Towing with 3rd Gen Tacoma

Tongue weight & trailer weight are totally separate. Tongue weight gets subtracted from your tow vehicle's payload & is not supported by your trailer axle(s). The point of a WDH is to distribute tongue weight to both tow vehicle axles opposed to rear only. It looks like they measured Tacoma 1)front axle 2)rear axle & then 3)dual trailer axle together. Tacomas have approx. GCWR of 11,200 lbs so @vicali is in the green.

 

Yep, I was trying to get my overall GCWR on this trip. I could've either unhooked and weighed the Tacoma alone, or figured out how to measure the tongue on the scale.

I consciously load things in the trailer and keep the back of the Tacoma empty, max is our pup and crate ~80lbs in the box.

 

So you work around the tiny payload on our trucks by just loading up the trailer with gear instead of your bed? I'm struggling because every time I add up passengers, cargo, & tongue weight I hear a little voice in my head that I need a bigger truck.

 

GVWR of our trailer is 6800lbs, it has way more payload than the truck.

I hear that voice too, it's just not in the books, for the five or six times a year that I tow, usually within an hour from home, with our family of 4 the Tacoma does the job.

Would I love a 5.7L Tundra Crew that could fly down the road pulling the trailer like nothing? - sure, but the other 360 days of the year I would be cursing daily driving a full size truck - my parkade at work is bad enough right now with the DCLB.. Maybe in the future with the way my kids grow we won't be able to all fit in the Tacoma, for now it works.

 

I’m following all that. I was trying to determine if the weight reported for the trailer is accurate or not. If tongue weight is 500 lbs, that’s included in the truck rather than accounted for in trailer weight reported by the ‘third’ axle.

 

Just spotted your rig here... https://empyreoffroad.com/blogs/resources/toyota-tacoma-towing-capacity-how-much-can-a-tacoma-pull

On a side note... are you still pulling the same 5200# rig, still feel happy with it?

 

Hows this handle the coquihalla?

Looking at trailers and trying to stick as light as possible. After seeing this I may believe in the truck a little more.

 

Lol, while I have seen many 3rd Gens pulling trailers over the coq and the connector I still go around.
Must be left over from driving a Westfalia for 15 years.. there is always another way around the mountain..

I have had it all through the Kootenays and the Okanagan, up to 100 mile, and up the LittleFort hill with zero issue. I watch the temps with a scangauge and it's always been cool as a cucumber.

 

With the tongue weight the TT will be right around 5 k on its own, about the same as mine…

 

General question. Any issues with towing a trailer while in Drive? I see a lot of comments about people recommending 4th. I towed a trailer across country and left in drive and was just trying to see if I caused any permanent damage.

 

Weight and size?

 

3800lbs single axle uhaul enclosed trailer.

 

I have a rpod dry weight is 2400lbs. I added a Alcan spring pack and redarc tow pro elite. Lew at Alcan was great working with me to get my needs met and getting my truck better set up to tow safely. I had previously leveled my truck with Bilsteins. Taking the rake out of my truck meant when I hooked up the trailer even being well under max towing capacity meant my truck was squatting pretty bad. Taking that weight off the steer tires meant the truck did not feel great towing even with a WDH. It has been a night and day difference with the new leaf pack. I also did a kdmaxx tune about a year ago and recently upgraded to the newest variation. The tune really helps with the gear hunting and my mpg when I tow I average around 15.3 depending on the terrain. My Tacoma will never tow like a full size but I never expected it to. I think as long as you set your truck up properly, keep your trailer weight well under the max weights posted for our trucks they will do an adequate job.
My truck before it was set up properly unfortunately I don't have any since the new leaf pack.

 

Check out my build thread linked in my signature. In the towing section I have detailed instructions re: weighing in.

 

Sub'd for later reference.