Show us what you tow.

I'm so angry

 

Fast lane truck said it’s okay though

 

Newbie here. All you folks seem to have those new-fangled fancy Tacomas (which is anything 2nd gen or later to me ;-) I'm running a 1st Gen '99 V6 4WD, essentially stock.

Been considering getting a ~20' pontoon or tritoon boat and using my Tacoma as a tow vehicle. My amateur homework indicates the boats would run ~1500 to 2000 lb dry and trailers ~ another 1000ish. I figure 'wet' weights would total 3500 to 4000lb total. Max towing capacity is allegedly 5000lbs on my truck.

I've pulled a 12' trailer 3-4' high full of sandbags a few times, no doubt exceeding towing capacity and breaking some laws, but it was short distance and you knew the weight was there but the truck seemed mostly bored by the whole thing.

The truck has a dealer installed tow hitch but no "sway control device" as far as I know (verbiage from the manual). Any recommends for a 'sway control device' I can install myself? Also, trailer electrical plug currently is just the 4-connector plug (no brake control connection). Can I rewire for electric brakes on a trailer myself? (Some of the boats I've seen have no trailer brakes, some 'surge' brakes (whatever that is), and some electric brakes. Any suggestions, comments, concerns, cries of outrage and dismay are welcome. Let me know if this is the wrong thread for this and I'll jump elsewhere. Thanks!

 

Be sure the weight includes the motor. I don’t believe our 23 ft tri toon weight rating included the 150 merc.

 

Good tip. I was already 'rounding up' but some of those big dog engines can run 4 or 500 lbs it looks like.

 

We tow an Airstream Bambi 22FB Sport with our 2018 DCLB. Tows great with a good weight distribution hitch, prodigy brake controller and staying at 65mph or under. MPG not great but not bad, 12-13, with some decent passes in Norther NM and Southern CO.

 

For those that have upgraded their stock trans cooler, which one did you do with? And do you replace the oem cooler, or add the new cooler inline with the old one?

 

Love the quote. May I use it? About ready to pull the trigger on a “tt”.

 

A Surge Brake is a trailer with a hydraulic cylinder in the neck that compresses when the load is pushing the hitch (ie: slowing down). The greater the push, the more pressure in the cylinder, which engages the trailer's brakes. It is a sweet passive system.

You will need a 5th wire that indicates to the trailer when you are in reverse. It disengages the brakes so that you can back up the trailer.

You can buy 5-wire harnesses at O'Reilly or AutoZone and splice into the reverse lights. Or pretty much any aftermarket shop or dealer will install one for you for an hour's labor. Probably even UHaul.

 

Lake Pleasant, North of Phoenix, AZ

 

You only need this wire on disc surge brakes. Most surge brakes I've seen are drum brakes and don't require the backup wire. One big advantage to surge brakes, is they don't require anything other then a standard 4 wire on the tow vehicle. There is no controller. Surge brakes used to be legal only in certain states. But that was changed ~ 10 years ago, and they're legal in every state now.

 

Replaced the OEM with tru cool 4589. At least I think that's the right number, they have a good selection of coolers

 

We have a 20-ft Lowe pontoon, hull weight rating at 1780# with a 60hp Command Thrust outboard at 263#, karavan single axle trailer at 750# comes out to 2793#. With a full 24-gallon fuel tank, add another 145#, and your at 2975#. My 07 DCLB w/ trailer package does great, but I did swap out the mirrors for some of those Dodge truck style that swing out after becoming thoroughly disgusted with the $14 clip-on's from Walmart.

 

Went to Grand Lake, CO over the Labor Day weekend. We have the 2018 TRD Offroad double cab. Trailer is a custom camper that we made earlier this year from a 5x8 cargo trailer. Overall weight of the trailer, to my guestimate, is about 1400lbs. Scales show roughly 1000 on the axle. I'm assuming about 400lbs on the tongue weight.
Camper is solar-powered but I also had the luxury of using a 110v plug-in.

Gas mileage to CO from KS was between 12 and 14mpg's. The entire drive is a rise in elevation. Also we were going about 75mph on average.


Last but not least, the moose became quite friendly around our camper!

 

Most these days just come with 7-pin plugs since that has the reverse signal and most modern vehicles either do dual 4/7 pin or at least 7-pin only (like our trucks)

 

Nice set up! Be careful with the Moose they can be very aggressive.

 

And they've got stick legs that hold them up at the perfect height to go right over your hood and through the windshield.

 

But the important question... How much can they TOW?

 

Yeah, the locals warned us to be mellow around them. Apparently this guy and his momma moose spend a lot of time chewing on the bushes that grow around this campground. Usually the biggest danger is if you happen to have dogs that decide to "play" with the moose. Then things can really go bad.