Tractor towing with a Nissan Frontier??

I know a guy that pulls his tractor around with his Nissan Frontier. He says it does great but sometimes stopping is tricky. Yesterday he pulled it up to the mountains more than three hours away. Is this guy crazy or does the Nissan have a lot more pulling capacity than my Tacoma?

 

The saying "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" comes into play here.

That looks sketch as fuck. It might get going ok, but stopping is another story. Also feel bad for the transmission... I don't think those have a much different towing capacity than our Tacoma's.

 

I believe the Tacoma is rated slightly higher, but not very smart to exceed what your vehicle is rated for.

 

Frontier towing capacity is around 6500 lbs. Tacoma is about the same. That tractor weights about 4K lbs. plus the trailer he’s still within limits. Tacoma could tow that the same as well. That weight is on the high end for a midsize but it’s doable

 

That tractor weighs around 4,000 lbs. I wouldn't pull it the way he has it, too much tongue weight.

 

Does it have trailer brakes?

 

He doesn’t have trailer brakes. It’s an old homemade family trailer. I would never use my Tacoma to pull a tractor or a skid steer around like that. I thought he must be an idiot or his truck is a good bit stronger than mine.

 

Thats really what you want when towing. It lets you know you are being as safe as possible

You mean the trailer built out of scrap angle iron? Imma guess no

 

Going is no problem, but the lack of trailer brakes is pretty negligent. Towed with my frontier around the limit and and didn't have any issues, but I did have trailer brakes.

 

I'm ok with a few off-topic threads in the 3rd Gen forum but what does some guy, not even a member, towing a tractor with a Frontier have to do with anything?

 

See this part:

Yeah, RTFM or the ol' googler could have provided the solution, but it's still better than StarWars shift knobs on a Monday.

 

Accident waiting to happen, but that custom bed rack is sweet

 

Stupid is as stupid does.

 

Ok so he already admitted it's not capable of towing. Yes it pulls it, but if it's incapable of stopping in a safe distance and/or without damage to the brakes, I wouldn't say it's capable of Towing.

 

Trailers over 3000 pounds need brakes in most states
“Any trailer over 3000-lbs must have brakes on all wheels in most states, but laws do vary.”

https://www.etrailer.com/question-329430.html

When I use to go camping, I remember a guy towing a camper over the limit. He couldn’t stop, crashed into car with a family, and killing people. He was changed with manslaughter.

It’s not good to mess around towing.

 

"He doesn’t have trailer brakes."
I generally adhere to the school of "if you don't have anything nice to say..."

But in this case -- yes, he is an idiot.

 

It passes the time...

 

It seems that the Frontier handles it's towing capacity better than the Tacoma from what I hear around here. A co-worker has a few year old Frontier 4x4 and he tows a 5k lb boat on a 1300lb trailer and he says it does ok. Occasionally he tows it a few hundred miles. Transmission shifts normally, no issues controlling the weight on highways, lane changes, etc. From what I hear around here about the Tacoma towing, it seems much over 3k lbs and the stock truck is a handful, trailer brakes or not.

IBThatsallhearsay

 

Your buddies tolerance for sketch level exceeds mine.