The Tacoma Towing Bible

I mounted mine below the flip-out tray. I keep my hitch and coupler lock keys in the tray.

 

I have controller in the same spot.

 

I tried to put my P3 like the other posters did above, but I drove my knee into it getting out of the truck so I pulled the change tray from the right side of the steering wheel and mounted it there. Out of the road and easy to access. Just another option......

 

I mounted my controller via heavy velcrow against the top of the storage cubby in front of the shifter in the center console. I keep the control in the glove box until needed. And when needed, I have permanently wired the connector into the cubby so i just plug in the contol, stick it to the roof of the cubby and am good to go. I'll get a picture posted.
CL

 

Hi all, some great info here thanks for all of the posts. I have a question regarding the suspension. I have a '10 DC SB with the 3 leaf springs. Even though I am within the 3yrs, I am at about 60k miles. After talking with local dealers and Toyota cust serv, it looks like I will not be getting any TSB leafs. I plan to haul a ~4k lbs travel trailer and want to beef up the back end. So I am considering the AAL mod or the Timbren first mentioned by Phantom.
Anyone have an opinion on which would be better? For ease of install and $$ I'd like to go with the Timbren if it is a sufficient alternative to the AAL.

Thanks for thoughts or suggestions.

 

Try this as an option as well. No bumping your knees and when you've hot your hand on the shift lever to downshift when needed the manual lever is within fingertip reach.

 

Thanks for all the ideas!

I'll post whatever solution I come up with.

 

might sound like a stupid question,,,,but what generation is my 2006...gen 1?? or gen2???

 

2nd

 

I am new to towing and appreciate all your information, but I have an ultimate novice question. I just got a 10 foot fiberglass trailer which weighs about 1000lbs. I have to tow package, but was wondering when I need to put it in 4th,3rd or even second gear.

 

You really would be fine, perhaps better off, to just leave it in drive. I pull about 4700 lbs and usually just leave it in drive. I only manually shift it down to 4th if the transmission is hunting (shifting between the two gears frequently) Your mileage and performance will be better if you just let the tranny do its job. IMO

 

x2

 

Hey Mavrick.. Just want to get your opinion...I have a 06, 4 door prerunner 4.0 L ..It did not come stock with a tow package.. I have installed the brake controller, a RT-A750E-HD Performance Valve Body shift Kit from Level 10. And a transmission cooler along with a transmission temp gauge.. We also have the W/D hitch..The trailer weighs 3000LBs dry..obvisily when we are on the road we will keep the extra weight as low as possiable hopefully with all gear ETC...we will have no more then 4500LBs We are planning on taking a extended trip to the west coast form baltimore. We will be taking our time seeing the sites etc.. So there will be mountains and desserts.. Do you think that the improvments we have done are suffiant??? Are there any other things that you would recommend we add or do..Any Advice would be greatly apperciated.. Thanks very much,,,,

 

Did you find a harness in the back? I have the tow package installed
By the dealer with the four pin connector. I bought a 7 pin converter that you plug the four pin into but the other wires I still need to hook up. It would be nice if they were back there already.

 

bump...anyone have experience with this?

 

I don't have any experiences with this but with my 2012 that came with the 4 leafs, my truck doesn't sag with a 4k+ lb trailer.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the leaf tsb more or less just adding an extra leaf. So doing the aal would be more or less the same concept? It just stiffens up the suspension. You could always throw some air bags on there. That will keep your suspension less stiff than doing the aal and also provide you with the added support for towing. I have the tsb leafs and they are not very smooth when unloaded.

 

I combined all your suggestions to place the controller where it could be:

1. Easily reached while staying planted behind the steering wheel.
2. Avoided by my knees getting in and out of the truck & in an accident.
3. Removed and return the dash to it's factory look if I ever sell the TT.


I mounted the controller in the coin tray with a bracket I made from a fire extinguisher holder. I just trimmed down the fire ex. mount to fit flush inside the tray and mounted the P2 with the supplied strap mount. I cut a hole in the back of the coin tray for the wire harness to route through.

(If I had to do it again I wouldn't have cut the fire ex. mount flush with the coin tray but allowed it to protrude an extra 3/4" forward to make the topside "boost control" more accessible.)

 

It's about time for me to buy some TT tires. The size is 205/75D...What's the best brand to get, are radials any better, & what price range? Thanks for the info.

 

Very nice! I tried to get mine to work in there but gave up. I may try again in the future.