A "weighty" issue: Running out of payload capacity....

A couple hundred pounds over likely isn't going to hurt anything. Toyota knows people overload trucks and take that into consideration when they issue weight ratings.

There may be brake and suspension upgrades you can purchase to improve the truck's capabilities. You can even change your driving to compensate.

The problem that you will never get rid of is the weight sticker on the truck's doorjamb. As you have mentioned, if you were to wreck the truck while loaded down, you have a real problem. Aside from being legally responsible for any bodily injuries and property damage that others may claim against you, your family is going to ride in this vehicle with you! If it were me, I would want something that is well away from it's rated limits. Seems excessive to buy a 3/4 ton truck to tow a 3500 pound camper, but if that's what it takes to stay out of jail and keep your family safe, then it's worth it.

 

I have a 98 Taco which I load past capacity with a truck camper. I have found that the Firestone Ride Rite air-bags do well to improve the handling of the truck when overloaded. Doesn't change the payload capacity, just makes the truck handle better.

 

GAWR certainly plays into the whole thing Chris. My rear GAWR is 3000lbs. Do the double cabs have the same rating? A 25% overload would be 3750.

 

I disagree. The truck is plenty capable for what I need, which is different that what I'd like. it is just amazing how quickly it can become overloaded by a spending spree at the local 4x4 shop. It is something that I think many don't put enough thought towards.

If you look at the numbers on the surface, it seems like a far more capable truck. Look at my scenario:
Family of 4 needs 4 seats: Check
Occasionally tow a camper that weighs a max of 3,500 lbs: Max towing is 6,400, almost double my need, excellent. Check
Tongue weight can be as high as 700 lbs. Payload is almost 1,300 lbs. Let's call the family 550 lbs, leaving me 750 lbs. 700 lbs for the tongue weight and 50 lbs for extra gear in the truck. Check.
Max tongue weight is 640 lbs for the Tacoma: Ok, take 50 lbs off the tongue and put it into the bed. Add here, subtract there. Check.

So on the surface, it looks like it pencils out just fine. I've towed some decent loads, and I rarely rely on the "max trailer towing figure", but always start with the GCWR, subtract the GVWR of the tow vehicle to arrive at my realistic max towing number. For the Tacoma, that is 11,100 lbs GCWR minus 5,450 GVWR to yield a max trailer weight of 5,650 lbs. That gives me a 2,000 lb cushion over my max trailer weight of 3,500 lbs. Sounds good so far, and well within the limits of the Tacoma.

And when the trailer is loaded to the 700 lb tongue weight, there is A LOT of stuff on the front deck (2 coolers, 18 gallons of water, 4 bundles of wood, 48 gallon action packer, 24 gallon action packer, 2 E-Z-Ups, 2 deep cycle batteries, 2 bicycles, 4 folding chairs, probably a few more things and a partridge in a pear tree....) Heck, the front deck on my camper is bigger than the bed of the Tacoma! It measures 53" deep by 80" wide vs. 60" deep by 56" wide (at the widest.)

Also, we can deduce that the Tacoma's GVWR limiting factor is the suspension/frame, to include the axles, wheels, tires, bearings and seals. How can we tell? Because the Tacoma is rated to tow an unbraked trailer that weighs 1,000 lbs. (GCWR of 6,450 lbs.) So the engine, transmission and brakes are up to the task of safely starting and stopping 6,450 lbs, but the the GVWR isn't 6,450 lbs because the suspension/frame/axles etc. aren't up to the task. We can also eliminate the tires as being a limiting factor, as each one is for 2,403 lbs times 4 = 9,612 lbs capacity. Mud Terrains in the nearly the same size are good for 3,412 lbs each. So now we are down to suspension, frame, axles and wheels. Naturally, none of this changes the sticker on the door jamb, but maybe provides some "peace of mind". I could go on, but I'm sure I'm boring some people now.....

Anyway, it isn't until after you buy it that you start to think about other things. It goes something like this:

Not a lot of storage space inside, with half the cubby hole behind the rear seats taken up by a subwoofer. How about a truck box or tonneau cover? I like the truck box, I could store some straps in there, chains in the winter, a weather proof box for bringing home groceries, and probably some other stuff too. Ok, let's add a tool box.

Hmmmm, the kids are having a hard time climbing in, so I should look at some steps. Running boards are nearly $400. Rock rails are about the same, way better structurally, and the kids could use them for steps too. Alright, let's do that.

Oooo, ARB's front bumper sure looks very nice! How about getting one of those too. I had one my Jeep and liked it a lot. Oh, and the local shop is selling the Warn M8000 for $540. I miss my winch sometimes, and I still have my recovery gear (snatch block, tree saver, etc.) Let's get one of those too!

I keep reading that these Rugged Trail tires are called "Rugged Fails". They aren't bad, but I can get $200 trade in credit for them at the local shop and get some Mud Terrains. I had Mud Terrains (old style) before and I liked them, so I'm guessing the new KM2's are quite nice also. Maybe the All Terrains to keep some road noise down. Ok, let's plan on swapping out the tires soon too. Might as well go a little bigger while I'm at it....

It is this list of "little things" that quickly add up to an overloaded truck, which then demands some choices be made:
1.) Scale back the "build up" to remain within the GVWR when going out with the camper. No legal or moral dilemma, just doesn't satisfy my "mod bug" urges...

2.) Add some additional suspension/axle/frame support and live with the knowledge that I'm driving overloaded on occasion. Legal and moral dilemma for sure, but the "mod bug" is satisfied....

3.) Sell the truck and buy a Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel (had one before, loved it, just very BIG.....) Not a realistic option, as the price delta is quite high and the actual amount of time spent towing is limited.

But "denial" isn't one of the traits I'm prone to. "Denial" wouldn't have even started such a thread, "denial" would have just punched in the order and went blissfully down the road, ignorant and happy....

 

Access Cab and Double Cab 4x4's have Rear GAWR's of 3,110 and Front GAWR's of 2,755 (same across all 4x4 models.)

 

The heck with towing, you run out of room quickly just with people and stuff. DC LB with towing package has a max payload of 960 lbs. Subtract two adults and one child and you're down to about 500 left over. Add in the chains, gear for changing tire (torque wrench, socket), first aid kit, shovel, tie down straps, etc, and we're probably down in the 400 range. Heck, I'm overloaded after loading up with firewood every trip!

You got me looking at Toyota's website again to see what the current numbers are. They keep lowering the towing ratings on the Tacoma (seems like every year). Mine's rated for towing at 650/6500, yet now the DC LB is only rated for 630/6300. Must be all the added weight of the equipment for VSC, TPMS, Traction Control, etc? I wonder if that's lowering MPGs with an extra 200 lbs of equipment coming standard on the truck?

 

What im not hearing is stuff like brake box , distribution hitch ,brakes , they may not be in contention .
But consider the springs , well rated or not your vehicle fully loaded will shift significantly to the front when braking .Further overloading cant change that much , helpers in the rear , do nothing for the front taking all that weight braking . THATS why the axle is stronger than what they rate the load to be , to allow for the dynamics of driving. Consider a 6% grade in the mountains , a corner , now hitting the brakes.

 

Those are foregone conclusions. Trailers over 3,000 lbs are required to have a braking system based on Washington State law (Toyota says trailers over 1,000 lbs need brakes.) The actual wording is something like " Required on all trailers on all wheels. Under 3000 lbs not required unless trailer exceeds 40% of the towing vehicle gross weight."

My 3,500 lb camper has electric brakes, and I use a Tekonsha Prodigy to control them. My max tongue weight is 700 lbs, so I have a 750 lb twin bar weight distributing hitch plus a sway controller.

 

Sounds like you got it all figured out. In my experience towing/hauling for the last 25 yrs. when your truck is pushed to capacity it leads to excessive wear and tear. Driveability and ride suffer also.

 

Isn't Denial a river in Africa?

ok Nile , i'm kidding.

 

I believe the only issue with over loading is if you are constantly doing it, if you overload the truck once in a while you should be fine.

According to msn autos the maximum payload of my Taco is 1410lbs. I have had three guys and two ATV's in my Taco. Three guys around 550lbs. Yamaha Wolverine ATV 550lbs wet weight and Yamaha Raptor ATV 300lbs wet weight. That ads to 1400lbs. The truck was ok, did fine, would doing this every day put additional wear and tear on the truck? Answer is yes.

 

Hmmm so I was wondering if you guys think I might have a problem towing a 12ft tandem axle trailer loaded up 1300 miles. I think the trailer weighs about 1600lbs. As I have read I think the truck has a 6600lb towing capacity? And of course I will have the bed full as well. This isnt something I will be doing often. I only want to move to Colorado once. I d just like some peoples thoughts on this....
btw I have an 09 trd w/towing capacity.

Thanks

 

FUCK IT...LOAD THE BITCH UP!!! SERIOUSLY, IT'S A TOYOTA. I DON'T WORRY ABOUT BREAKING THE TRUCK, IT'S A TRUCK AND TOYOTA KNOWS WE ARE GOING TO OVERLOAD IT SO THEY UNDER RATE IT FOR THIER OWN LIABILITY SAFTEY. MY COUSIN HAD A 1989, SR5, 4 CYLINDER, 4X4;...HIS PAYLOAD WAS RATED FOR 900 (ISH...MAYBE A LITTLE UNDER???) ANYWAYS, WE HAD HOME DEPOT LOAD A FULL PALET OF ROOFING SHINGLES INTO IT, PLUS WE HAD AN EXTRA 6 BUNDLES. THERE WAS SO LITTLE WEIGHT ON THE FRONT TIRES, WE HAD TO ADJUST, GOING FORWARD/REVERSE 3 OR 4 TIMES WHEN TURNING RIGHT, BECAUSE THE FRONT TIRE WOULD HARDLEY TURN THE TRUCK. THIS WAS IN 1998, BUILDING A BARN. THE TRUCK HAD ABOUT 145,000/150,000 MILES ON IT,ORIGINAL SUSPENTION.

 

If the shingles were centered over the axle or more forward , he would've steered just fine.
Its a dodge , its a chevy , its a ford , its a nissan, they all echo the same foolish "abuse it , if it wont take it sell it and talk crap about it" mentality.
I seriously hope you are just trolling . The OP has more to risk than a barn , besides , 1 story doesnt prove it to be true, maybe the axle bearings went out and , well didnt get mentioned. They dont "under rate" it just for their safety in liability, that weight moves to the front axle when braking , weight transers to the rear under acceleration, they allow for those dynamics by having the gawr lower than the axle's actual weight rating.
Next weeks thread, my buddies truck went thru the barn when we were gonna reroof it.Why did the springs break, axle bend and the bearings go out. Any truck has the same stories of success , and i bet an equal amount of stories of what went wrong,
Consequences isnt getting away with it 100 or 1000 times , its what happened that one inevitable time you finally did not get away with it.

 

Definitely some food for thought, my old 97' Camaro had a payload of 450 Ibs, I know with a 4 passenger road trip I was way over that but it still accelerated fine. I've always figured as long as your not bottoming out suspension (which I have done on more then a few occassions) then your good.

 

You can upgrade the suspension but you still have the same brakes designed to stop it at the factory payload, the wheel brgs and axles, cooling,transmission ect, are still rated at the same you need a bigger truck or leave some stuff out of the truck, These trucks are not designed to haul big loads great distances, my $0.02

 

I've got an X-Runner, stock upgraded big breaks. They work pretty damn good but I doubt I'll ever tow more then a lil ski-doo trailer

 

What an idiot.
In re OP, it sounds like you're really interested in a platform to hang accessories, and that's where the Tacoma excels.
You will want the rear spring TSB asap, and still, don't kid yourself, this isn't much of a truck.
You owned a real truck previously...the Taco isn't close to that.

 

This is why I kept my '03 GM crew. Would have gotten screwed on trade in anyway. I got the Taco for my daily driver & it would be nice to find a camper it can comfortably pull. Until then I'll stay with the HD for family camping.

 

response to post #38.
They're all real trucks,find us an artificial truck .Measure them as a tool , like a screwdriver , they come in different sizes for a reason. jeeps (original) were called 1/4 tons , there are half tons , 1 tons , bigger even.
I use 1 tons and flatbeds rated at 18,000+ at work , we dont need to play "real truck" games,if we did, no chincy 1ton can compare....fortunately, thats not my view of a pickup.
Tacoma vs a 1 ton.... goes to work , check , hauls dead deer n elk....check , goes to hiking trails check , I traded a 3/4 chevy in,I dont tow....favor 3/4 ........ mpg and reliablity tacoma check check.......real truck, like so many.