first time towing, need advice

i have a trd double cab 2wd and am thinking of buying a teardrop trailer (or something similar in size) and was wanting to make sure that i stay as safe as possible for myself and others on the road. i could be overthinking all of this and could be worried about all this for no reason. but i would rather be better informed if anything.

assuming i know NOTHING (which is partially true) about towing and tear drop trailers, what kind of advice or information would you with towing and teardrop trailer experience be able to share with me. id like to be able to also go to the rv dealer and make sure im not being sold on anything i dont need or being sold on something just to fatten the wallet of the salesman.

towing weight? brake controller? hitches? driving tips? what to look for in a trailer? anything and everything.

i could be jumping ahead of myself and not asking myself the truely important questions.

alittle bit about me and my situation. were not avid campers but are comfortable camping when we go. if we had a trailer we would camp more often. typically it will be me, the gf, and our husky. i once helped a buddy drive from az to fl towing a little uhaul trailer, this was well over 10 years ago. while i dont have towing experience im also not a bad driver. whatever thats worth.

thanks in advance!!!!

 

Make sure you have electric brake hook up.

Make sure you have weight equalizers and sway bars. All necessary stuff for pulling RV trailer.

Pay attention way down road about what traffic is doing.

Pull in lower gears stay out of over drive. (you want to keep it from shifting back and forth in higher gears.)

Stay in slow lane. Steady gets job done.

 

Get something a little bigger than a teardrop trailer. Make sure the trailer has a spare tire and the bearings are greased and properly tightened.

 

thanks!! maybe a dumb question, the electiric brake hook up would be for the brake controller? which would only be useful if the trailer has a brake setup? do all/most trailers have brakes?

 

truly, i would prefer to get something alittle bigger than a teardrop. ideally, i would prefer to have something we can sit in and play cards or something like that. any suggestions? nothing crazy expensive.

we were watcing airstream videos on youtube. those things are nice but way over our budget.

 

Yes exactly what SWB Tacoma said. Electric brakes w/ controller and just take it slow and steady. Provide plenty of following distance and a good rule of thumb is if you need to be in 3rd gear to pull a hill then use the same gear to go down it. Don’t get talked into getting a trailer that is too heavy for your truck. They’ll (dealer) tell you you can get air bags to carry more weight etc. air bags are great but they only allow you to carry the same weight just providing more control over the load. It’s great that you’re asking these questions- be safe and have him on your travels.

 

Look at the R-pods. There are good deals on CL.

 

Stopping distance will increase.

Keep a 7 second gap.

 

Take an afternoon and practice, practice, practice and practice some more backing up in an empty parking lot.

When I bought my boat, I did this in an empty school lot all day on a Sunday.

Next weekend- no boat ramp issues.

 

Back up slowly, it gives you plenty of time to correct.

 

Many of our neighbors own trailers, and they all say to buy used; either on Craigslist, Facebook or a local RV lot. Apparently, a lot of people buy a trailer, use it a couple of times and decide it is not for them, or the kids grow up and move out, and the owners are looking to unload it. So if you take some time and do some searching, you can get some good deals on RV's that are only lightly used.

 

lots of good advice! thanks to everyone!!

we have an idea of what we want but we will see. were gonna be renting a trailer here soon to "test the waters" before we commit to it. this will give us a good gauge of what we want/need.

i was gonna go through the manual and read up on specifics as far as what the tacoma is safely capable of towing and what i need to know in that aspect. unless you fine folks want to summarize it for me and save me some time. haha.

 

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/rvd/d/2013-jayco-swift-185rb-lite/6585566988.html

not exactly what were looking at, but this is probably the biggest size trailer we would need or want. is this soemthing that would be safely towed by the tacoma?

 

Per memory, per owners manual.

Trailer breaks reqd for trailer over 1000 lb
Sway control hitch over 2000 lb
Weight distribution hitch over 5000 lb

Tongue weight 10% of trailer weight.
Electric trailer brakes need a controller, surge brakes dont)

I think these are awfully conservative, (for brakes and sway) but if it's often at high speed, better safe than sorry.

 

You should have had trailer brakes at the very least

 

Just make sure the trailer comes with electric brakes, if possible get a tandem axel setup to support the weight and have a brake controller

 

When backing, remember to turn the bottom of the steering wheel the direction you want the trailer to go.

 

Your truck should be able to handle that camper with no issues. I had a 19' hybrid that weighed 3,700 unloaded and my truck (when I had it) would tow it with no problems. Just make sure you have a weight distribution hitch and brake controller. They make 2 kinds of brake controllers: time delayed and proportional. Proportional is the way to go. When you tap your brakes, the trailer taps its brakes. When you slam on you brakes, the trailer slams its brakes. With a time delayed, not matter how hard or soft you hit the brakes in the truck, the trailer is braking at whatever you have the controller set to.

I had a Prodigy P3 controller

Also, check out the Tacoma towing bible

Edit: with a weight distribution hitch, when you get ready to leave, make sure the back of the truck and front of the camper are level. If not, adjust your chains on the hitch

 

AND get a really good hitch,
I have a HIDDEN HITCH class IV

Class IV Hitch Rear; Weight Carrying: 500 Lbs. Tongue Weight/5000 Lbs. Gross Trailer Weight; Weight Distributing: 550 Lbs. Tongue Weight/5500 Lbs. Gross Trailer Weight; Uses All Existing Holes No Drilling Required; Installation Time: 40 Minutes
Class: Class III/IV
Receiver Size (In): 2 Inch
Gross Towing Weight (Lbs): 5500 Lbs.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-tacoma-towing-bible.4031/