Safe to tow from bumper?

I have a 2006 Tacoma 4WD that I want to tow behind a motorhome. But I see that it has an aluminum bumper under a plastic skin and I worry that aluminum isn't strong enough to tow from. My fear that the aluminum would crumple pretty easily. Then again, it is a bumper, and in theory ought to be strong enough to pull the truck. But maybe that's naive. Appreciate anyone's opinions.

Here is the underside, showing the alum bumper which is a 2" thick and hollow. Note the extensions that connect it to the steel frame.



Here are the brackets that would be bolted through the skin and the aluminum bumper


Here is the tow bar.

 

Flat towing 4wd Tacomas requires a driveshaft disconnect.
Tow from frame, not bumper.

 

Put it on a car trailer. You can not flat tow the truck. It’s in the owners manual.

 

I'm aware of that and planned to remove the driveshaft

 

I'm not much of a manual-following guy

 

Then hook it up and giv'er.

 

The bumper is, by design, a sacrificial, impact-absorbing member (In plain English, it's intended to crumple! - notice you didn't get a bumper jack with your truc?). Putting aside the issues of flat-towing a truck that is not meant to be flat-towed (Your truck, you do what you want), you could probably actually get away with towing that way on flat, level ground, provided you drove gently, but if you had to make a panic stop, panic acceleration, or other emergency maneuver, it's very likely that the tow vehicle and Tacoma would part ways.

 

I’d be wary of not following the manual on this one. Too much liability if something goes wrong and the tow vehicle and Tacoma become two disconnected objects. Think about others around you who could get affected by an uncontrolled Tacoma breaking loose from the tow vehicle.

 

That's exactly my fear. Now, if this were a jeep with a nice big steel bumper and no plastic skin....

 

BPFabricating makes add-on recovery points that bolt onto the left and right front side of the truck, possibly to frame. Not sure if that it something that can be used.

 

Fuck no. Mount the brackets to the frame.

Also buy a proper vehicle to drag, tacoma is far from the right choice.

 

Not related to anything going on here but couldn't help but think of this video. The poor Nissan truck.

 

It would be in the shop, and you couldn't tow it anyway...

 

Yeah, with some rope. It'll probably be fine

 

Here's a link to the OEM owner's manual. All information on towing the truck starts on page 332. Good luck, be safe, and don't tow improperly as you could kill other people if done wrong.

https://www.toyota.com/owners/resources/warranty-owners-manuals.tacoma.2006