towing

Question regarding towing a U-Haul trailer for a 2013 Tacoma V6 I don't believe it has a tow package on it although we have a 6000 pound hitch do I need stabilizing bar to drive from California to New York?

 

If you don’t have the tow package you’re good to tow up to 3,500lbs. With the tow package is 6,500lbs. To better answer your question, we’d need to know what you plan on towing and weight.

 

a 4x8 uhaul trailer

 

U-Haul’s aren’t know for being light trailers. So you’ll start with a bit of weight empty. Depends on what you put in it as to how much it’ll weigh. You have to determine if you have a tow package. If you bought the truck new, do you still have the window sticker in the glove box? Is there an 7 pin trailer harness under the rear driver’s side of the hitch? Otherwise you could tell if you have an external oil cooler. Post a photo showing the color of the fan pulley and another of the oil filter. That would help determine if there is a tow package. I, personally, wouldn’t tow near max weight. It would give me a white knuckle ride. For the distance you are towing, a stabilizer sway bar would be helpful. I don’t know if U-haul’s set up is compatible with a load stabilizing hitch that they could rent you. That would transfer some of the weight to the front axle of the truck. It’ll squat a lot riding only on a regular hitch if the trailer tongue weight is heavy. The last bit of advice is to make sure the u-haul’s brakes work well. They tend to use surge brakes which is a spring in the hitch assembly that senses when the trailer is pushing into the truck and activate the trailer brakes. I’ve had bad luck with those where the spring wasn’t set correctly and it would push the truck very hard before starting to brake. Not good in a downhill turn as it would push the truck’s rear sideways.

 

For the cost of renting and significantly lower gas mileage, have you thought about a pod that you fill and have shipped across the country?

Edit: ABF U-PACK, PODS, U-Haul U-BOX, etc…


Edit, edit: Do you have experience towing? Towing near the maximum capacity of a vehicle?

 

4x8 tops out at 3500lb no?

Id assume 1000-1200 dry

 

An empty 4x8 is 850lbs.

You’ll be fine. Take your time starting and stopping, and load it heavier toward the front. If it sways, it’s not heavy enough in front.

 

well we don't have towing experience but the ubox is almost double what it was last year and that the cheapest
we bought the truck used in 2019
i don't see an oil coolant under the hood i will look under the rear for what you mentioned

 

The trucks not here right now but I will send a picture from the engine and I don't see what looks like a seven pin trailer harness under the driver rear near the hitch but not exactly sure what I'm looking for either

 

Good catch. I just looked it up.

4X8 empty 850lbs, max gross 2,500lbs = no problem to tow.

5X8 empty 900lbs, max gross 2,700lbs = no problem to tow

 

The limiting factor is your trucks payload. There is a sticker on the driver's door jamb with a statement that reads "The weight of all passengers and cargo should not exceed XXXX lbs".

That weight varies depending on the individual truck, but MOST Tacoma's will be 1100-1300 lbs. Some are as little as 900, and a few could be 1500+. You need to determine that 1st.

Come up with an estimate of how much weight will be in the truck cab and bed excluding the tongue weight of the trailer. My truck has 1300 lbs of payload but I have a 180 lb cap on it and my wife and I are a combined 360 lbs. That eats up 540 lbs of my usable payload before I start adding cargo or a trailer. I have 760 lbs of usable payload.

Figure 13% of the loaded trailer weight as tongue weight so a 4000 lb trailer will have 520 lbs of tongue weight leaving me about 240 lbs for other cargo in the bed.

As long as you keep trailer weight under 5000 lbs you don't need a weight distribution hitch. You should be OK as long as you keep the loaded trailer weight around 4000-5000 lbs. Just remember that you can't load the trailer with 4000-5000 lbs with 2 adults in the cab AND fill up the bed with weight too.

You need to determine your trucks payload and do the math from there.

 

i have these in my fone. will need to check the other thing

 

Post # 10 and I were typing at the same time. A 2700 lb trailer makes it a lot easier, but you still have to consider the weight in the cab and bed of the truck in relation to payload. A 2700 lb trailer will put about 350 lbs on your tongue. You can pull that trailer AND put more weight in the truck, but it is still possible to go over payload if you don't watch those numbers.

This is the weakest link with Tacoma. Lots of 3rd gens only have 1000 lbs of payload. A Honda Ridgeline or Ranger is 1600-1700 lbs.

 

thanks guys just a little nervous going across country mostly ca and az mountains

 

i know there's a sticker inside driver door but i don't remember seeing that exact statement

 

With that size trailer, you’ll be fine. If you find the transmission hunting to select a gear, manually drop it out of overdrive to hold a higher rev.

As the other members mentioned, truck payload is something to keep in mind: weight of passengers, luggage in truck, anything in the bed, hitch tongue weight. All of that needs to be under the max payload.

 

truck just got home
sticker says capacity is 1090 that's just the truck or what's towed also ?

 

That is the load that the truck can carry in terms of passengers, their luggage, items in the bed, a bed cap if you have one, and the tongue weight of the hitch that the truck is carrying. Because the 4x8 trailer has a gross capacity of 2,500 lbs, you’ll be under the lowest tow rating offered on a Tacoma (that I know of). So the weight carried only by the trailer (again, it would be under 2,500lbs) doesn’t come into the equation for truck payload other than the tongue weight of the trailer.

 

Tongue weight is the weight that the trailer tongue places on the truck at the hitch. It’s 10 of 15% of the overall weight on a properly distributed load on a trailer and is not the overall trailer weight.

 

This thread from Tundras.com is a great resource to start learning.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/tow-ratings-guide-how-to-be-safe.39211/