My experience of towing 4,700lb travel trailer, which now weighs closer to 5,000lbs… maybe.

I felt going over La Veta was worse, higher speed limit 55mph and more of a rounded hill, less canyon and more headwind.
FYI I was heading westbound.

 

Yes. I depress the knob like a push button and that activates the trailer's brakes as well as the tow vehicle's brake lights and the trailer's brake lights. Redarc Tow Pro Elite setup. I believe the other Redarc products share this functionality. Haven't had to use it in a real-world scenario but I have tested it and it works.

 

My taco is a 2020 and I have never had issues with erratic shifting, maybe they sorted stuff with ECU updates?

Whilst towing I cruise around 60. If i have ECT on it wants to down shift to 4th too easily. No ECT and it stays in 5th longer then down shifts with more gas pressure. Lower revs better mpg.

In the last 5,000 miles I’ve towed 4,000+ miles. Before the trip I reset the ECU so it would learn how I drive whilst towing, maybe this has helped.

 

So what temps are you maxing at pulling up a hill or into a headwind?

 

I've got over 30k miles towing and it's always been pretty much the same as for ECT and using it or not. I have 0 issues with my truck or how it shifts when not towing. I do find the gap from the top of 3rd to 4th annoying when towing though sometimes. It likes to downshift to 3rd and then overpower that gear causing an upshift to 4th, then falling out of 4th, back to 3rd until the hill is crested. This is usually around 60-65.

As for general towing, I don't have any unusual downshifting generally. The molasses like throttle response when not using ETC annoys me greatly though. More power to you, I can't do it lol.

 

Ya know, I'd have to check my records. This is from a post I made in the aftermarket cooler thread:

"... I logged my Temps last weekend pulling my SxS, no aftermarket cooler, and ran between 195 and 200 virtually the whole time except for stop lights and hills. I spiked to 224 at a stoplight and running up hill I had to really push it to get it to climb over 215 or so. I tow around 65 mph max, but found if I went much faster the temps would climb. Fast.

After awhile, my pan and converter were within a few degrees of each other, around town my converter is hotter than the pan by a larger margin.

Around town I'm usually at 185-195.

..."

I actually quit monitoring temps as hard as I once did since nothing ever happened.

 

Thanks, sounds like your aux cooler makes a huge difference.

When did you first change trans oil? How was it?

Im curious if I should be changing mine early as I’ve recently done 4k of heavy towing and potentially somewhat cooked the oil. Currently at 18k miles.

 

I changed it only about 10k miles or so ago. It was dark, but not bad. So around 50-55K If I recall correctly. I'm due for a drain and top off though.

I'd never shame anyone for doing a drain and refill if they think they should.

 

I must be doing something wrong. I just rented a little teardrop trailer and the taco can't run 5th on anything but flat with no wind. It can't even hold 4th at 60mph on any hills. My gas mileage has ranged from 11 into a stiff headwind with some long hills (I-80 through Utah and Nevada) to about 15 when warm, no wind and few hills. I don't see how anyone tows a big TT with a Tacoma.

 

Is your Taco stock?

 

Yes, but I do have 265/75/16 tires but can't imagine such a small change would make much difference.

 

That will suck power from where you need it but it shouldn't be a dramatic difference I wouldn't have thought. 5% here and there can make a difference though.

I towed from Page, AZ to Kanab the other day and the wind was a steady 15+ headwind along with a 2,000 ft elevation climb and it sucked. Only got into 5th occasionally on a downhill. I was mostly in 4th at 60/65mph keeping the revs higher closer to the power. Driving at 50/55 was worse as the power wasn't there in 4th and it kept wanting to shift to 3rd.

The Tacoma is not the ideal truck for towing but we've now done well over 4,500 miles in this trip and each time we go off roading I'm grateful of the smaller truck, sure there's times I'd like a Tundra. Ideally Toyota did a supercharger like they used to then I'm sure I'd be in heaven. I may go that route once warranty is no longer useable...

 

I have a apex nano 185 bh . My question for you is how did you power the backup camera system on the trailer ? I’m trying to figure out before I spend my money .

 

I connected directly to the 501 licence plate bulb and pushed the bulb back in. Easiest and best mod to date.

 

Thank you for the info!

At some point, we want to travel using my Sport--utilizing all your pointers will definitely help us along.

I'm thinking a camper that's less than 4500lbs would be good...lighter would be better!

I'd get to use the ECT button that's been threaded in the past week.

I just joined a RV Camping blogger looking at lightweight campers.

This is worth waiting for sure!

 

Glad my ramblings will hopefully be useful…

One thing to be cautious of is advertised dry weight vs actual dry weight. My TT is advertised as being 3,826lb dry but the actual delivered dry weight was over 4,200lb with propane and batteries.

I definitely would not want to go any heavier than my trailer. Any heavier and your insurance company will have an out if you need to make a claim as you’ll likely be over payload or gvwr.

My insurance company said I could not get a trailer that exceeded the trucks towing GVWR. So my trailer being GVWR 6000lb is within the trucks towing capacity gvwr of 6,400lb.

My insurance told me if i get a trailer with a gvwr of 7,000lb and only fill it to 5,000lb I would still not be insured.

 

I love ramblings...especially when I learn something! lol

I'm watching videos for the weight distribution and set-up for campers. I even showed my wife the nice trailer you have (went to the site to do virtual tour).

I look forward to one day buying a nice trailer. One question, is a double axle desired more so than a single axle?

**This hitch extends far enough to allow the tailgate to open completely.**

Here's one I saw on a video that is less expensive and single axle:

https://www.jayco.com/rvs/travel-trailers/2022-jay-feather-micro/

 

Things you need to be conscious of is payload, have a look at the decal inside drivers door jam.
Likely somewhere around 1,000lb.
Payload = passengers + fuel (125lb) + any extras (tonneau, bedmat, canopy, air compressor, sliders, tool kit, armour etc) + WDH + tongue weight.

Best thing is to run over the CAT scales with your truck and see what she weighs. This will come in handy when you go over the scales with the trailer attached.

WDH’s are not equal, mine weighs less than 60lb, some weigh as much as 150lb. I love the Anderson but have no experience on others.

Dual axle tracks better and distribute weight better. However they are heavier, have higher GVWR and are not necessarily easier to reverse.

Most trailers are 8ft wide, mine is 7.5ft and some are 7ft. Wider creates a LOT more drag and will be more of a detriment on towing pleasure vs the overall weight…