6100lb travel trailer

Now there's what you should do and what you can do. I saw a minivan towing a 30' trailer one time and I'm not sure if that's the worst offense I've seen

 

This is nearly half that, 3400 and change wet. With a full cooler, three days worth of firewood, some toys, and a light headwind, I still managed 14.3 mpg today, at a very comfortable 70 mph. Down from my normal average of 15, but I still had plenty of power to spare.

Let me put it this way - driving is a large part of any camping trip. Taxing the truck is taxing on the nerves. It's supposed to be fun, remember? So, why strain the drive?

 

I was thinking about this discussion as I was driving home.

There are several sharp turns that have an immediate climb and require second gear with my stock unloaded truck, two turns require first gear.

This engine has as much off idle torque as a riding lawn mower -- I can't imagine my daily drive with a 5000+ pound travel coach attached.

 

It does fine at lower speeds. It struggles at higher speeds due to wind drag.

 

Up to the around 2000 pounds of my utility trailer I will agree, I haul the trailer all over locally without much inconvenience.

Even with the 4.30 axle and (handy) stump puller first gear of the manual there just isn't much low end torque available to climb with at a low speed. Make that a 5000 pound trailer and it becomes like eating soup with a fork -- sure you can do it, but it is a PITA.

 

My dude, I pulled a 3500# off road travel trailer full time for 9 months and it was a square drop and I had a roof top tent on my taco as well. 60 MPH winds gusting to 80 through Cheyenne and Casper was effing miserable and I averaged 6 MPG from Cheyenne to Casper. Stock gears and a stock tune were no help. That is with a 3500# trailer that has a lower profile than what you are considering.

I cannot imagine towing the weight you are considering more than a few miles across town. F to the No, I don't think you should tow that trailer with your Taco.

Here are a few of my towing pics if street cred is in question.





The Nova I only went about 6 miles across town. Keep in mind I have a heavy OME setup with the stiff dakars in the rear. Re gear to 5.29, ott tune, lockers for more fun off road, and an external trans cooler are my last upgrade items on this rig.

When I tow heavy I tow with my 7.4L 4spd dually.

 

This is my first post but I really appreciate the 411 on this thread! We have a 3250# 2022 Escape 19 TT that we first started towing with our 2005 4Runner; however, since it had 329K miles decided to "bite the bullet" and get something newer. After shopping around for both mid-size and full size trucks, we settled on the 2023 Tacoma TRD Off Road (love Toyotas) with towing package (with tranny and engine coolers)...had been hoping we could find a mid-size pick-up that would handle the TT. I also have a Fastway E2 LD hitch.
To follow-up on AZ Petes post, I agree...we have no problem towing the Escape generally; however, it does tend to breath heavy when going through the mountains of SW Virginia. I try to keep the rpm's around 2500-3000 (no more than 3500) which means I will sometimes have to throw the flashers on when going up a steeper grade. I usually pull with empty tanks but sometimes have to carry 10-15 gals in my fresh tank...fresh/grey have 20 gal max and black is 15.
Given what I'm reading, my question is how far up the tach can I reasonably run a new Tacoma without doing any long term damage? On some of these hills it's hard to keep it under 4500 and still maintain useful speed.
Otherwise, this has turned out to be an awesome vehicle and we're looking forward to running it down to the Keys in a few weeks.
Much appreciated!

 

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new truck.

Hopefully you aren't towing right off the lot with 100 miles on the truck.

After the engine is broken in these 3.5s don't seem to have an issue with the higher rpm, except for the dismal fuel economy that is.

Obviously you are working the engine hard so I would recommend following the severe service maintenance schedule in your owners manual.

Coming from domestic in line sixes and V8s it took me awhile to accept that the engine wasn't going to scatter just because I let it eat, driving got more fun then.

Click on the "Towing" tab at the top of the page, that will open the thread index, lots of good information.

To put a bit of humor on it:
You paid for the entire tachometer when you bought the truck, don't be afraid to use it.


(within reason)

 

They’re happy at 4500 rpm. The cooling and oiling systems are in their optimal range at higher RPMs. Watch the temperature. That’s by far the best indicator of how stressed a motor is.

 

REALLY appreciate the feedback!...and thank you for the welcome!
Actually, I had 1550 on the clock before we made our first trip towing last week...hopefully, that is good news. Trying to observe the 200/500/1000 milestones, although I have had it at highway speeds within the first 200 and beyond.
Love the tachometer line...will definitely have to borrow it.
It's been quite a few years since I've towed anything so I have alot of catching up to do.

 

Most people have already commented on these in different ways, but I'll just reiterate:

1 - You're already pushing towards the max tow rating for your vehicle. I'd only really consider doing that if you're just towing something with just you in the truck, and even then for local drives. This goes for any tow vehicle, you don't really want to choose a travel trailer more than 2/3s of its TWR since you risk going over the truck's limits in several ways.

2 - The hitch weight will likely go over the max rating for the Tacoma. Advertised is 560 (and the real number will likely be higher), and when you add a WDH that will bring it to 660 which is too high.

3 - I didn't see many people go into specifics here but that sucker is 32' long. That is too long for a Tacoma. The vehicle doesn't have a long wheelbase and will have more trouble with stability especially in high winds.

 

Wow. IMO, that is a big trailer for a half ton.