The Tacoma Towing Bible

I appologize for the double post but hopefully this helps someone down the road. Easiest install ive ever done on a vehicle.


Bought and installed a Venturer trailer brake controller from Curt. Also got the OEM-to-Curt wiring harness which made this incredibly easy to install (plug and play, no splicing and matching). "CURT 51362 Brake Control Wiring Harness" is what I went with, but there are variations so look into what fits for you.

OEM Tow harness under driver side dash, coupled with the Curt harness.


Curt harness to the wiring of the controller itself



Installed mine in the tray to the right of the steering wheel.



Afixed with double sided 3M Command strips w/ velrco for the finished product

 

So I think that this fits into this thread: I am towing an older 19' travel trailer that weighed about 3K from the factory but we've gutted it down a little lighter (haven't weighed it yet). I am running 4.88 diff gears on 33's so I am overgeared. Should I still avoid driving in overdrive while towing (5 spd auto)? Obviously if it is hunting or I am pulling a hill I will bump it down to 4th gear, but what about on flat ground or slight inclines? Driving 65-70 mph in overdrive I was running 2500 rpm and bumping it down to 4th puts me up to 3500+ rpm and is pretty obnoxious to listen to for hours(I still have all factory exhaust). Running below 3000rpm is pretty easy to drown out with the radio, above 3000rpm is pretty hard. When I am getting up to 75-80 mph I am running over 4000 rpm in 4th gear...

Another question: anybody know much about trailer brakes on older campers (1975 Kit Companion). I have a brake controller and it was working fine, but halfway to my destination it started randomly saying "No connection" and I would either have no trailer brakes or they would lock up easily. I'm guessing there is a short in the trailer wiring somewhere and I'll just run all new wiring; but there is some sort of mechanical brake controller on the trailer. It runs one of the trailer brake wires through it (the ground IIRC) and has some springs on it and an adjuster. If you stretch the springs out or compress them then it says more or less (I assume more brake or less brake). Anybody seen anything like that? I couldn't find anything with google... Can I just rip it out and run wires right to the brakes?

 

I wouldn't be worrying too much about towing at 75-80mph, unless you check your trailer tires very carefully. Most trailer tires are rated for 55mph, not 75. Having towed across Nevada w/ the wind and cruising at 70, I looked at the tires at a gas stop and thought they were OK, after all, they were only 2deg hotter than the truck's tires. 2 months later, I looked and saw that the 2 older tires on the trailer were about to separate the tread from the carcass. I drove home at about 50 and prayed all the way. I follow the idea of don't run w/ the torque converter unlocked in high gear. If it unlocks or goes in and out while you are cruising, downshift to 4th.

I'm guessing the controller you saw on the trailer is a pot to attenuate the braking force from the brake controller. Older controllers were not quite as programmable as the current stuff. You might be able to limit the maximum braking force to "impending lockup" and make everything proportional up to that point; or just remove it and control everything from the controller in the truck.

 

I agree with the previous posts on what gear to run in - Obviously, if it's hunting, downshift. The engine noise is in itself, not destructive (unless you're running really high RPM's for an extended period, but that's still just a wear & tear issue). So either live with the noise, or slow down.

One other thing to check on the brakes is the emergency separation switch - this is a switch near the front of the trailer that connects to the tow vehicle by a thin cable. If the trailer ever separates from the TV (i.e. hitch & chain failure) it will activate the trailer brakes (at maximum) to keep the trailer from free-wheeling down the highway on its own. Aside from that, get a digital voltmeter and start probing. Since your description implies that this is an intermittent problem, it would help to have someone assist you in wiggling wires/connections while you observe the DVM readings.

 

I see. I wasn't aware trailer tires were rated that slow still since the interstate has been 75mph now for around 2 decades. (It's been 80 here for a year now).

I will check the trailer e-brake but since it's intermittent I'm guessing there is a short so I think I'll just run all new wires to each wheel and remove that POT.

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

Yeah, the trailer tire ratings suck, Costco had some good, heavy duty options when we lived in SoCal, we put them on our toy hauler and never had an issue running to Dumont or glamis and they did great (running 70-75) when we moved to Ms.

 

True - rubber degradation is more of an issue than tread wear at that age...

 

It has a 3 digit code that is 150...

 

Hmmm. I seem to recall that date codes are usually 4 digits - YYWW (year/week of mfgr)... but I could be wrong. Perhaps 150 is "2011/50th week'... Best bet - do a good visual inspection of the tires. deflate and check to see if there are any cracks or stress marks in the sidewall... overinflate by 10% and look for bulges/bubbles. Any of the above, and it's not safe. Don't forget to check your valve stems, too - they deteriorate like any other rubber parts, and when they go, it usually deflates the tire FAST.

 

I had already looked it up last night. Prior to 2000 they did 3 digit codes and it is WWY, so 150 is the 15th week of 1990...

 

We could probably add it into the budget. I was going to ask about car tires, but hell trailer tires seem to be as cheap as car tires. I could easily get away with car tires I think. Take this Kumho for example, it has a load rating of 1609lbs. If you reduce that by 9% like the article says you have about 1464lbs. Tandem axle trailer so we have a 5856 lb capacity. This trailer is spec'd at 3250 lbs according to NADA and the tag on the side of the camper that the State Transportation department put on it says 3072 lbs. Well we gutted it. No more fridge, kitchen, furnace, bathroom, or water tanks. So it will likely be around that 3250lb weight fully loaded with the 2 dirt bikes in it. so We'll still have at least 1000 lbs to spare on that max load capacity of the tires. Plus those tires have a higher speed rating than the tires on my Tacoma do!

 

Right - the major difference between passenger car and trailer tires is that trailers aren't subjected to the same sidewall loading in cornering as cars (cars experience much more), so the sidewalls are the weak point.

 

Generally trailer tires are heavier duty and have much thicker/stronger sidewalls to carry the loads they're designed to support. Trailer tires attributes like traction, noise, comfort, ride come secondary to load carrying capability.

 

According to a tech at one of the MANY tire places we were forced to visit with the toyhauler (before we realized that the factory-spec'd tires were not rated for the EMPTY weight of the RV, let alone loaded), the trailer tires are not subjected to lateral forces like a car tire would be when steering. Therefore they are designed primarily for load carrying (within their spec'd load range) ability. That would imply a different carcass design than "normal" car/truck tires.

But he might have been feeding me a line of BS, so who knows? I do agree that trailer tires aren't required to steer the trailer... so it makes sense that they wouldn't be optimized for that.

 

My trailer weighs less than an empty Prius and has the same number of tires... it's a little 19 footer tandem axle that has been gutted so it's lighter than stock so I don't think load capabilities is a concern at all for me when picking tires.

 

depends on the tires...

 

maybe so but why not get tires designed for trailers? It's not going to cost more.
I'm thinking of getting new tires for our pop up. There's plenty of tread but I think they may be original. It's a 2005, but I looked at the tires and cant see any designation regarding the date? Maybe its on the inside? A word of advice: Get covers for your new tires. The sun is the worst enemy of trailer tires and sitting too long.

 

113 mph speed rating vs 65 mph speed rating.

Mine was on the inside of the tire.

 

Yeah. Hard to say what it would go down to too...

 

I don't know what the speed limit when towing is in Idaho but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way. I tow a pop up and I don't usually go over 65. At 70+ if feels a bit sketchy.