Cargo Capacity and towing

Well now it seems I've gotten myself interested in a travel trailer. I should note that this was not even a thought when I got my new Tacoma a few months ago, but I suppose now having a truck it's only natural to want to have something to pull behind it. There is a lot of great info here and I've read the Towing Bible, but I'd love to get some clarity on the matter of cargo capacity.

This is a 2020 TRD OR 4x4 LB. Door stickers attached.

Max cargo is 940 pounds. I have a family of four. Let's assume 300 pounds of human in the front seat, 200 in the back.

That leaves me 440 pounds for tongue weight and any cargo/bikes etc. in the bed?

And if my setup is for boondocking (which it would be) that would put an additional 40lbs of propane and 100lbs for dual deep cycle batteries as direct tongue weight, so basically I'd need a trailer with a tongue weight of 300 lbs or less?

This is all leading to the inevitable question of "how much trailer can I tow". I've been looking at trailers under 3500 lbs GVWR but now I'm beginning to wonder if even that will be too much?

So... how much trailer can I tow?

 

Welcome to the club, OP. The Towing Bible is very outdated. 6400# towing capacity goes out the window pretty quickly when you start doing your homework on payload. With a family of 4 in the cab, the Tacoma becomes a downright poor tow vehicle IMO. My wife & I are major over packers for camping & with just the two of us, 1000# was becoming an issue. Bikes, extra water, propane fire pit, Yeti cooler, etc.

As I'm sure you're learning with TTs, you need to plan for 10-15% loaded tongue weight so if you're shopping 3500# GVWR trailers, you likely just blew your truck's payload. There are folks here who knowingly tow over payload but I'm not one of them. You probably need to be looking at soft-sided pop-ups or maybe a lightweight teardrop trailer for the adults & RTT (on the truck) for the kids...?



…..or a new truck but if you're driving a 2020 I'm sure you don't want to hear that.

 

Thanks NV_Spencer for confirming what I already suspected: I have very few if any options when it comes to a travel trailer. I'm not opposed at all to a pop-up. We're tent campers currently so that would be a step up. Now that I'm thinking about it, I've probably already blown the cargo limit just on our last camping trip. I'm still curious about that cargo capacity. 940 seems pretty low when I've seen advertised specs higher....

 

A properly set up 3500 lb. trailer will have 450 lbs. on the hitch. I've never seen a Tacoma with less than 1100 lbs. payload, most are 1200-1300. All of them have 5600 lbs. GVWR. But the heavier the trucks is with factory options the less payload you have. A basic no frills truck will have more payload. And you probably have less than 940 lbs. Most people tend to store stuff like some basic tools, etc., in their trucks and that weight adds up quickly. It is best to actually weigh the truck and subtract that number from GVWR to determine true payload. It is always less than the number on the sticker.

If anyone plans to tow the payload number is almost always the true limiting factor and that applies to bigger trucks too. Toyota does a good job keeping their trucks pretty close. Most Tacoma's are around 1200 lbs., most Tundra's around 1600-1700. Ford is all over the place, you can buy an F150 with 1100 lbs. of payload, or 2500 lbs. of payload. Even 3/4 tons vary between about 2000-3500. You really have to pay attention to the specs. I see guys quite often buy an 8,000 lb. trailer only to find their 1/2 ton won't handle it. Toyota advertises 6500 lbs. towing, Ford 13,000, but the key words are "when properly equipped". But trying to find one that is properly equipped is near impossible.

 

So true about the limiting factor of the payload capacity. And here I got myself lots of tools, a hard folding cargo cover etc. I thought with a 6,400 lbs. limit I'd be set. Not so it seems. This is really discouraging. Not so much about the towing - but now realizing I'm going to likely be over my max limit just doing normal truck stuff. I bought a truck to have a truck...

 

Throwing in my anecdote: we load up with as little as possible in truck. We have 2 propane tanks and a battery on the front. We try and load most of our goods in the back of the trailer. Truck seems happy with it.

FYI - we tow a 2020 Winnebago 1700BH

 

Thanks for sharing this - in fact that's one of the trailers I was looking at. If you don't mind me asking, where have you taken it and how does it tow? Wondering how it will do in the steep parts here in Southern California.

 

Most of our actual camping has been local in San Diego but we did buy it in Westminster and towed it down the 15 to SD. Plenty of long grades and it handled it no issues.

Just a side note... we are very happy with the trailer. We looked at numerous ones including the wolf pup, nobos, rpods, etc. and feel very happy with our decision.

It tows very well and is nice and stable. We use the Blue Ox weight distribution and love the fact that it needs no adjustment or fine tuning. We also have the blue sumo springs which seemed to help a lot.

Good luck!

 

Is there any reasonable way to improve the cargo capacity? Upgrading the suspension, etc? I can take off the chrome tube steps that came with the truck (not crazy about them) and that might give me a little bit of weight back...

 

Thanks - it looks like we have similar requirements for a camper. I'd ideally need a bunkhouse since we'll need to sleep 4 - including a teenager and a soon to be one. I'm having a real hard time finding RV dealers anywhere within 200 miles that even have small trailers in stock. Given my location in the LA area, I'd probably be up and down the passes (Cajon, Grapevine, etc) and into local mountains just to get to anyplace decent, so that's a factor. I also do high-powered rocketry for a hobby so would be taking it off-road (mostly dry lake beds) from time to time. I haven't given up on the idea of a travel trailer, but I know my options are limited and safety is a big deal for me.

 

Short answer: No.
You mentioned you've got a bunch of stuff on the truck like tools & tonneau but they are already eating into your payload so really removing them is just getting back to factory curb weight.

Extra leafs, air bags, etc...none of it can increase payload, in fact, it decrements because you're adding weight to the truck. Payload is based on how much the frame and axles can support. Buying a new truck is the only way to increase payload.


Also, just a PSA to all towers out there: please do not intentionally rear weight your travel trailers. It is a very dangerous thing to do & not a responsible way to keep tongue weight down. Do your homework.

 

Great advice! I'll add that we have a spread sheet (overkill) of everything we regularly take with us and rough weights. The Winnebago 1700BH's primary storage is in the back. We never have more than 100 pounds of stuff back there which is less than the 2 propane tanks and battery up front.

Bottom line... get used to traveling with as little as possible!

 

Good advice, thanks. So assuming if the posted curb weight includes the chrome tube steps I don't like, removing them might give me a little more cargo capacity? No idea how much they weigh, but I figure at least 50 pounds. That might actually make a difference. I'd likely take the tonneau cover off when towing and unessential cargo could go in the trailer of course (or stay home).

 

The most accurate thing you can do, in my opinion, is remove all the accessories you're looking at and take the truck to a CAT scale. Get it weighed. It's like 10 bucks. 5600# GVWR - curb weight = true payload. Otherwise there's no way to know if those were factory installed Toyota step bars (included on the driver door sticker) or if the dealership added them (counting against 940# payload).

 

No matter what you do to the truck to "improve" cargo capacity, the legal limit is still per the manufacturer's specs. No trying to be the weight cop, but...

 

Here is a useful excel file calculator that helps put everything in perspective. All you need is the pertinent spec's and it will give you an idea of where you stand.