The Tacoma Towing Bible

Some people on this forum can get very sensitive when it comes to towing weight. The 2nd Gen Tacomas with towing package can tow up to 6500 lbs. Some people say that you can push that up to the 6500 lb limit and maybe a little more. Other people say that 4500 lbs is the realistic towing max due to the truck transmission, overall power, and breaking ability of the truck. From my own towing experience (3500lb loaded hard sided pop-up 1997 Trailmanor w/brakes) the truck worked fine. I would like to have more power in the mountains, but it tows fine on the flat lands. The low profile camper helps to greatly reduce wind resistance (I get over 18 mpg sometimes) and reduces sway. I don't tow very often so even if the trailer was 1500 lbs heavier I would still use the Tacoma depending on the distance & road conditions.

The best advice that I can give is to proceed with caution. Just because the truck "can" do it doesn't mean that you "should" do it. When towing you should be a defensive driver. You might be a good driver, but you WILL encounter a lot of bad drivers on the road. You have to be prepared at all times to make an emergency move when you encounter one of these bad drivers. Road and weather conditions are other factors that you have to consider as well. No matter how good of a driver you are, everyone has an "oh sh1t" moment on the road every so often. Giving myself a bit of wiggle room has served me very well over the years.

 

Hi, thanks for the great towing bible. All of you are helping me stay alive out there.

We bought a new 4L V6 with a towing package access cab last Fall. Trolled Craigslist until we found a Jayco Jayfeather, 2900 lb TT. Perfect for us to take to bluegrass festivals. Perfect.

Drove it home without the brake assist, parked it, ordered the assist. Found the pigtail in the glove compartment. Can NOT find where it goes in under the driver's side kick panel. Took out the change drawer to get a better view, nothing.

Should/ could anything else already be plugged into it? I can't find any connectors that already aren't 'occupied.'

Thanks for your help!
M

 

In some instances there have been reports of them being taped up and attached to the rest of the harness. Afraid I can;t provide more detail than that it was a long time ago now that i found mine.

 

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Reading through the whole thread now ... this is a super write up on towing ... many thanks to the OP ...

This thread has given me a great deal of info. ... especially as a newbie to towing ... thanks again for starting it and all the input ...
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It is there, took me a while to find mine. It wasn't even behind the kick panel, it was higher than that. Push your driver seat all the way back, and as best you can lay on your back with your legs outside the truck so you are looking straight up into the area with all the wire bundles. Use a good compact LED flashlight. My plug was facing straight up and strapped to a larger bundle. It was even harder because I don't have the TRD and there seem to be extra plugs that aren't used for the foglights, diff locker, etc.

 

It is a very short pig tail. It is tucked up there and it is a white plug maybe taped to the other harness. Just dig around you will find it.

Here is a picture looking up under the dash and what the plug looks like.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/[ATTACH=full]1745611[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]1745611[/ATTACH]
[IMG]http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/[ATTACH=full]1745611[/ATTACH]

 

It was an easter egg hunt. This time, it was way below and behind the kick panel, to the left of the parking brake lever. Crazy. But it's installed now.

Thanks everyone!

 

Nice to know the people on the assembly line at Toyota are keeping us on our toes by changing up the location a little.

 

I want to find how the 6 contact octagon wiring receptacle on the truck (2005 taco) is wired. Which contacts get juice from where.

 

A six pin is small and round the 7 pin is larger and it would look more like a hexagon.

Here is a link for the 7 pin wiring. It looks like it has six pins but the center is the 7th pin.

http://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

THis is the standard but that does not mean whom ever wired it did it correctly. If it is not correct, wire it correctly, then you can plug into just about any trailer with a 7 pin connector.

 

Exactly what I needed. Thanks a lot. I searched an hour yesterday and got nothing I could use.

 

In the towing bible, when it says to stay out of over drive to not over due the tranny, how does one actually do this on a 2012 taco?

Should I just be in 4, and not D?


Thanks for reply to stupid question!

 

Not a stupid question at all. Yes, you should slide the gear shift over to 4 rather than 'D'

It's somewhere in the owner's manual..it says "Do not drive in D" I had to ponder that for a while...

 

It has been said many times to keep the auto trans in 4th when towing. Some say it say to do this in the manual and they would be correct. What is not mentioned is the fact that the manual (for my 08 AC) say to put the trans in 4th for engine braking purposes.. It says nothing about burning up the trans.

I haul a 4200 lb trailer, giver or take a few hundred lbs. I run premium fuel when hauling and I run it in D. It may shift into the passing gear every now and then but nothing out of the ordinary.

Be smart when you are towing and if you are approaching a good hill, put'er in 4th or third to ease the climb. or leave it there for a good decent. I find that the Taco 4.0 does not have enough compression to give enough engine braking so I use the brake on my rig.

I think a clear idea of what hunting is is needed as well. Hunting is not your trans dropping into the passing gear while in drive and then back every once-in-a-while. Hunting is the trans going back and forth from gear to gear in rapid succession say 5-10 seconds apart. I have never had the Taco hunt I only give it a little help getting into a climbing gear either 4 or 3 before the trans does it for me.

So do as you wish, If you like it in 4th then run it there. If it works in D, as I like, then run it there. Toyota recommends changing you trans fluid at 50k if you are towing instead of the 100K if you are not towing. there is also a trans warning light on the dash if the trans gets to hot. Yes it's an idiot light and I'm sure it is set at a conservative temp when it comes on so you don't fry the trans.

Just my 2cents

 

PSMCN - Why Premium fuel?

Towing a trailer is new for me so might as well get all my questions answered from the many knowledgable folks here. Sorry for a long post!

Q. 3200# (dry) camper came home the other day and I could tell there was some sway most likely due to TW. With the dry camper attached and straight hitch, everything was level, if not a little high on the hitch. Will be hooking packed camper tomorrow (~4300#). I don't think I would need WDH but just sway control, wwhat do you think?

Rather not spend $$$ on WDH if all I need is sway control.

Q2 Sway control attachment to trailer. I would rather not drill holes in the frame. I saw some clamp on balls, any thoughts on these?

Any other recommendations?

Cheers

 

The 4.0 is designed to run on premium fuel. It can be run on 87 or 89 but it will run at max power and torque with premium. Its' in the manual. try a tank while you are towing, you will feel the difference.

With the weight you are pulling you should think about a WD hitch. My trailer is about the same as yours loaded and I have pulled it with out the WD and it was a terrible ride, bouncy and the trailer was swaying. I use the equalizer brand WD hitch at the moment and it has worked great. It is easy to set up and it has WD as well as sway control in one package. I got mine at RVwholesalers they have the best price and free shipping. here is the link http://www.rvwholesalers.com/catalog/10k-equalizer-adj-hitch-14-2927.html This would be money well spent if not for better control it will make it safer ride. When I have the family in the truck safety is my main concern and it cost money to be safe for your family and the other on the road around you.

You have not mentioned if you have a brake controller or not? If not get one.

 

yes, I have the P3 brake controller. Never saw that reference in the manual, better go back and check

I knew I would at minimum need sway controll but did not know how much help WD would be if the rear is not sagging.

 

With my rig attached with out the WD it sags about 1.5" in the rear and rises about 1" in the front. After the WD is attached the rear Sag is only 1/2" and the front rises about a 1/4 of an inch and teh trailer is level with in 1/2". It is the weight distributed throughout the rig that will give you better control. The critical spot is the front rise because that is the main input for control of your rig. If your front end is up in the air because of the TW at the hitch you are losing valuable traction in the steering and braking .

It all depend on what your comfort zone is. A lot of people use only a ball mount and maybe sway control. I prefer the WD w/ sway control.

If you really want to get fancy try one of the 3P hitches or a hensley. A bit pricy but by far the safest hitch out there.

 

I'm still new to the tt towing scene as I normally tow a small trailer with my sled (snowmobile) on it. I have an ’08 dc 4.0 with the tow package. Thus far I have towed 3 times with three different tt: a 22' don't remember the name and two different 27' airstreams. All three times I had a wd hitch w/ out sway control. The 22' towed just fine. I didn't have the electric brakes hooked up at the time and caught a couple wobbles on the Reno side of the sierras but had no problem correcting. Breaking wasn't bad but I did start early. The 1st airstream overlander I towed down out of the mountains, also with no electric brakes (non-functioning). Those were steep grades and I definitely felt it working the truck. It was a little slow going up the hills but no problems. This trip I didn’t go much faster than 45 as the trailer had been sitting for 5+ years out in the forest. I did have brand new tires on it though (as if that makes everything else better). The third time was also an airstream overlander and I pulled this wreck (tree fell on it) from Big Sur back up to Sac (about 5 hours I believe). This time I was on the freeway the whole time and again w/out electric brakes. I didn’t have any problems until the high high winds that were unusual for Sac and the trailer definitely was getting pushed around. I was driving at night so there weren’t too many people on the road. From those experiences, I don’t think I would go any bigger or heavier. If it is a one or two time thing, i.e. moving it, it should be fine as long as you take your time and have all of the appropriate gear- mirror extensions, electric brakes, wd hitch with sway control, and a good set of tires properly inflated. I’m not sure if this helps, but I thought I would share my towing experiences since you mentioned the airstream. Good luck and be safe!

 

Hey everyone,

Sorry if a similar question's already been answered. I tried my best to search, but it's getting late and I haven't found anything.

I'm buying a tent trailer that weighs 1550lbs dry. I don't have the towing package, but I do have a hitch. I do believe it has brakes because it has the 7pin plug. I don't have a brake controller and only have the 4pin plug.

Do I need to get a brake controller for this amount of weight? Even if I do, would it be safe for me to tow the trailer home without? I figure it will take a while for me to get the brake controller installed, but want to get the trailer home sooner than later.

Thanks in advance,
J