RV Towing

Hi All,

I'm brand new here, would appreciate your input;
I have a 2015 Tacoma, V6 w/ tow pkg. My VIN says I can pull up to 6500 lbs, of course I know I need to stay well below that for pulling up hill and such. I am looking at an RV at 3500 dry weight so I know I'm ok there. I was looking in the 24' range but it seemed too small inside for our needs. Question is...the rv is 31'6", the specs don't say anything about length. Is this just a "what I'm comfortable with" issue? What say y'all?

Thanks Much

 

Stay short!!!!!! I've towed a 24ft enclosed trailer weighing ~5000lbs with my truck I would highly recommend stepping up to a full size if this is what you are looking at doing. The reality is the truck isn't ideal for towing things like this. Even with a brake controller getting an even bigger trans cooler (you will need one) and upping the power of the truck. The truck isn't that wide nor that big so wind and other factors really can play against towing something that big safely.

 

Kinda what I was thinking as well.

Thanks for the help.

 

Read the posts on towing as the Tacoma is rated at 6500 but gross matters too (towed RV, truck, stuff, passengers) so as I towed a 26 ft it ate my rear diff and wheel bearings even with weight distro hitch. Whatever you may buy go to a truck scale and weigh it and truck (place on 2 scales so you can see each) and most RVs are heavier than the sticker and then load them up and add 1500lbs or so ha ha so you quickly go over gross. Your mpg drop to 8-12 mpg so be ready nothing you can really do but just go 65 or less. It tows them but NOT ideal. As above shorter and lighter is better or get a bigger truck - real world.

 

Yeah, safety was the real concern but hadn't considered mechanical issues.

Thanks much

SoTEX2019 Out

 

I have exactly the same Tacoma as you, and I regularly tow a 20' travel trailer weighing in at about 3360 lbs. dry without any issues. Ditto to what was said before though; I've never weighed it, but we easily add another 1000-1200 lbs with water, propane, liquor, and the like. You'd be surprised how quickly you reach the Tacoma's max towing weight.

 

pay attention to the tongue weight too. A long and heavy camper can add a lot of weight onto the tongue. then when you add in yourself, passengers, gear, stuff in the bed, you can very easily max out your tongue capacity and no matter the weight of the actual trailer, you're in for a bad time. Don't max out your Tacoma. Get a full size if you're going to be pulling something heavy and fairly often.

 

I have the same truck as you and tow a pop up. If you are looking at towing a camper that is almost 32' long, just go buy a full size truck and fifth wheel instead.

What all do you need that requires such a large camper? ha

 

Recommend you stay shorter. I had a 31' TT and upsized from my F150 to a 3/4 Ton Suburban within 2 months of the TT delivery. Even at 24 feet you will have a big sail kicking the back your truck around in any cross wind. As others have noted, the Tacoma runs out of payload very quickly so hitch weight and trailer set up is critical.

 

Forget about the trailer weight and length. The real limit is your payload. Look at the sticker on the drivers door jamb and get out a calculator. My truck has 1200 lbs payload. I have a 180 lb fiberglass cap on my truck. My wife weighs 140, I'm 220. That leaves me 660 lbs of usable payload. Figure 13% of the trailer weight as tongue weight. Make sure you include loaded weight, not dry weight. A 3500 lb dry weight trailer will be 4000-4500 once loaded.

13% of a 4000 lb trailer is 520 lbs on the tongue. If you use a WDH figure another 100 lbs for the hitch. If I were pulling a 4000 lb trailer with my truck that would only leave me 140 lbs payload to carry other cargo in my truck with no WDH, only 40 lbs if I use a WDH. If I didn't have the cap on it 320 lbs or 220 with a WDH. If you can keep the trailer weight below 5K you don't have to use a WDH, over 5K and you need one. At 4K, it might pull better with one.

That is cutting it pretty close with MY truck. I could pull that trailer, but I'd have to pack carefully. You need to figure out your payload and do the math for YOUR truck. Payload varies by cab style, bed length, 4X4 vs 4X2, etc. How much you and passengers weigh matter. If you're 150 and your wife 110 then you have another 100 lbs of payload to work with.

But in a nutshell most Tacoma's reach their max tow capacity at around 4000-4500 lbs, not 6500. They calculate the 6500 limit with only a 150 lb driver in the tow vehicle with no other passengers or cargo in the truck. BTW, you run into the same issue with 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks. None of them will actually tow the amount stated with more than a 150 lb driver in the tow vehicle.