New camper 3700# dry

just picked up a 18’ travel trailer going to be pulling with my 17 or 6 speed manual..... have wdh going to pick up a brake controller this week.... what do y’all suggest as far as add a leafs and air bags.... probably going to do both bc I have a camper cover and platform in the bed already..... will be hauling the normal firewood and stuff in the bed on trips.... btw this is my brothers truck didn’t want to tow with mine without brake controller....

 

Already have load e tires as well!!

 

I think you'll be OK with the trailer, just be careful not to overload the truck. You'll be better off with as much as possible in the trailer and as little as possible in the truck. Modifying the suspension MIGHT improve the ride somewhat if you're working close to max loads, but it doesn't increase what you can haul.

Look at the sticker on the drivers door jamb to find the payload for your truck. They all vary slightly depending on the exact truck then do the math for your truck. I'll work through it for my truck which has a payload of 1200 lbs. Figure 13% of the trailers weight on the hitch. Once loaded you're going to be at about 4500 lbs. 13% of that is 585 lbs. Add another 100 for the WDH and that is 685 lbs of your payload leaving 515 lbs of usable payload if that were hitched to MY truck.

I weigh 220, my wife 140 plus I have a 180 lb cap on my truck. That puts me over payload by about 20 lbs. I'd call it close enough and go with it, but I'd not have any room for firewood or anything else in the truck.

You're payload may be more, your cover is probably lighter and if you're not as fat as me you'll have more room to work with. But you're right at the limits of what a Tacoma can handle.

It would be a good idea to actually weigh your truck then subtract that number from GVWR to determine your TRUE payload. Your truck was weighed when it came off the assembly line and that weight was subtracted from GVWR to determine the payload. But that was a new, empty truck. If you've modified it or carry a lot of weight around your true payload will be less.

 

That’s all good info.... I know I’m going to be right around the max that’s why I want to get different springs and air bags to handle the added weight....

 

I’ve read on here a lot about brake controllers but does it really even matter? As long as you have one what’s the advantage to the 150$ one over the 75$ one?

 

@evansdmax For what its worth, I just went through all of this and settled on the tekonsha P3 brake controller. I have to start food plots and a bigger trailer and equipment had me scratching for a solution. Got the plug and play harness and was installed, done in 10 minutes. Not sure if there a cheap proportional controllers out there but I went this way rather than a time based controller.

 

i went with the lower model one... will throw it on Saturday

 

Got the trailer brake controller put in not a real good spot for it but it will work!!

 

I’m going to go ahead and install airbags before our first trip.... we’ve already got reservations for the next 3 months!! Just don’t want to have any surprises and I know it will help!! Also probably going to take my wooden platform and camper cover off for the trip.... just to keep my weight down on the back of the truck