anyone have experience with Hooke Road hitch?

At 4600lbs why do you feel you are close to the max of a class 3? You are probably close to what the Tacoma is rated at but not the hitch. Types of Trailer Hitches and Hitch Classes - Towing 101 (curtmfg.com)

 

why then do all the descriptions for Reese/Curt etc. say 5000 lbs/500 tongue?

 

Are you looking for one based on the application for a Tacoma?

 

Change the vehicle to a Tundra and you will see a class 3 ratings go up in capacity. You will also see Curt does not show a class 4 for a Tacoma, but for a Tundra they show class 3 and 5 available. Curt is taking into consideration the vehicles capacity. Or at least their opinion of a safe capacity. If it was me I would chose a larger truck. But if I was to do it with a Tacoma I would make sure I could do it with a flat hitch/ball mount (no drop or rise) and a very high quality ball.

 

The factory hitch is pretty stout compared to the aftermarket stuff... just can't find any OEM for a decent price at the moment. Stealers want ~$860 and nothing on CL or FBM that looks decent right now either.

I do try to keep it level but when dragging it through the hills of Virginia or New York State I can't... and yes I may be looking into something better suited to the load... which of course will mean getting an enclosed trailer and filling it up with more stuff, the slippery slope

And unfortunately, unless I can rig an A pillar grab handle, the new Toyotas are not an option...why they stopped putting those in is beyond me.

 

If you have the means to have things shipped at a reasonable cost.

 

Are you saying you do not currently have one? Not OEM and no idea on cost of shipping but Rock Auto is inexpensive. 2013 TOYOTA TACOMA 4.0L V6 Trailer Hitch | RockAuto

 

Thx for the FBM link! looks super clean and although seller didn't want to ship, he's checking rates. I def prefer OEM/Factory parts

 

<$200 mod: https://www.ktjo4x4.com/collections...products/tacoma-v2-driver-side-grab-handle-3g

 

https://www.sparksparts.com/p-tundra-grab-handle-kit-pktungrab

This is what I did for mine. Works great.

 

Thank you all for being awesome