My First Towing Challenge

(My First Towing Challenge)This past Thurs I moved my younger sister from Marksville, LA to Hammond, LA which is about 130 miles one way. I was towing a 6x12 boxed trailer with a lot of stuff inside...if I was to guess it was around 3000 to 3500 lbs of total weight. The whole trip my Tacoma never struggled for gears. The highest RMP I reached was right under 3000 and that was because I was climbing the Baton Rouge bridge. I keep my speed around 60 to 65 mph, because the trailer would start to sway. After everything was said and done I was very impressed with the power and handling of my Tacoma.

 

all hail the mighty power of the taco

 

it can do it man, I have pulled a heavy ass 4-runner with mine on a car dolly. yeah I knew it was back there, but the 4-wheels of 4 fury Taco never struggled a bit!

 

I pulled a Honda CRV up that same Baton Rouge bridge. No problems. Gotta love the power of a Taco.

 

I bought a toyhauler in Orlando Fl and pulled it over that same bridge on my way back home in Houston.

I also pulled that same toyhauler with my motorcycle in it to Globe, AZ and back on one trip and to Santa Fe, NM and back on another trip. Speed limits out in West Texas is 80 mph and it is 75 in New Mexico and I was running the speed limit or a little above it the whole way.

The Taco got the job done, but it was working hard. The miles per gallon sure did suffer. I could almost watch the needle on the gauge move and that was back when gas was going for $4.00/gallon. I found that the cruise control does not work very well when towing, it has you going too fast or too slow and shifts at the wrong time.

The Taco is OK for towing light stuff but it sure does not have the grunt of a full sized domestic pickup truck like I have used to tow in the past.

 

I pulled my 280z from Portland, OR to Phoenix, AZ with no issues... hell I was passing most people going up Grant's Pass doing like 80mph (shhh). Didn't struggle one bit. Got about 11.5-12mpg average however through almost the entire valley in cali from Shasta to Bakersfield on 99.... I got almost 17mph average o.0 and about 15mpg average from Bakers to Phoenix. I was f'n impressed. Also note the bed was stuffed with crap under my undercover (access cab long bed) and the car was loaded with crap too.

She did struggle a little when I had a full u-haul heavy ass car dolly (3500lb alone) with a 3000gt VR-4 on it (another 4000lb almost). It was right near the max limit... engine did fine but the trailer was driving me a bit more than I was driving it...

 

If the trailer is swaying the usual culprit is that the trailer is loaded incorrectly. You should have about 10% or more of the entire trailer's weight on the hitch.

Also, I was always taught that you should load a trailer with 60% of the weight in front of the axle(s) and 40% behind. I've always followed this rule and haven't had swaying problems.

 

What size of a toy hauler did you pull?

 

Yep, I agree. Good advice.