Show us what you tow.

Odd looking Tacoma

 

Bought me a trailer and a ATV.

 

Have you ever tried to pull the Escape with the Tacoma? The Escap 21 maybe my next trailer.

 

Hello! I was thinking of buying a camper,Looking for 21' lite camper,I have a 2011 toyota tacoma double cab 4.0 TRD off road,Would that have the towing package?It did come with a hitch and wiring from the factory..I was not sure if i need a trans cooler or if it came with one?I better look at my book..lol! Just wanted to get some info on what i need and what to watch out for....Thank you so much!!

 

I did, all the way from Lewisville, TX (north fo Dallas) to Santa Cruz via Reno... my taco has airbags, I didn't use a WDH. The truck and trailer were essentially empty.

big downsides that made me buy the F250....

1. gas tank range... 150 miles... maybe 200 if you're careful. ouch on long southwestern interstates
2. truck payload.... my 2008 Taco Access Cab 4x4 TRD has 1200 lbs total payload including passengers. subtract 500-700 lbs of hitch weight (10-15% of GWR), plus my wife and I (probably 450lbs between us old fatties but I'm guessing as she won't tell me), and there's hardly nothing left for the tables, chairs, and other 'festival' stuff we like to bring, never mind my astronomy gear.

the F250 Long bed has WAY more cargo capacity, 2000 lb bed payload (not counting passengers), and 12000 lbs tow, with a 38 gallon tank. I got the same or better mileage on this 1800 mile norcal+so-oregon trip... and that included things like full throttle acceleration up 6% grades to get back to highway speed after a stop. the ride was more comfortable, too. the f250 is totally stock, no 'tuner chip', no big pipe exhaust, no suspension upgrades.

Taco with just my basic astronomy gear:


F250 LB with the same gear, plus the 7' step ladder that was on the roof of the Taco...

 

the factory tow on my 2008 included the hitch receiver, 7-blade RV trailer wiring, transmission cooler (only if automatic, manuals don't need one), and a bigger alternator to aid in recharging the RV batteries while on the road. you will need to add a brake controller such as the Tekonsha P3 (get the Toyota harness from Tekonsha, and its plug and play), and I recommend adding the Ride Rite airbag kit. watch your payload, the 2008 DC had only 1000 lbs, that has to include the hitch weight, which should be 10-15% of your trailer actual weight (assume the max, NOT the min!!!) AND the driver+passengers....

 

oh, and I recommend keeping your trailer gross weight under 4500 lbs and tongue weight under 600 lbs. caveat emptor. RV sellers will tell many lies about this.

 

wow thank you!! mine is an automatic..I will add the electric brake like you said..So i need an air bag kit?

 

Great info!!

 

you don't *need* an airbag kit, but when heavily loaded, it will ride WAY better with one, even if you're not towing.

if your trailer is much over 400 lbs of tongue weight (ignore manufacturer specs, load the trailer and WEIGH it!!), then if you don't have airbags, you'll want a weight distribution hitch.. even with airbags, with higher tongue weights, a WDH helps, but its a little trickier to setup due to multiple variables, you can find my prior posts on this somewhere in this thread, I think.

and again, remember, that tongue weight comes directly off your vehicle payload...

 

I have a 2011 sport with the tow pkg. Here are some pics of the trans cooler, oil cooler and the colored fan housing. I learned from others on TW about all of this. Try the “towing bible” thread. It has great info. Maybe others have more input.

 

oh yeah, forgot the tow package includes an aux oil cooler as shown in the last pic above...

 

Went out side and looked..So far i have all that...With my truck having a sound system that has around 1000 watts of power..Would be a good thing to upgrade the alternator with a high output one with towing and keeping the batteries charged or will the factory be fine?

 

https://www.etrailer.com/multi-prod...oma&hhyear=2011&vehicleid=201133033&hunter=bc

 

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=4604

 

measure the actual power consumption of that system. adding up amplifier peak ratings is a smoke-and-mirrors number.

case in point... my kids Burning Man rig, a 5 ton 6x6, has a large stage PA system... each of the 2 15" main speakers and 2 dual-18" subwoofers (all JBL Pro SRX800 stuff) have a 2000W Crown digital amplifier, and he powers the whole thing with a 5KW diesel Onan generator... he ADDED another 2000 W Crown amp with an additional pair of monster Cerwin Vega folded horn subwoofers, was playing EDM at an outdoor event in wide open spaces, cranked til ears were ready to bleed, but was only drawing about 21 amps peak from the generator, which is rated for 40+ amps of 125VAC. so that "10000 watt" system isn't using 2500 watts actual power, this will cranking out some seriously heavy EDM that could be heard from 3 miles away.

 

I would go with a larger trans cooler if you plan on towing in the mountains and in warmer weather. When the torque converter unlocks it generates a massive amount on heat and on long mountain climbs you can easily over heat the tranny. One of the reasons why I went with a manual in my new '18.

 

huh, thats twice the price of https://www.etrailer.com/Brake-Controller/Tekonsha/90195.html

 

That was a 233S Rockwood Roo, the new one is smaller but heavier. It is a Outdoors RV Creekside 21DBS. So it is 2' shooter but made to camp in basically all year round. I loved the hybrid, but we camp so early and so late into the winter that the hybrid just wasn't cutting it. We were going through a 5 gallon thing of propane a night. But it was 20 below 0. Lol. Of course no water.

 

Just got home with the new one. Towed just as good if not better than the old one. I think the weight is is set up proportionally better on this one and having the axles a little farther apart I am sure helps a bit too. Need to move the head of the equalizer up a hole to help level the trailer out just a tad more but other than that I think I am set. Maybe add one more washer to the head after I see what she looks like all loaded and full of water.