Buy a hitch or stick with bumper?

I have a 2.7l double cab PreRunner.

according to the manual I'm looking at a max 3500lb weight and 500lb tongue weight on the bumper.

I am being given a jet-ski and someday would like to buy a small trailer to put a riding lawnmower or a scoop of mulch on.

So the question is knowing I cant haul much anyway and Im never going to pull anything all that big in the near future Is it worth it to break my bank buying a hitch and t-connector now or just buy a ball for the bumper and t connector and possibly upgrade to a class 3 hitch later?

or with my truck am I ever going to need a hitch?

 

I prefer receivers vs. the bumper because it's a lot lower and you can choose the ball mount to make the trailer tow level.

 

^^^ Agreed.

OP,
I've got a used aftermarket receiver hitch I'll let go for $80 + shipping if interested. It was a take-off from a customer truck when installing one of my High clearance bumpers.
I believe it is 5000lb rated, and bolts together so its a little bit smaller than a factory hitch to ship.

 

Tempting but shipping from Nevada to North Carolina cant be cheap and I can get a new one from Advance for 104 with the 30% discount they have going on.

 

In the short term, if you need to use the tractor buy ramp transitions and shove it right on there. Mine is a 2.7 single cab.

 

i just bought a wiring kit and i tow with my bumper, pull a 4x8 trailer with either mine and my moms motorcycle(ninja and harley), or my riding lawn mower. also pull my jet ski, never had an issue.

if the bumper is rated to pull 3500 lbs, and im pulling under 3500 lbs, might as well use it

 

I've always used the bumper without issues. To be honest, I've exceeded the limit a few times towing my father's 18' Lund (weigh's ~4,000 lbs. with trailer). I've towed it up to 100 miles before without issue.
In my opinion, a hitch isn't worth the loss in ground clearance when the bumper works just as well. But I spend a lot of time in the woods, ground clearance may not matter as much to you.

 

And you think the PreRunner's Extra height is a non issue for occasional towing?

 

If you're towing light and only for short distances, you could probably get away with just using the bumper. Keep in mind, most small trailers will be at a pretty significant angle when towed by the bumper (nose high). This can make loading the trailer tricky and also make the trailer track poorly (trailer can start 'wagging' down the road because of the high tongue). I like the receiver because I can put a shacke in there and use it as a recovery point and it allows me to be able to tow heavier if I ever need to.

 

Alright, because at the moment all I am going to tow is a jet-ski all of half a mile from my house to the boat ramp, and I don't own a trailer yet, I'm going to try just the bumper. If I don't feel that it is safe for any reason, or my future trailer weighs more than say 1500lbs than I will upgrade!

By the way Advance auto you can get 30% off right now with a max of $50 with the code TRT30

 

A hitch will put the ball out from the truck letting you make sharper turns and you will have less of a chance of damaging your bumper with the trailer. Plus it will be better if you have to change ball size if you tow a different trailer.

 

And you can add things like this.

 

I've always figured a hitch was better. It gets the trailer (or whatever you are towing) a bit farther away from the bumper, making it less likely for you to damage said bumper, and it also gives the trailer more/easier swing movement.

 

I used the bumper hitch on my T100 for a couple of years. I moved to a mountainous area where the access was over a fairly rough, 20 mile road. A few trips over that road and the mounts for the bumper started to fail. I got a frame-mounted receiver hitch and had no more trouble. I wasn't exceeding the ratings of the truck, but the stress of the rough road was too much for the bumper. When I got my Tacoma the first thing I did was to put a class 3 hitch on it. As I recall it was about $130 new. Well worth it.

 

You've already spent some coin on the truck, whats a $200 hitch and $60 T-connector? I believe my hitch was $200, Valley brand I believe. I pull all 3 sizes of balls so thats where its nice. My advice, get a hitch.

 

Receiver is better. Tim