The Tacoma Towing Bible

You should be fine. I tow my double jet ski trailer all the time without brakes on the trailer. The jet ski weighs about 800lbs+ each.

 

You probably don't need a brake controller for 1550 lbs, but it wouldn't hurt to have one, especially if the trailer has brakes. What happens is you end up loading up your trailer, your truck bed, & your cab with gear and people. While you probably won't be close to going overweight, being able to use the trailer brakes in a pinch is invaluable. This goes double if you're planning to tow through the mountains on a regular basis. You may be a great driver and great at towing, but you can't control how other people drive so using all available safety equipment is important. You can get a cheap brake controller for $50 or so. Installation might cost you another $50-$60.

 

X2

 

I can't seem to find an answer to this question, and I'm hoping you all can help. I had a custom trailer built for hauling motorcycles, it has electric brakes (probably overkill, but they were cheap and i thought it would be nice). I have a 11 TRD tacoma w/ tow package. I need to go pick it up but my Brake Controller wont' be here for a week.

What happens when you drive a trailer with electric brakes without a brake controller? Will I just have no electric brakes on the trailer? Will the trailer brakes lock at 100% when I touch the brakes?

I know the bible says "If the trailer has brakes you need a brake controller" but i'm not sure if that's for safety when towing heavy trailers that truly need the electric brakes, or whether horrible things happen in the interraction between electric brakes hooked to a truck that doesn't have a brake controller installed yet.

If it's the latter, is there a way i can disable the electric brakes, so it can be safely towed home without a brake controller (again, it's a smallish utility trailer, so probably don't strictly need the electric brakes).

Thanks for the advice.

 

You will be fine. It will act as you never had electric brake. I pulled a 2500 lbs trailer when I bought it and took it home about 95 miles without the controller. I bought the brake controller at walmart thinking I was going to install it at the seller's house buy never did.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread and I figured this was the best place to make my post regarding my recent trip through 4 provinces and 3 states pulling my Pop-Up trailer (1600Lbs Dry Wieght). We live in Ottawa Ontario and decided to go East to Nova Scotia and as well, make the loop on the Cabot Trail. My 2012 Dbl Cab Sr5 pulled like a dream. Not once did I have any sway issues and any concerns I may have had climbing some of those steep grades on the Cabot trail were quickly put to rest by my Taco's performance. To avoid any issues about the tranny searching for gears, I just put her into 4th and left it there with the cruise control on. If I left it in Automatic (D), it would always want to shift into that next gear more frequently than I cared for. It was great....The taco maintained a constant speed for the most part unless it was a really steep climb but even then..it just powered through it. We drove through Ontario/Quebec/NewBrunswick/NovaScotia/Maine/New Hampshire and Vermont. Lot's of hilly terain.

For the guy asking about the brake controller. Don't cheap out. As soon as I started up on the Cabot trail, a Deer appeared from nowhere in front of me (approx 8ft) and I had no choice but to nail the brakes. I didn't lock up...but I can bet dollars to donuts that without the trailer brakes...that deer and my front grill would'nt have survived. They also came in handy for the 9 degree grades going down...less work for the truck.

I just bought the truck 2 months ago...left Ottawa with 2200Km, got home after 13 days travelling the country and now have 7400Km on it, LOL. Lot's of worry free driving thanks to this thread and for the piece of mind knowing my Taco and the trailer brakes were all working in tandom.

I might add as well and this is just speculation on my part but if your trailer has electric breaks and you don't utlize them and god forbid that an accident occurs which is related to the brakes...you may be liable in court.

Cheers!

 

Maybe this is redundant... but can't hurt.
I just located the factory connector for the trailer e-brake. I found the connector free and clear and completely out of site behind the thick wire cluster running vertically up and to the left of the parking brake. I reached behind, maneuvered the connector through the wire cluster to where I could see it, connected the provided factory connector, pushed the assembly back through the cluster, and will now work in the open to connect my trailer e-brake controller. Hope these pictures help.

 

I don't have the towing package; Just an after-market hitch bolted to the frame.
I want to tow a 1500 Lb. "A Liner" Pop-up" 8000 miles round-trip from Philly to Yosemite over mountains, through desert, etc..
I'm not sure if this is safe or advisable.
The pop-up has it's own brakes, so I plan on adding a brake controller and wiring harness.
Should I install transmission cooler?
Does anyone have any advice, suggestions, or comments.
Thanks,
Will

 

Is this standard? I'm going outside right now to check mine. Is it difficult to install brake controller myself?
Thanks
Will

 

Connector comes with the tow package, and yes it is very easy if you can do basic electrical work. Join a few wires and plug it in. Good to go.

 

OK - Thanks. I found the brake controller wires.
I don't have the tow package, just a Class lll Hitch receiver.
Do I need to run wires to the rear of the vehicle and hook up a 7-pin round connector?

 

You should be able to tap into the wires for the tail lights on the truck. At least for the brake, marker, and signal lights. The tow package has a pig tail that connects to a connector on the main harness. I've looked on a friend of mines truck to see if his had it as like you he didn't get the tow package. I couldn't find it. But then again it took me a while to find the brake controller connector as well. I wouldn't be surprised to find the connector on the harness. Since its probably easier for Toyota to use one harness and just not hook everything up. If it is there you could buy the pig tail from Toyota for about 180 $ or see if you can find one in a salvage yard. Or just cut it off and tie into them directly.

 

Thanks - Appreciate all your info. My owner's manual says the harness is located in the body of the truck in the rear, but I couldn't locate it; Have to look harder. But then again, maybe it's just on vehicles with tow package. I should have just bought a vehicle with the tow package. It would have been cheaper than trying to add everything.
Thanks again.
Will

 

You should have no problem pulling 1500# with a prerunner V6. 1500# is just a few hundred over the cargo capacity and way under the 6500# towing capacity for the truck. I would say it is safe and advisable to go tow and have some fun. A trans cooler should not be necessary but it can never hurt if you feel like putting one in. It will not only help in desert/mountain driving with a load but will increase the life of your trans in general.

One note on brakes. Remember that the brakes on the trailer need to be adjusted periodically. A lot of people will just increase the power at the controller to compensate for brake wear when they should be adjusting the shoes. I adjust mine at the end of the season so they are ready to go in the spring.

 

04 Taco V6, Auto;
Anybody want to venture a guess what new GVWR (3500 lb. right now)might be if I were to add (1) aftermarket tranny-cooler, (2) heavy-duty fan clutch, (3) wire in obligatory brake controller? (And I was also thinking I would upgrade the alternator to high-output 140 amp.)
Would that put me a lot closer to the 5000 lb. GVWR of the factory tow pkg.? If so, how much closer do you think?

 

I have a 2012 Prerunner with the tow package. I don't know much about the sway control. I will not be towing more 2500 lbs. Its a pop up trailer. So, I am not worried about the weight.
Part of the tow package I have is Sway control. I know there are two types , the friction type, and a dual cam type. Do I have the dual cam type on my hitch. I guess it is built in with the hitch? Can someone clarify this please? Thanks.

 

The Towing Bible is a great help. Being a first time Tacoma owner and having many questions about the towing ability of the Tacoma I found this post fantastic.

 

Sway control is normally a function of the hitch except in new 1/2 ton and up trucks it is an electronic traction control deal.

What brand/ type of hitch do you have?

 

Class IV hitch.

 

I didn't see in the bible at the start of this thread but if this was addressed sorry for the redundancy.

If you are installing your own brake controller know this, many brake controllers can be used in two ways. Independently of the brake pedal (they have a switch on them to be pushed by your fingers but the trailer brakes also work when you apply the truck brakes). Or, automatic only (you have no manual control of the trailer brakes without the truck brakes).

The brake controller for manual brakes has a gyroscope in it to measure the amount of stopping that the truck is doing when you are not using the manual switch.

IMPORTANT:
The brake controller MUST be flat and level in line with how it will be going down the road. The gyro will be confused by being mounted sideways or backwards. I learned this the hard way. I mounted it under the seat (backwards) so that it was out of sight and I didnt have to drill holes in my dash. I rarely use the manual part and I could still reach it if needed. Unfortunately being backwards it thought I was accelerating every time I applied the brakes. And the worst part was it thought I was braking every time I accelerated.