Can a Tacoma really tow 6500 lbs safely and reliably?

My 1989 Four Winns Horizon weighs about 4,800 lbs. and my Taco pulls it easily. We also have a 30ft travel trailer that weighs about 6500, but I haven't tried it behind the Taco yet. If I were going to pull what you are planning, I would make sure I had a weight distribution hitch with sway control. Big trucks on the interstate will push you around if you don't.

 

Cool boat name.

 

No problem. We have towed 12,000lbs with our Tacoma.

 

I have a 6,000 lbs dump trailor that I can fill up to about 12,000 lbs that I tow with my F-250 Super Duty. Once I tried to tow it empty with my Tacoma (Which has a 6,500 hitch capacity) and the truck was struggling. Tacomas are just not meant to tow heavy loads.

 

Well you are using a light duty truck to do a heavy duty job so think about the wear and tear your truck will incur.
The worst thing that can happen is you break down while taking your clients out to ride ATV'S so maybe think about the following.

Make sure you have a tranny cooler and the right fan blade on your truck. A lot of dealers put on a hitch and trailer wiring on trucks and call it a towing package. Yea it can tow a trailer but you gotta cool that engine and transmission down!

Also if you are not towing level (you wont be towing that much) maybe think about adding some airbags.
Upgrade to the right load range tire for towing that amount.
Weight distributing hitch.
Service ALL of your fluids in shorter intervals that what Toyota Recommends.
AND BE SAFE DRIVE SLOW!!!

 

Thanks, it was on the boat when I bought it and I thought about taking it off but I got so many compliments on it that I decided to leave it.

 

I plan on pulling a travel trailer loaded and going at about 5100 pounds and people are telling me I'm nuts, can't do it. I'm not going to fly up or down hills, but who does when you are pulling a 27'. First day on the highway last weekend-it was great. Weight dist. hitch, pumped up brake controller. No probs. Gonna do hills this weekend too. Thanks SO MUCH for your post. Everyone tells me I've gotta move up and I just bought a new truck!

 

It's the hills when towing with a Tacoma that gets downright SCARY. I have a 19ft Wellcraft Eclipse with a Road Master trailer, and going up hills the truck struggles. Actually it strained so bad I was literally down to about 5-10mph going up the hill. DANGEROUS! If I were to ever get a bigger boat or have a need to tow more, honestly the Tacoma would have to go.

 

+1

Can it pull it. Hell yea! And I have ocean front property I can sell you in West Virginia.
I have a Travel Trailer we just bought that is 4300# dry. Not sure of the weight after we load it up with all the camping gear, but that stuff adds up quicker than you would think. I've pulled it 3 times now and I won't be doing it again. Going to buy a truck that can get the job done safely. Keeping the Taco for the daily driver.
It might be able to haul 6500lbs but your going to be crawling up any hill so slow you will want a real "tow" truck. Keep in mind the Taco is NOT meant to be a big work truck. I searched all over different forums before I bought the camper and from what I read, I figured the Taco would do just fine. But after my trip last weekend where I pulled it up a 5 mile mountain with a 6% grade it was confirmed that I was trying to ignore, I need a bigger truck. It did it but the strain on the truck was much more than I care to put on it. Now if I lived where there are no hills then I might be ok with up to 5000lbs but that would be tops for me. The safety of my family and others on the roads is just not worth the chances. Just my $0.02
With all that said IMO for a truck of this size no other truck can compare.

 

I could't have said it any better myself. As much as I love the truck as we all do, the reality is this truck is not for towing heavy loads and is severly underpowered. That's the reality of it. Can it pull 5,000 lbs. on a straight flat roads with a zero grade? Sure it can, but what are the chances that one day just maybe one day you'd like to take a camping trip up a mountain with some ATVs, maybe a ski trip with lots of gear and a full size trailer, or maybe a camping trip in the hill country with your boat? If I still lived in Houston amongst the flat landers I'd be o.k., but I moved to the hill country near the lake and I realized this after my first boating trip. As mentioned above it was able to pull the boat, trailer, and load, but going up the hill the truck not only strained, but it got under 5-10 miles an hour and I honestly didn't think the truck was going to get over the hill. I'm extremely lucky it did, and I won't be doing that again. I put my entire families lives in jeapordy, never again. Will I be keeping the Tacoma? Sure it's an amazing truck, especially as a daily driver and light hauler.

 

I ended up buying a older F150 with a 5.4L and 3.55:1 gearing to pull the camper. The Ford is rated to pull 8400lbs. Yea, I know it's a Ford...Yuck! Would have liked to buy a Tundra but for the price and hauling capabilities this one fit the budget. Anyway I finally got to take it out for a test run with the camper attached. Wow, what a difference! It stops sooooo much easier and doesn't stress the truck nearly as bad. Yea, I can still tell it's back there but I feel so much safer and relaxed with the bigger truck. Of course just like the Taco I will NEVER pull what the truck is rated for. I think I read before that you should only pull 10-20% less than what its rated for. From what I've found between he 2 trucks I would say more like 35-40% under.

 

If you live and drive flat land and you are comfy at 55mph then you are fine. ANYTHING ELSE FORGET IT. I just went through the trouble of getting my password back to get in here to help ANYONE I can. I am a really gutsy gal and have raced and skiied and I am an entrepreneur. I just towed 5000 pound camper to Payson with my Taco-tow package obviously and equalizer w sway, brake controller...best money can buy..I thought I was going to DIE coming down hills. Going up it was straining. DRANK GAS like you wouldn't believe. This truck should NOT be rated 6500 shame on Toyota. I've owned Tacomas-never pulled, Celicas (two) and this was a joke and WASTE of money. Should be rated for 3000 pounds nothing more. I'm trading mine now so I can have some fun with my RV. Good luck. And thanks everybody here in this forum. Nice folks.

 

I pull a 5,000 + hi-lo trailer through the CO mountains with no problem.

 

I agree completely and I've had the same experience with multiple trucks also.

 

absolutely agreed!

Newsflash:

Our trucks are not full sized
Your truck will not go as fast with a trailer
Your truck will not stop as fast with a trailer

I keep my truck in 5th gear on the highway around 65-70 up and downhill and it does great with my big old heavy chris craft with a 350.

 

Thanks for the input. My tow vehicle now is my 2010 Tacoma. My previous tow vehicle was a 2006 F-250 diesel but it was stolen. I loved that big truck. I have towed my travel trailer, a 2006 Airstream 19' Bambie, which I've towed for about 60 miles at this point. The Taco seems to do pretty well even though it's kind of bouncy. It also can't be pushed too much but if I take it easy and don't try to go up hills and expect it to be like the diesel there doesn't seem to be much of a problem.

I have a question; what is a rear leaf spring tsb and what does it do?

 

The rear spring Tecnical Service Bulletin (TSB) is a bulletin that Toyota put out for service techs that receive complaints of "harsh" ride carrying heavy loads over bumpy roads. In a nutshell, if you go to the dealer and are under warranty and experienced the harsh ride or bottoming out with less than rated load they will replace the rear 3 leaf spring pack with a 4 leaf spring pack. Depending on the truck model, they may also replace the front shocks.

I had this done due to bottoming out with 500lbs in the bed and now it's MUCH stronger, as it should be. Go to the link below and find and read the TSB so you understand it before making a decision.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...-0305-08-revision-2-includes-2009-2010-a.html

 

I have a 2006 Tacoma Double Cab 4x4 TRD with tow package, V6 and tow a 2012 Keystone Passport 2650BH with it. Trailer weighs 4960 lbs empty and when loaded for camping about 5700 lbs. I use a 4-point Equal-i-zer brand sway control hitch and a Prodigy P2 brake controler. While this is quite a load for a truck the size of the Tacoma it tows it quite nicely and at no time does it feel unsafe. The passport trailer has a spread axel design where the front axel is 10" further forward than most other trailers to better distribute weight & control sway. With two adults on board, I just recently towed it over Stevens Pass (over 4000 ft elev.) and it did just fine. At one point the pass gets quite steep and I slowed down to 45 mph. It's not the ideal tow vehicle for a trailer this size, but just take your time and don't push too hard. I tow in 4th gear, turning 2500 rpm @ 60 mph. Depending on how many hills to climb I've been averaging between 10.5 and 11.75 mpg, but that was expected.

 

IMO the Toyota engineers would not have given the truck a 6500# tow rating if it was not capable. I say go for it. Toyota would not open themselves up to any liability issues by over rating the truck.

 

That bad huh? I just bought a 3900lb dry weight 22ft travel trailer. I drove 85 miles home with it. At 4000 ft elevation on a single lane, 2 semis had to pass me using the opposite lane . I just bought a new Tacoma in March.