2018 Taco towing a 4k pound RV

I know there is a long thread on towing, but wanted a separate one to share my experience with anyone not looking to sort through so many pages to get a feel of what they can expect towing a 4k pound RV.
My Tacoma is a 2018, 2wd with about 50k miles. It is stock except for the Michelin Defender LTX P265/70R16 tires. (Love them.) I also have an electric brake controller.

We've been camping for years and recently sold our Jayco Pop Up camper. (~1,850 pounds unloaded.) It was a nice camper for about 5 years, but the setup and takedown was getting a little old. We wanted a travel trailer and are at a point in life we could get one. Little did we know what the pandemic would do to the RV market!

What we found that fit our wants, needs, and budget was a 2021 Wildwood FSX 178BHSKX. The dry weight is just under 4k pounds. I also opted for an Equalizer weight distribution hitch to go with it.

This weekend, we drove from ~Memphis to RV Wholesalers a little North of Dayton, OH to pick the RV up. For a point of reference, we drove ~78mph on the way up and averaged ~22.5 mpg.

We hooked the RV up around 5 p.m. on Friday and drove about 3 1/2 hours South to a campground in Frankfort, KY. On Saturday, we drove the rest of the way back to ~Memphis.

Takeaways:
1. The Equalizer hitch made a big difference. I didn't really need a weight distributing hitch with our Pop Up camper, but that little thing bounced all over the place and constantly felt like it was pulling the back end of the truck around. I didn't feel that a bit with this hitch.

2. I could pull that little Pop Up at whatever speed I wanted and went up to 5th gear. That's not going to happen with the new RV. Lol. It simply wouldn't hold 5th gear except for going down a hill. It didn't seem to be the weight, but the wind resistance that did it in. Running 65-70 in 4th at ~2,800 rps or so did well for pulling this RV. Going up some hills, it did drop to 3rd gear and reached in to the 4,000 rpm range, but this motor loves to wind up and would really pull hard then.

3. When pulling the Pop Up camper, I could get 17 mpg and even more at times. Pulling this RV varies depending on your "wind strategy". When we left the RV dealer, we were on a fairly flat drive for the first couple of hours. I tried to trail 18 wheelers, but didn't make a huge effort to do so. I averaged ~12 mpg. South of Cincinnati, we got in to a lot more hills and less traffic due to the time of night. (Less dense traffic and less 18 wheelers to tail.) I dropped to ~9.5 mpg. Once we got on the fairly flat parts between Frankfort, KY and ~Memphis today, I tried to stay behind 18 wheelers and draft them. I was getting ~13.2 mpg. I would find an 18 wheeler going in the 65-70 mph range and get behind them with my cruise control set on 75 mpg. I set the adaptive cruise control to follow as close as it could and then let it do its thing. It worked like champ keeping me close enough to stay in his draft and adjusted speed to stay the right distance from him.

4. I did have a concern about engine and transmission temps so I bought a $13 OBD dongle from Amazon and downloaded Torque Pro so I could monitor the performance. Both of these readings stayed well within specs for the whole drive. (Coolant temp varied as thermostat opened and closed.)

SUMMARY: I'm very pleased with how the Tacoma pulled this camper. Once we get it loaded, I'm sure it'll take a little more oomph to get it where I'm going. It won't hold 5th gear and is not going to keep up with the F250s pulling 27 ft trailers at 90 mph. 98% of the miles I drive this truck won't be with a camper behind it though and I don't need the expense/maintenance/repairs of a F250 during those times. I know where I had my expectations for this and 13.2 mpg even exceeded them. YMMV

*Edited with a different picture that has a better view of how far I was from the 18 wheeler in front of me. I NEVER felt that I was at an unsafe distance from the 18 wheeler that would leave me unable to stop without an accident. If you feel your capabilities are not the same, please drive your drive. This post is to inform you of what I did and how it worked. Again, YMMV.

 

Nice write up of your experiences with your new trailer.

 

Good writeup and that seems a very sensible trailer for a Tacoma. It would be a LOT easier to read if broken up into several shorter paragraphs though.

 

What app is this?

 

Torque Pro

 

Thanks for the feedback. Broken up to make it an easier read.

 

Nice camper. I have wondered how the Tacoma was going to handle towing. I have a pop up now that's maybe close to what you said yours was. Cool that you got 17mpg or more with that.
I don't see me going out camping again this year. the week before I got the new truck i was on a trip. With work and covid I was only out once. You are right it has changed camping. My favorite state parks that were never fully booked this year were. Hopefully next season I'll be out much more.

I have torque pro and a BT dongle I use in my old Liberty and a few others cars but never figured out how to add the trans temp and other things. How did you set that up? Does it stay connected with the truck consistently? I always had issues with the Jeep dropping the connection to the dongle.

 

That's a nice camper! You should do well pulling that one. I think the front facing profile will be a little smaller and that would help more than anything.

 

Yea the wind resistance is a real killer. Especially because it looks like that trailer is 8’ wide?

 

It took me a minute to find the thread I used, but this one walked me through the Custom PID to correctly read transmission temps and the pan and at the torque converter. The torque converter usually ran 2-3 degrees warmer than the pan. Our Pop Up was a 2011 Jayco 1006.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ure-pids-for-torque-pro-and-now-apple.513531/

 

7 1/2 ft and YES.
As soon as I'd pull out from behind an 18 wheeler, it would seem like I dropped an anchor.

 

Any information on actual stopping distance at highway speeds?
@Jay1313g

 

Fortunately, I didn't have to stop quickly, but the trailer has electric brakes and I do have a controller for them. I didn't ever have a problem with slowing down or feeling like the trailer was pushing me.

 

Awesome i book marked it to try later.
My camper is a 2009 forest river 10 foot box not sure of the model. Got it used in 2017 to replace a 94 Jayco eagle 8 that was falling apart. It's like new almost for a 2009. I'm single and often camp with friends and family but it's been me only this year. I do not really like the set up and take down but it fits in the parking area i have. I might consider a tear drop camper next time around.

 

Yea my Bullet looks identical in size.

 

The 18 wheeler You're drafting has stopping distance less than your rig.
Please reconsider your strategy of drafting big rigs.
Following too closely causes pile ups resulting in multiple fatalities.

 

Thanks for the insight. If I was a full time RVer or constantly towed something there might be an ROI there, but I'd lose the mpg on the 98% of the time I'm not towing. I drive 40-50k miles per year.

 

Interesting.
I usually avoid the big rigs while pulling out 19ft 4200lb Hideout.

I find the wash behind them throws the truck/trailer side to side too much for my comfort. While clean air is less mpg- it’s more stable.

Also my eyes would be glued to the back of that rig- no way I would use cruise back there!

 

Not only that, but it won't keep up with any full size F150, Chevy 1500, or Ram 1500. All of those would pull a 4k camper like it wasn't even there while getting better mileage and with a lot less stress on the drivetrain. Tacos are great trucks for what they are but for towing? Not so much.

 

Yes. 4000lb single axle high-profile 22' trailer, wet road, 68mph, following that close to an 18-wheeler with no visibility around it, depending on adaptive cruise control to brake for you is unwise.