The Tacoma Towing Bible

I used to tow my dads 1500lbs dump trailer with my 98 4 banger just fine. I had a 7 plug adapter with just lights and no brakes. The trailer was rated for 2 tons and I made 2 half mile trips with the trailer over weight for our schools bonfire. The truck tires were pretty much on the rims and I wouldnt want to do more than 25 mph with that much weight but these trucks are pretty tough. To say you wouldnt pull 1500 lbs with a v6 is just silly. Dont drive it like a race car and its not gonna hurt nothing.

 

Just plain NO!! Salesman will tell you anything. You know your capacity, stay under it. Actually the good rule of thumb is to stay at 80% of cap or under, for safety and for your truck. Also above, referring to tongue weight. Toyota has no designation on WDH rating that I know of. Some manufacturers state WDH tongue weight and non WDH tongue weight.

From a Toyota tech, the trans is pretty tough. It's the lawyers I'd worry about if an accident were to occur.

 

the WDH actually transfers some of the tongue weight onto the FRONT axle. this eases up on the rear axle gross weight, but it has no change on the total gross vehicle weight.

 

Yeah maybe the new tundra could pull 8-9k safley but with a tacoma if your going more than say 1/2 mile or so at 20 mph your gonna need a new tranny real soon. And thats if you dont crash or snap your frame first. Even with my chevy 1500 pulling 7000lbs is pretty rough and not anywhere even close to the realm of being considered enjoyable.

 

The tech told me that it is the Tundra tranny in our trucks, but I have nothing else to go on besides that.

 

I have a 2008 Tacoma V6 with the Tow Package.

I'm looking at purchasing a Keystone Outback Ultra Lite trailer (210URS) http://www.keystonerv.com/outback/
The trailer has a shipping weight of 4440 lbs.

I'm still confused on the max towing capacity of my truck. I read 6500 lbs, but I want to make sure I need to include my weight, as well as the weight of my passengers, fuel, and whatever cargo I may load into my truck before I can determine how much more I can load into the trailer too keep under the 6500 lb limit.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

the tongue weight of the trailer, which is typically 10-15% of the trailer total weight, needs to be subtracted from your truck's payload, which for a DC is around 1000 lbs.

you should find out what that trailer's curb and gross weight is, the shipping weight is kinda bogus. if the curb weight is 4400 lbs, and you load 1000 lbs of stuff total in the trailer (water, clothes, food, etc), you're at 5400 lbs trailer weight, so at 10%, your tongue weight is 540 lbs, at 15%, its about 800 lbs. with the first number, you can only carry an additional 450 lbs in your truck including driver (but not gas, the payload generally assumes you've got a full tank of gas already in the car). with the 2nd number, you can only carry 200 lbs.

now, if you're running LT tires on the Tacoma, and have overload springs, you can probably go a little past the specified payload and maintain a reasonable safety margin, albeit not legally.

 

continuing on what left coast nerd said if you do feel as though theres too much tongue weight, weight distribution hitches can help. or they make this fancy pogo stick wheel thing that goes on your hitch. its pretty much like a ball mount with a shock absorber and coil over spring mounted to a wheel to stop rear sag. never used one but was gonna make one of my own soon.

 

the weight distribution hitch distributes the tongue weight onto the vehicle frame in such a way as to take some of that weight off the rear axle and transfers it to the front axle. it doesn't actually reduce how much weight is on the truck chassis, just redistributes it.

if *I* was getting that size trailer, I'd want a full sized truck such as an F150 or even a 3/4 ton class like a F250 or Chevy 2500HD. THEN I wouldn't be remotely worried about a little tongue weight.

 

Great Thread

 

Hi, Thanks for this info. I have a 2003 tacoma v6, 4x4 TRD, manual. I'm looking at buying a 24' coachmen trailer that is listed at weighing 4,500 - 4,600 lbs. Do you think it would be ill-advised to try and tow it with my truck? I wouldn't be hauling it very far (2.5 hr drive) and very rarely (maybe 4 trips this summer). But it would be in the southeast Appalachians. That's really all I'm looking to get out of it.

Thanks!

 

I'll be first to say NO. Not a chance, even with minimal cargo and one other person your going to go over the 5000 max. Even though my truck has a 6500 lb max I wouldn't try to pull that for more than a mile or two. You'll fry your clutch if you try IMO. If you really love that trailer then its time for a full size truck or SUV preferably a V8 or diesel.

 

Thanks very much!

 

@chrischrischris

I will be the first to say Yes, with exceptions.

You'll need to be responsible when your driving, gear down, and dont push it on hill climb's ect.
You'll need a brake controller installed.
You may need a load distributing hitch, or airbags to ensure that he load is level when your pulling it, older trucks have a tendancy to sag a bit
You'll definitely need a transmission cooler which i believe should have been part of the tow package.
Dont exceed 55MPH or 60MPH max or you may experience some instability
Pay attention on how everything feels and smells. Any problems make sure you stop and figure it out. HEAT is what would kill you, brakes, transmission, ect.

I regularly pull a 16" Dual axle enclosed trailer with my 4runner, its loaded with tools and comes in just over 5000lb. That Tacoma should actually pull a little better than my 4runner properly equipped (longer and has leaf springs vice coils in the back), and your trailer seems lighter that what i pull.

Good luck and drive safe.

 

Read through the write up, specifically the setup for a brake control. I'll soon be buying a 6x13' flatbed that weighs around 900lbs that will have a Polaris RZR 1k on it (roughly 1700 wet). That being said, I want brakes and I know I'll need them to stop safely. I've chosen the Tekonsha 90195 P3 Electronic Brake Control

$178 Tekonsha 90195 P3 Electronic Brake Control , silver, Single

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P17NXQ/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_F4iOybD171YYA along with the wiring harness https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001NZQIFM/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_URiOybRSG1YDV

I do have the factory tow package..so do I need the $12 wiring harness? Is that the correct one if so? Or does the wiring harness just make things easier? Thanks in advance and again, I apologize since this has probably been asked already.

 

You can't go wrong with the P3. It's a great controller. Yes that looks like the correct wiring harness, and it is needed. That harness goes between the controller and your truck.

 

Thanks..Amazon shows multiple wiring harnesses for Toyota and I can't tell which one I specifically need. My specs are next to my name + factory tow package.

 

Thanks for all the great info. I am looking at an '06 Tacoma crew cab long box TRD Sport. How do I know if it has the towing package, or do all TRD Sport packages include the towing package? It has a hitch, but I don't know if it was added at some point. Is there a way to look it up using the VIN? The ad for the truck says it is the towing package, but sometimes I think they just say that if it has a hitch on it. Thanks!

 

@joedime

You should be able to look in the front of the truck and see a secondary cooler for the transmission. That will be the givaway. Dont get confused by the A/C evap coil. There should be three total 'radiators', engine, evap, trans.

If you have that, and a 2" Hitch on the back, looks like you have the tow package.

Not sure how to identify the larger alternator, but you'll have that too, along with wiring for lights that looks factory.

Hope this helps.

 

@mark1285

Thanks! That indeed does help. I just googled images for what the transmission cooler looks like on a Tacoma so I know what I'm looking for. I would suggest the same for anyone else wondering what to look for to see if they have a tranny cooler (that is if you are like me and don't know what the hell to look for!).