New Member Question -Did I buy the wrong camper??

Well now Im thinking about canceling the order while I can and getting a refund on my down payment.
Its my fault for not taking this into consideration before signing an agreement. Got a little trigger happy.

To give y'all a little bit of context here and a little about me since I'm new on TW...
I bought this truck in August of 2020 and absolutely love it. I want this to be my forever truck. I love hiking, camping, and exploring the country.
I currently have a comfortable desk job. But I feel myself just wasting away at that desk everyday and know that I cant do this forever. I've determined the type of life for me is to live life on the road and work remotely. I know there are a lot of people doing it. Im relatively young still and have very few attachments. Im approaching the end of my lease and already selling my furniture. I want this to be the last year I ever pay rent.

So, a major part of this plan of mine is a camper! (obviously)
I have also been considering one of those 13-16ft. fiberglass campers like Scamp / Casita. The dry weight on them is around 1,400-2,000 lbs and my towing capacity is 3,500lbs.
Does this sound like a better bet than the pop-up camper idea? Because with a towable camper, I can always give my truck a break and detach it.

I appreciates y'alls input. Im not too knowledgable about all this so this discussion is helpful.

 

Your towing capacity should be 6400lbs, if I remember right all the 2017 V6s got the tow package factory. Your payload is likely less than 1295lbs also, double check the yellow/white sticker on your door jamb. The Palomino will work but it is too big and heavy for a Tacoma in my opinion.

 

You may be very happy with a folding camper (tow behind) with a 10' box.

They pull easy and are loaded with amenities. Many are available with high ground clearance, but off-roading with a tow behind will have limits.

Many good brands and models.

These remove a big burden from the truck and place it into an easy towable trailer.

 

Is your vehicle a 4 cylinder or a 6? If you have a 6 your towing capacity should be 6400, not 3500. If 6400, you’ll be golden towing anything 3700 or less fully loaded. You can get some pretty nice towed digs that will fit your nomad requirements and be easily handled by the 6, Taco.

 

Mine is a V6 4WD.
After reading your response, I went to my owners manual and youre correct! it says mine can tow 6,500! holy Sh!t....
definitely going with the small towable camper option now.
Really wish I hadnt jumped the gun the way I did... Now lets see if I have to fight the salesman!

 

Cancel the order on the Palomino, transfer the deposit to a towable folding camper.

Salesmen/dealer has lost nothing and kept a customer. If they balk, cancel, collect your deposit, walk, then find another dealer.

 

That's exactly what I'm going to do tomorrow!
Its only been 4 days since I signed anything so I'm sure the order might not have even made it to Palomino by now.

 

Sounds like a good decision.

 

Same thing happened to us a few years back. Signed for a camper we wanted but after much calculating found it was too much for then our tow vehicle. Went back to the dealer and swapped for a lower weight model. No hassle from dealer. Have since bought another trailer from the same dealer and are customers for the long haul.

 

Let us know how you make out and the camper you finally tow home.

 

I tow an expedition trailer, 3800 lbs, loaded with another 500lbs of stuff/food. Another 500lbs in the bed, generator, water, fuel, sometimes a dirt bike, firewood and more. I have 3" lift springs and airbags. Works great and I tow through 11 different states. Good luck with your truck.

 

Well, just got back from the dealership a couple hours ago. It was a task trying to get my down payment back.
He first was shocked that I was canceling the order of course, then tried to convince me that the camper was perfectly safe and made for the truck and wouldn't affect the trucks function/ wear & tear/ value over time and wanted to know where I was getting my information from. (Kind of sarcastically asked me if I was getting it from random people of youtube)
Then he wanted to show me some towable campers (which I thought where too big for what I want) and I walked through the smallest one they had and wasn't impressed. He said my truck could tow 16,000lbs and I'm not sure where he was getting that from!
Then when he could tell I wasn't very interested in what he had to offer, he said "well Palomino has already processed the payment but I'd be more than happy to transfer that deposit to any of these rigs here for ya."
I said thank you but I'd rather have the down payment back as I apologized for the inconvenience.
When he came back to the desk, he said "just to let you know sir, we lost that $2,000 because of this transaction."
I just said, sorry to hear that and thanks for your help, took the brochure, my receipt, and walked out!

 

That's the kind of bullshit that makes me feel no sympathy at all, even if the dealer did eat $2000 like he said. You have to be an absolute moron to think that a Tacoma can tow 16,000lbs and have no place in the business of selling trailers.

 

Good move.

That salesman was not dealing from the top of the deck.

Tacoma pulling a 16,000 lb camper....... yeah right

He can't lose $$ on something he didn't sell. Transaction did not complete. They still have the asset for sale.

 

Wow. Run, don’t walk, away from that place. (with your deposit of course!) There’s a trailer out there with your name on it, just not there.

 

I really want a Casita or Scamp. But they're hard to find used because they go so quick. Wonder if anyone on here has one they're trying to get rid of? Might need to make a separate post for that.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Good for you for bailing out on that purchase, the slide in camper is cool, but an over loaded top heavy truck is no fun to drive. That place needs to be avoided. To think this ding dong actually said the Tacoma could tow 16K pound trailer, That's one ton dually diesel action, truly WTF?

 

MysticNomad, I did the SAME THING! I had gotten the suspension beefed up, but I still feel like the ride is sketchy. I have a xc trip planned in the winter and I'm not going to take the truck because I don't feel it handles safely. But my dealer didn't offer to take it back. Now I don't know what to do. How are you making out with yours?