How heavy of a trailer can a V6 TRD off-road tow?

Your truck can pull that just fine. I got back today (TN) from a 5100 mile trip out west to Wyoming, Montana, etc. Went over/through the Rockies pulling around 6000 pounds with my hybrid travel trailer (4700 pounds dry weight). I have a weight-distributing hitch and a trailer brake controller. Mileage sucked (averaged around 8 mpg while towing), but was better in the mountains (around 10) than flat lands (7 to 8) because it stayed in 3rd gear on the flats (and on mild uphills) due to wind resistance, but could downshift on downhill grades. If I could haul the trailer, family, and assorted gear in the bed across the country, what you're describing will be a piece of cake. Yes, it would have been more comfortable in a larger truck, including lower RPMs and thus quieter, but it did its job admirably well.

 

What did you use regarding the transmission. ECT mode on? S gear limiting higher gears? I have almost the exact set up you have, a Keystone Cabana hybrid. I have the brake controller installed but will not be using a weight-distributing hitch. I only towed it twice so far and just used ECT mode on. Even with that the RPM's were high during accelerating and got about 15 mpg.

 

Always tow with ECT on. I usually leave it in S gear, on 4. Sometimes I have to manually tell it to go into 3 for passing or onramps.

Don't be afraid to floor it when towing. The truck will take it just fine. I use the full skinny pedal on uphill onramps regularly.

Follow more often than the factory recommendation for changing your transmission fluid, towing is really hard on the torque converter and the Taco runs the transmission fluid in there hot. I'd even consider adding an aftermarket cooler if you're doing it often - that's on my todo list.

My Taco's around 6klbs loaded from all my armor and gear, then I tow this:





I use sumosprings to keep it level instead of a weight distributing hitch, which works great. The trailer is Forest River Wolf Pup 16bhs, but I've done a lift, upgraded the tires, and added a bit of weight inside redoing cabinetry and the bunks. I'd guess it's around 4k lbs loaded, so my total weight is around 10k lbs.

 

Just my opinion, if towing more than 3k lbs with the taco, get a full size truck. I didn't buy a taco mainly to tow, even though i have used a a few times to pull my 2k lb. boat for short trips. Its not the v8 tundra i had, but like already others have said it does the job ok, you just need to work it harder.

 

If I was you I would just ask your neighbor if you can hook it up and tow it down the road some. I had 1 of those Coleman pop-ups back in 99 when I had my 99 Tacoma that had a v6 and it pulled just fine. Part of it depends on if your going up a steep hill incline but pop-up you shouldn't have any big issues there with the v6

 

Your truck is 6k lbs before tongue weight? You're not concerned you're like 1k lbs over GVWR...?

 

Yes, just about. It's a DCLB. Add plate front bumper, winch, plate rear bumper, IFS skid, mid skid, tcase skid, gas tank skid, hi-rise camper top, windoors and rear door, camping platform, 2 roof racks, fridge, camping gear, recovery gear, omg it just adds up. My suspension's all updated to take the weight.

I'm not at all concerned. It's a truck, and I use it as such. I offroad a lot so I need a smaller truck, but I tow a lot so I needed something large. The Taco checks all the boxes.

Anyways, it's paid off and 50k miles strong, so zero worries. She's still getting broken in as far as I'm concerned. I look forward to it being my son's first truck in 9 years.

 

@danbarone1994
I’m towing an Rpod 179 in S4+ECT. Latest camping weight is 3120. Tongue weight is 400 plus additional payload puts the Tacoma close to it’s max at 5500. Tekonsha RF brake controller, Hellwig 990 helper springs (beef up the rear leafs when loaded) and conventional tow setup (no WDH). The combined weight is 8620. Long story short, 2018 DCSB OR handles it all very well so I would think that you’ll have no trouble with your pop-up.

My drawback is 10-12 mpg when towing on mostly flatland @ 55 mph. Head and cross winds are a factor as well but your rig will not present the same profile so should do a bit better.

 

So just bought a camper a few weeks ago, fairly similar to the one Synaps3 has photos of above. Single axle, 3,500 dry weight. Pulled it for three days / two nights last week over middle TN & North AL mountains behind my 2020 TRD Sport DCSB w/ manual tranny. 55 mph max up Monteagle mountain in 4th gear (around 4 mile climb at 8% grade). Seemed okay in 6th gear on the flats some of the time, but certainly used 5th a lot as well. Seems to like to sit at 65 MPH on flats, truck didn't want to go faster than that. I had one of my sons with me, rest of the family stayed home (work trip really) so payload was light. I think payload on these trucks will be the limiting factor if you're taking multiple folks with you.

We normally will tow it behind my wife's LX 570. It does do better behind that vehicle for sure. She gets around 10 MPG with the camper on hers (normally gets around 13 or 14) whereas I got 11.7 in the Taco where I'd normally see low 20s. I'd tow it behind the Taco again, but probably only on relatively short trips. It feels great on 55 MPH highways, so if backroads are your thing I suspect you won't have many complaints.

I fully concur about getting a weight distributing hitch. Also, we went with a wireless brake controller (Curt Echo) so we could easily move it between vehicles.

 

Transmission was in S4, ECT mode on. I *highly* recommend a weight-distributing hitch. You need to even out your stance, otherwise your nose will be too high and steering and braking will be compromised. Plus it moves more weight to the front axle, thus lessening the strain on the rear axle. On the really steep grades (10% in western WY) I was in 1st and 2nd getting down to 15-20 mph to make it up the hill. Coming down the other side was a workout for the brakes (and that was with the transmission put into 2nd gear). If towing over very steep grades, I recommend upgrading the front disks (I didn't, but in hindsight I wish I had thought of it) to drilled and slotted rotors to help dissipate heat. I never had any issues on any other mountain grades (including long stretches of 6-7%) until that one 10% grade.