Trailer Hitch / Bumper Question

I suppose this is a newbie or old farm boy question.

I recently purchased a SR Tacoma, Utility. Without the tow pkg.

So I was researching the drawtite / uhaul / etc add on trailer hitches. All of which are additional bolt on, gravity, fulcrum and weight purchases. With some labor involved.

Got me to thinking and scratching... When I was a kid all the trucks had a ball end on the bumper itself. Thats what trucks did. Pull stuff. Take a lick and go do something else. So?

I dont haul many trailers. If I do its a utility short run. possibly once in a green moon I move a boat or big load at which time I'm super careful and nervous!

Well, up from my sleep I jumped to the garage and investigated.
And this is what I saw.

Looks perfectly centered to bolt on a ball. Sure I need to run the light harness. Toyota was kind enough to leave a plastic piece for that too!

 

I'll llok at my tow package when i go down to my truck later and see if it is just bolted into that same spot (I assume it is).
The issue you might run into with mounting the ball on the bumper is it will be pretty high compared to most trailers.

 

The trailer tow package is a receiver bolted to the frame. A steel receiver. While the bumper is bolted to the frame, it isn't heavy duty at all. You could tow very light things off the bumper, but if you want to actually pull something down the highway, put on a full hitch receiver to the frame.

 

http://www.carparts.com/details/Toy...TFcNCh0cuQWwEAQYCSABEgLNzfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#

That's all there is under the plastic, I don't think I would try it.

 

Thanks! Now I see.

 

Wait! Your telling me the steal piece that runs the witdth of the rear is crushable?

 

I believe the tow limit with the bumper is 3500 lbs.

 

You might be fine towing off the bumper on a tacoma. But this isn't the 70's anymore (we have sheetmetal and plastic bumpers and frames now...none of that steel shit!). A light load (as in 12' or 14' fiberblass boat, or a tiny uhaul) on pavement, and you'd probably be fine. You won't be hooking up any horse trailers or campers to it and expect to not bend something...or have your trailer pass you on the road.

A "low profile" hitch can be had for cheap from places like uhaul, along with an hour's easy wrenching if you don't have the tow package and will only do light towing. But if you're going to tow much more than a skateboard, get a real hitch, and install a trans cooler. Had to do that on my 2002 SR5. Back then uhaul actually had one of the better "low profile" hitches available. Wasn't but about $200 total, and a few hours work to install the hitch and trans cooler. The real time consuming pain in the ass was the wiring of a 7 pin plug.

The tow package option on tacomas for $550 is the best money spent on these things if you're going to ever tow anything.

 

When I ordered mine the tow package wasn't available yet. Ordered a hitch off Amazon, took about 1/2 hour to install and was cheap. Paid someone to wire the lights.. not just plugging in a connector on this truck. I would not tow off the bumper on this truck. If you are going to get the lights wired, get a hitch.

 

This is the piece under the plastic. It attaches to the same place the factory tow hitch. This piece has to be removed to install the factory hitch. Uses same hardware.

 

Thanks for all the insight.

 

Must be different truck, I didn't remove anything to install my hitch.

 

Aftermarket hitch bolts to the factory piece I removed.

 

I believe you could use it with the ball installed, especially since it is attached to the frame. Wiring wasn't to bad. Mostly plug and play, just a few wires to splice if you use the factory bumper plug. Here is a few pics of a factory hitch.

 

Here is a couple good threads:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2017-sr-trailer-wiring.500562/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...wiring-mounting-installation-question.420763/