exceeded the maximum towing capacity, but careful planning and smooth going made it stress free He understated the size of the Bobcat prior to me picking it up. It went great, but was probably at the very upper limit of the Tacoma. The last time he had the Bobcat hauled up to his place, they used a V10 F250 and it struggled up the hills as well. Again, I don't recommend towing your Bobcat with the Tacoma, but I'm very impressed.

 

what was your total weight? I pulled a civic on a 1800 pound trailer and it did alright, however stopping was another story without trailer brakes.

 

Bobcat was 5600lbs and the trailer is around 2000lbs. I use that trailer to haul a lot of stuff. Loads like this Suzuki Samurai are no problem other than eating into the fuel mileage. On the highway, its easy to get the Tacoma down to 8-10MPG with a loaded trailer.

 

Yikes. I can see why you're on your 3rd truck in 6 years, I wouldn't want to hang on to it either knowing what the transmission has been through

 

The decision of Toyota to keep installing rear drum brakes is puzzling. I have a 19' jet boat and the trailer has no brakes. Stopping while towing with my Tacoma is definitely an issue. Before my Taco I had a '03 Dakota w/ rear disc brakes and it always stopped fine while towing the boat. I'm gunna have to look into either adding brakes to the trailer and converting the Tacoma over to rear discs.

 

Impressive but I would probably not do it

 

Good to know! Pretty impressive that it did great, and with the new code on the scangauge that can scan transmission fluid temperature, glad to know I'll be able to pull heavy loads up to the stated 6500lbs rating no problem.

 

Drums are very strong, no need to convert to discs. Plus, a very large percentage of your braking power is done with the front anyways so you'd be much better off spending your money on upgrading to better pads and rotors on the front vs attempting to convert the rears.

FWIW, I used to have an issue with the Tacoma's brakes but it seems the older they've gotten, they've either gotten better of I've gotten used to them. I tow pretty frequently now (trailer has no brakes) and have not had an issue stopping.

 

i've towed my s2000 in a 1.5-2 ton dump trailer before. I wouldn't recommend it. these trucks are rating for 6500lb but i honestly don't like towing anything more than my drive-in/out snowmobile trailer and a couple sleds (prob 3500-4000lb).

 

Pugga - I haven't worn out any of the Tacomas yet. I haven't even changed brake pads on any of the three. Just tires. The '06 was a six speed extra cab which I traded for an '08 automatic double cab for space reasons. I traded the '08 for a Dodge Cummins 4X4 which I had problems with from the start and only had for 7 weeks before going back to a Tacoma. I will say, the US built (California) Tacomas seemed better than the 2011 one I have that was built in Mexico. My bad for getting a Dodge in the middle of things as I lost a lot of money on it, but the Tacomas have been great. It would be awesome if we could get one with the 4cyl diesel. I've been looking into getting an engine from Costa Rica for the future.

 

I towed fully loaded 20' 2axle trailer without brakes from Phoenix to Cali and back. The Tacoma did ok, I didnt go more than 65mph, to avoid revving at 4k rpm and constantly gear searching on the hills. The worst part was the gas mileage... 8-10mpg

 

I'm just giving you a hard time... check this out if you're serious about a diesel conversion. It's expensive and if you weigh it out, you might be better off importing from Costa Rica if you can get all the paper work cleared to make it street legal here.
http://www.dieseltoyz.com/

 

Because the rear brakes don't do very much. When you stop all the inertia carries towards the front of the truck, and the front brakes do the majority of the work. For the minimal gain you'll see in stopping power, it's not worth the greater initial cost (at least to Toyota).

 

Nice!!

I hauled 7000#+ loads quite a few times, never had a problem. It's the only time I use 4th gear (the manual trany is spaced nicely for towing). I never had a hard time stopping my trailer brakes work well.

 

Isn't it illegal to exceed to rating???? Just saying......

 

If only.....but you are way off. When towing anything with a tongue weight of more than 350#, there is as much, if not more weight on the rear axle than on the front. (as measured on a highway scale) That means the drums are trying to do more of the stopping than the front discs. The crapulance of rear drums isn't very apparent in normal driving, but while towing or hauling, that are definitely an issue. And a huge safety issue for folks who are overloading their trucks.

 

Physics says otherwise. Just because the weight is above the rear axle doesn't mean the rear drums are doing the majority of the stopping. Yes, it will be harder to stop with a trailer...but that is true whether the rear wheels are being stopped by disc brakes or drums.

 

Have you considered that the weight of the trailer transfers froward to the rear axle of the truck? And if you are towing 7000#, there is more weight transferring from trailer to rear axle, than the very slight amount of transfer forward from a low G stop. The Tacoma has automatic brake porportioning, so the braking force will be biased to the rear, as under a full braking situation it will use all available traction, which will be more abundant at the rear tires, which consequently have less braking force than the front discs.
Physics actually explain why you are incorrect, sorry.

 

this is probably the most I have towed with my Tacoma... 14' trailer with a quad and RZR full of gas... not sure how much it weighed but had no problem going or stopping!

 

Yes, rear brakes have to do some more work when towing, but the front brakes still do the majority of the work. The Tacoma (or any other vehicle) is a rigid body and the inertia carries through the entire structure. When you brake hard, the front of the vehicle dives downwards whether the vehicle is loaded or unloaded. This causes a lot of downward force on the front tires, which gives them plenty of traction. Consequently, as the front dives, the rear is lifted slightly, reducing traction.

Additionally, the trailers that we're talking about also have trailer brakes, which drastically reduce the amount of work that both sets of brakes on the vehicle have to do. There is a reason why semi's use drum brakes.

And this is only true with a properly loaded trailer, and one that is within the tow capacity of the Tacoma. (Not 7000 lbs.)