How do I increase towing performance?

IIRC, the guy with the Colorado was airborne with the truck and trailer. Spirited driving, to say the least...

 

I'll be working 2 weeks on 1 week off, so I'll tow it home after my 2 week hitch and then a week later to the next job site. I'll be living by myself with 2 cats. Definitely need my own shower/bathroom.

 

Not only is that wild, but this is why people advise against going over payload. It's not just a little truck risk, either. The truck in the pic is a 1 ton dually and the guy overloaded it because he looked at the max tow and payload numbers instead of the ones for his specific configuration. It ran like that fine for over 20K miles, and then had a catastrophic failure due to the long term stress. Nobody likes the "payload police" and will run them down, but they sure aren't going to help the guys that overload on their advice and wind up in this kind of situation either.

 

Claims that he just hit a bump.

 

Yeah I'm planning on getting my truck weighed to see where it's at and what I can do to get inside my payload capacity.

 

Think about what you are saying, you are going to be towing all over hell and living in the trailer for lengthy periods for 10 years or longer. You are an engineer, smart guy. Forget the frigging taco and a smaller trailer, you are going to be miserable small inadequate truck and trailer. Get a full size truck preferably a diesel and get a decent size trailer. For me it’s a no brainer , I want to be comfortable living out of a truck and trailer for long periods of time. It’s not like you are a weekend warrior towing for a couple days a couple times a year. Fuck the taco and a smaller size trailer.

 

Wait, it was a Chevy? Oh then that's completely normal......

 

Or get a lighter trailer, mine is 3k lbs shower, bathroom, fridge, microwave, ac. 4runner tows it easily

 

Ok, bit of a response to each of these. If you are willing to throw money at it to keep the Taco, have you looked at something like a Trailer Toad? It's basically an extra axle that takes the payload for the truck. More work to set up, and won't help with the tow weight, but would let you worry a little less about the bumpers on the truck.

And for the need of a shower, I think @Scott B. might be onto something with the Little Guy trailers. Litter box under the dinette and a usable shower in a compact trailer. https://golittleguy.com/lg-max-eco-1/

 

Stop trying to make a Tacoma something it isn’t and just get a truck actually designed to tow. Your Tacoma, especially with the weight adding mods, is not a tow vehicle and doesn’t have the payload left to tow a 3500lb trailer once you sit in the truck.

I speak from experience as a guy who lives in a trailer full time and tows it around every week. A Tacoma isn’t the right vehicle and can’t tow a trailer that is built well enough to live out of and be comfortable.

 

yeah that actually looks pretty comfortable to live in. I think I could probably buy a smaller automatic litterbox and fit that under the dinette. I don't need alot of space. I just want a queen bed really and enough space for an air fryer as far as I'm concerned. If I get a smaller litterbox I could make that work and be good on my tow capacity and tongue weight most likely.

 

More I think about it the more I'm with TJ on this one.

After a hard day of working in the field, the last thing you want to do is turn on the gas to boil your dinner, then hand wash dishes, clean the table, and then put everything away so that you can fold down the dinette, get the linens out, and make your bed.

Sometimes you just want to pop something in the microwave, open a bottle, and flop down on a couch.


If you aren't buying a full size truck/trailer combo now, you probably will be trying to trade into one a year from now. There's just something to be said about having separate sleeping and living quarters.

 

Yeah I agree with that. Thankfully it looks like those little guy trailers @Scott B. mentioned have separate areas and I meal prep so I'd just have to microwave my dinner after work or the gym. Plus it's way bigger than my college dorm that I just spent 4 years in.

 

The purpose of a Tacoma is not to tow. Never has been, never will be. You can get away with towing smaller loads, but there are many other vehicles out there that will do this job more efficiently and comfortably than the Taco.

If I was towing like this every few weeks, it would most likely be in a full size (but I am not, hence the Tacoma).

 

I just looked at that floor plan. Of the small trailers I really like the layout of that one. Find yourself a folding rocker to sit outside and chill and it would be livable enough.

 

When you say tongue weight I assume keeping it in payload is what you mean? I'm not sure what your truck is listed at for payload, but with bumpers, wheels, tires, etc. You then have to still have weight for the tongue weight, yourself, and any gear in the truck.


It's good to see you thinking it through and planning, and I really hope you can find a way to keep your truck and make it work. One thing I'd suggest, upgrade the bumpers to aluminum versions. Any weight savings is going to help.

 

Yeah probably could have worded that better. I'm about to go to a dealer and look at some of the Little guy trailers today to see if the pictures aren't deceptive and it's actually big enough. Definitely won't buy one until I'm 100% sure everything is going to work. Is the payload capacity just GVWR minus the weight of the truck? My GVWR is 5600lbs and both the bumpers weigh 250lbs with the winch. so lets say 600lbs with me and all the mods I think that should leave me with enough head room for the tongue weight of a little guy max trailer.

 

Yeah I mean if I could pay 60k to make this truck work I'd do it. I just really like my Tacoma man. But I think I'm just going to do a little guy trailer and do those mods anyways to make the truck fun.