What Else to Tow a Trailer.

We have towed pop-up trailers for the last twenty years, but now have pulled the trigger on a trailer. It is a custom Escape 21C. Escape Trailers will give you the weight with all of your customized options, which for us is 3787 lbs, since they ship their trailers all over the US. Tongue weight is 366 before filling propane tanks. Batteries are NOT on the tongue; they are in the rear of the trailer. Bonus for payload purposes. Just two of us camping, generally, and we tend to travel pretty light.

Our tv is our original-to-us 2013 Tacoma crew cab 4x4 V6 (with tow package) with less than 70k miles, so an absolutely stellar little truck. We'd love a new truck to tow, but want to see how the truck market shakes out in the next year or two. In the meantime, the Tacoma is it.

We'll be changing out shocks to the non-oem Bilstein 4600s and are considering Timbren SES's. No off-roading for us. We will also have a Fastway E2 and the truck currently has a tekonsha p3.

What else should we be considering to upgrade our ride to make it easier on the Tacoma (and us)? I've read through the Tow Bible and a lot of the towing threads. But would love any current advice.

TiA

 

2013 TRD Sport 4x4 ours has a 6” lift and 295 70 17’s. Bilstein 5100’s and a P3 brake controller, with power stop brakes. No Timbrens yet…but soon. We do light 4 wheeling but mostly fire service roads. We are at 90k and that is after an 8 state 3100 mile journey. We tow an InTech Flyer Explore 2080lbs with a full propane tank and one deep cell battery up front. Tongue weight is right at 250. Thanks to a creative loading system. It’s just my wife and I and a small chihuahua pug mix. We are just below 3000lbs when fully loaded for an extended stay. For us that is as much as we want to pull. We live in Western Washington and have to navigate passes whether the Siskiyou’s to the south or the Cascade’s heading east. Mountain passes are 45 mph and about 8 mpg for us. Unless like the Siskiyou’s we are afforded a long descent on the other side. Then we can get up to 12. On average we were at 10 mpg for the whole trip. Had to plan carefully where we would stop. Because of that we carried 20 gals of fuel for generator and emergencies. Payload is spartan. I would say that is the one thing we are really careful about. We don’t carry much in the truck. Spare, jack, two 5 gallon DIY solar shower tanks and a few tools and treats for humans and dog. Ultimately on this last trip we were about 100lbs over our payload after hitting the scales on the way out of town. Something was off I felt heavy..sure enough 500 over. Ended up coming home and sacrificing some minor conveniences. There are plenty of people here that tow 4k +. I find that where I am at weight wise is about as much as I want to tow. It make for a pleasant journey with minimal white knuckle situations. Though I will say we did hit a microburst with 75 mph winds from the out flow that raised the pucker factor to 10. Good luck..be safe

 

Sounds like you’re at up pretty well. Take the time to go to a truck stop and weigh the truck without the trailer, truck with the trailer loaded as you’d travel without the weight distribution hooked up and again after setting the WDH to make sure you have everything balanced. You’ll want about 450lbs on the tongue to keep the trailer stable and won’t really know where you’re at without going through the scales a few times.

 

Consider a scan gauge 2 to monitor transmission temps while towing and upgrade the factory transmission cooler. (one of my next projects)

Some great info here on the subject:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-transmission-cooler-upgrade.482280/#post-14723804

 

I'll look into this, thanks!

Our current pop-up is a High Wall at 3334 dry weight (so probably close to 4000k loaded) with a 380 tongue weight before batteries and propane. We've towed it all over for the last 5 years without too much strain. We are also in Western WA, so face mountains in pretty much every direction. I figure the main difference between us now and the trailer will be wind resistance. I'm thinking the weights are pretty darn close. The only times we've struggled is misjudging passing and getting stuck behind a semi uphill. Otherwise, if we can maintain speed, there hasn't been any issues. The trailer is 7'4" wide and just over 9' tall, so while not the hugest, it is certainly more wind resistance than the popup.

Our plan is to stop at a weigh station on the way back from picking up the trailer next spring. Then, we'll have a much better idea of our situation.

@Pointeman Thanks for sharing your experience. Great looking combo! Does your lift and canopy eat up a lot of your payload? We have a tonneau on our truck, but it is relatively light.

Appreciate the help from all

 

Hahaha yes everything on my truck reduces the payload, from the extra weight of the tires and rims, roof rack, water tanks, lift, and canopy. I meticulously calculated those when considering the purchase of our trailer. Though we do love it. Eventually the wife will win out for a larger unit…but with that will come a bigger truck.