Lifted trucks and towing

I’ve never owned a lifted truck myself and never towed with one either. I’m curious to here from peoples experience with the Tacoma when it comes to towing with say a 6” lift. Yes I know gas mileage takes a hit as that’s a given.

My question is to the guys that have the somewhat larger lifts like 4”-6” lifts. Is the truck still plenty capable of towing a 5-6k load with the larger lift or does it create too much of a safety issue? Thanks

 

Personally I wouldn't tow over 3500 lbs max with my tacoma, I have a 2.5" lift, I have been towing a 3100 lb trailer for 9 yrs now with great results. But these Tacomas are not made to tow the factory weight limits or even near there safely.

 

5 thousand pound skid steer. 800 pound trailer and another 800 pounds of concrete in the bed. Did just fine, yeah power was underwhelming however it was safe.

 

Thanks. Yes I do completely understand the lack of power for this application but know our trucks are plenty capable. I just wasn’t sure how well they’d do hauling large loads with a larger lift like I have with both my Tacoma’s and no lift.

 

Depends on the lift. A shitty lift (which is what many 4~6” lifts are) will not impact towing much. A quality lift where you are actually increasing upward wheel travel will absolutely effect towing and in a negative way, as you’ll get way more body role. But most lifts you see in this sub-forum even in the 3” and under range do not increase wheel travel in any meaningful way. So the lift itself will probably not effect towing. But many people lift simply for looks and therefor add larger tires. Larger tires will effect your towing in the braking and acceleration department.

 

Thanks for the advice and I honestly shouldn’t tow what I do with my truck. However it’s the only truck I have and the only truck I feel I need. 3500 pounds is nothing though and I feel completely safe towing that much from New York to California back to Tennessee through many mountains. Safety ratings are lower than what the trucks can truly handle without braking. But due to safety reasons and most likely legal issues, no truck can be rated for its max capabilities as in before it breaks max.

 

Braking will be zero issue for any truck if using the properly equipped trailer and a brake controller. When I tow large loads my truck brakes get used less than they would with just me in it over the same distance.

 

Despite Toyota's claim of 6800+ pounds I would want to tow anything that heavy over a long distance, esp lifted.

 

I'm curious what line of reasoning led you to this conclusion.

 

Yes I agree. 6800 pounds is quite a load. Non lifted I’ve towed 5500 pounds 900 miles one way and then back with the only issue being about 10-12 mpg. Granted a 6000 pound low riding load is much different than 5000 pound load in an enclosed trailer or camper.

 

Here come the engineers telling you what they would rate the Tacoma at for towing Blah blah blah.

 

Being lifted you'll have to be aware of payload difference from stock. Trailer tongue weight will affect that. Then if you go larger tires it will have to be regeared properly to be able to tow a load that heavy.

I pulled 5000 pounds 10+ hours with a stock off-road. It did it, never lacked the power to do so. Never felt unsafe got 8-10 mph which was expected and was constantly up in the RPM's. Not sure I'd want to do it on a weekly basis but it was fine. Payload is a big limitation on the Tacoma. Yea yea yea I know most overload the shit out of them with no problem.

 

That skid steer above I guarantee was being towed around town and local roads.

Put it at highway speed and tell me how your experience is.

I own two Tacomas. Neither one will pull a sick whore off a barstool

 

Holy shit! How big are the whores you hang around!?

 

Just be aware anytime you lift, you’re on your own. Safety and reliability wise.

That said People under-estimate just how much these little trucks can tow, and I’m ok with that because better safe than sorry.
You can load the chit out of this things if you have to the max safely, even overload but for a short distance and they suffer no damage. In other words, they really are tough.

But here’s the thing to keep in mind, you can’t stop on a dime and you have to measure your on ramp distance. Meaning you can’t do 0-60 in seven seconds

 

Since OP is talking huge lifts, this is an underrated post. I can guarantee they're doing at least 33's if not 34/35's and with how bad the 6AT gearing is stock for towing, I'm not sure I'd be pushing the added strain on the transmission with a huge load over any distance and grade.

 

As one of the folks here who has towed over 5500 with a 3rd gen (manual and completely stock even tires)

You can about anything moving. And whatever you get moving will then move you all over the place. Absolutely poor sway control, and poor authority over the load.

These trucks are simply not for towing. Period

 

Totally agree. Pulled around about 5k worth of drywall and plywood on a utility trailer, also 6MT, and it was rough on the highway. It's great up to about 3,500 or so but I can't say I'd want to pull more than that over distances.