Advice on towing a 5000lb travel trailer?

i have a 2016 taco trd off road tow rated at 6800 lb, Question i want to get a 5000 lb travel trailer but i do not want to have bicycles pass me going up hills. Anybody tow a trailer that size? Towed the 189 hood river R-pod 4000 miles from central oregon to san felipe mx. to nm ,co ,wy utah ,idaho ,back to or got between 7-11 miles per gal ran in 5 th ect mostly, very happy with the taco over all

 

Welcome to The Forum!

Lots of good info here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gen-3-towing-thread.413026/

 

Welcome to TW! The TRD off road is rated slightly lower than that, under 6700lbs towing, check your door jamb sticker. When you add your gear it will increase your 5k trailer weight. Your trucks going to be slow and your MPG's are going to suck also. definitely add a trailer brake and look into getting a larger trans cooler. I dont tow so I cant give any first hand experience but the thread @Hobbs linked should get you plenty of good info.

 

The only Tacoma with a tow rating of at 6800 Lbs is a 2 wheel drive, V6, Access Cab.

 

5000 is too close to your limit. You add water, clothes, food etc and you're over the limit. You cause a crash and you'll be charged with manslaughter

 

trailer weight is 3800lb and add 1000 for our stuff. 4800 lb. installing brake controller and air bag on rear. i’ve towed utility trailer with 2500 no problem maybe double might be some

 

If fully loaded you’ll be around 4800 to 5000 lbs you are fine. With tow package (6500 lbs) you are around 1500 lbs under max. With brakes and airbags you should be fine. You may want to consider a WDH.
You also need to consider GVWR. When you get passengers in the truck, equipment and stuff in the back and tongue weight you will be close to or possibly exceed your GVWR. Can be dangerous to tow while exceeding GVWR.
As far as bicycles passing you , you really won’t know how your truck is going to perform until you load it up and tow your trailer. You will know you’re towing something with 5000 lbs behind you. You may find you truck performance to be acceptable, you may not.

 

I tow a 23fb Ultra Lite from Forest River. 4101 dry weight. 508 lbs tongue weight, 1377 cargo weight. I never haul with water tanks loaded. Truck is a 2017 trd sport. 3 inch suspension lift.
Ie add a spring in the rear and adjustables in the front. Have a 1 1/2 inch rear drop with weight distribution hitch. Never got passed by a bicycle yet. I use a P2 brake controller. When towing I get about 7.5 - 8 mpg. No better. Would love to have a bigger fuel tank. Wife likes the small truck, says no to bigger one. By the way put a cat back exhaust systems. When wife is in truck she ears ear plugs. I turn my hearing aids off. 250 mile trip we have to stop for gas three times.21 gallon tank x 8mpg = +/- 160 mile range max. I don't cut it too close.

 

An update. May 25 2019. After towing the trailer few times now things are better. I had to change out my upper control arms on the front to a set of fully adjustable ones from Eibach. I am now going to reset my load balancing hitch. Then I will install a set of the firestone air bags. I still have to cruise in 3rd at 4000rpm doing 62+/- to make everything happy. Also had to add a small muffler in series with the MBRP dual exhaust so the wife would quit wearing ear plugs. Will report back later.

 

Yikes

 

I wouldn't worry too much about passing bicycles; I'd worry about passing gas stations. Biggest load I've hauled with my '11 DCSB is about 4700 lb. (Honda Civic on an 1800 lb. flatbed) and I got around 13 mpg at 65-70mph on rolling hills interstate driving. Add another 500 lb. and expect the mileage to drop a bit more. Unless the hills are long and somewhat steep, you should be able to maintain 50-55 going uphill, but there goes your gas even faster..

 

I'd get a full size. Tacoma is a great truck, but frequent tow vehicle it is not.

 

4000 rpm for 4 hours must make for a very unpleasant ride, and shortened engine life. I would like a higher sixth gear. 21-2200 rpm is too high for me at sixty-ish mph.

 

I have an engine performance monitor on the truck that tracks load on the engine, hp and torque. 4000 rpm is right at the power curve. no lugging on the engine. Less stress. Truck is much quitter now and I guess you get use to the rest.

 

I'm towing about a 4k pound TT without water. My truck is lifted 6" on 33's so I get about 7MPG and it's fine until I want to be on the interstate. A headwind, crosswind or incline causes a drop to 3rd and an uncomfortable (to me anyway) high RPM 4k plus to maintain 55-60MPH. Have not read all the threads but I wish there were more not can you tow 6k pounds but more do you accept the high RPM your going to be turning doing so.

 

I tow a 5k TT when its loaded and have no issue maintaining 65mph in 5th gear. On hills I drop it to 4th and on really steep hills down fo 3rd. Fuel mileage is from 9mpg to 13mpg.

 

So, remember that a v-6 Tacoma has 278 hp at 6000 rpm and 265 lbs of torque at 4000 rpm. V-6s are higher rpm motors and have to turn more rpms to generate hp. My Daughter has a Tundra TRD pro and has all the same complaints and it's a V-8. She tows a toy hauler same weight numbers I tow with the Tacoma. I am comfortable towing my trailer at 4000 rpm in third gear the motor just sings all day. So remember 4000rpm is 66% of throttle/rpm. It's designed to take it. But if it bothers you buy a diesel for 56k instead of a Tacoma for 35k.

 

I’m considering a tt similar to yours and I’m curious how it handles under high wind situations. I know the taco is rated for it and people are doing it but does the truck feel like it has enough ass to keep everything planted when crosswinds come into play?

 

I live in Central Texas, wind all the time. I have not had any problem with wind or handling. Get a good brake controller. We got a P2. Do Not use cruise control unless you are on really flat land. I use third at 4000 rpm at about 60-62 mph.

I am now ordering an aux fuel tank, 37 gallons. It will fit between the wheel wells and front of bed. Has pump to fill primary tank as you go.
width = B 48
depth = C 12
height = A 15
cubic inches 8640
cubic inches in a foot 1728
total cubic feet 5
gallons per cubic foot 7.480519
gallons in aux tank 37.4026
gallons in truck tank 21
total gallons 58.4026
Range at 7.5 mpg 438.0195
Range at 8.0 mpg 467.2208
Range at 15mpg 876.039

Make sure you don't exceed your weight ratings. My TRD Sport 2w drive, 6600 lbs max tow weight, 660 lbs max tongue weight. Remember tongue weight subtracts from truck bed weight capacity. PS Originally from Baton Rouge.

 

Thank you sir. With my base model I don’t have cc. The previous owner already had a brake controller installed but that’s several years old without any use. I’ll probably get a new one. I have an ac v6 w/ manual trans so I’m not so much worried about my power/drive train. our ratings should be about the same so that clears up any concerns for me. Thanks again.