Thoughts about a toyota tacoma

Since my last post about adjusting a WD Reese hitch, we have purchased a 27 ft Towlite. We had a 22 ft. I'm now asking for persons input on pulling this 27ft trailer with a Tacoma four door. We have a 2002 Tundra now. The Tacoma would have the 4.0 V-6 and 5 spd auto. Tundra has 4.7 V8 and auto trans. I'll check this posting daily.
Wayne

wmjbuying said:

Since my last post about adjusting a WD Reese hitch, we have purchased a 27 ft Towlite. We had a 22 ft. I'm now asking for persons input on pulling this 27ft trailer with a Tacoma four door. We have a 2002 Tundra now. The Tacoma would have the 4.0 V-6 and 5 spd auto. Tundra has 4.7 V8 and auto trans. I'll check this posting daily.
Wayne

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This should answer all of your questions.

http://www.trailerlife.com/images/downloads/02towingguide.pdf

The 27ft Towlite is a little to large for the Tacoma. You may be OK on the straight aways and flat ground, but the Tacoma will have difficulty on hills and over mountains. With the 27 ft Towlite, you would be over 80% of your gross vehicle rate ratio when the trailer is loaded with gear, water, etc.

With our 2006 Tacoma, we wouldn't go larger than a 24ft Towlite that doesn't have a tip-out.

Take a look at this forum thread:

http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f15/towing-tacoma-1055/

I don't think I would want to try that combination. The Towlite is going to weigh at least 4300 pounds dry before any options or cargo. With the normal options, awning, A/C, etc., full LP tanks, and a full tank of fresh water you could go over 5000 before adding your gear. That would be asking too much from the Tacoma which has a towing maximum of about 6500 pounds. You have to deduct out of that what you haul in the truck beyond the weight of the driver and a full gas tank. 80% of 6500 pounds gives you 5200 pounds for a comfortable towing limit.

Our 2310H is about 4000 pounds dry as equipped plus the weight of our stuff, and we travel light. That is about as much as I would want to tow comfortably.

I tow a 22T with my 4.0L Crew Cab Frontier, rated at 285hp and I get by if I watch my load and drive conservatively in California ... but the 6% and greater grades and sea level to 8,000 foot elevation changes do put me in the truck lane more often then not. Consider also that once you get up to traveling at freeway speed you also have to be able to stop the thing in a moments notice or you may end up being the the first floor of a two story RV!

Keep in mind that the GVWR of your tow vehicle includes not only the empty weight of your RV but also must account for any additional load in both the tow vehicle and the RV such as driver, passengers, pets, gasoline, LP, water, hitch, clothing, food, beverages, books, you get the picture! RV tongue weight as well as GVWR are a concern ... most of us try to stay under 80% for a margin of safety. In any case a good load distributing hitch and sway control are a must!

The quick answer is that you will not regret owning the Tundra vs. the Tacoma.

wmjbuying said:

Since my last post about adjusting a WD Reese hitch, we have purchased a 27 ft Towlite. We had a 22 ft. I'm now asking for persons input on pulling this 27ft trailer with a Tacoma four door. We have a 2002 Tundra now. The Tacoma would have the 4.0 V-6 and 5 spd auto. Tundra has 4.7 V8 and auto trans. I'll check this posting daily.
Wayne

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Let me get this straight, you got a bigger camper than you had, & now want to pull it with an even smaller more gutless pickup, which will probably have more people in it (further reducing the payload ability) 4door version?

IF you risk it, I mean... I have before, pulled big things with small pickups, I just dont recommend it...

Let me suggest that if you do, get a manual trans, or pay reasonable $ to have a tranny shop add Trans cooler and other recommendtaions from them, so you dont blow the trans right away, and plan routes you dont have to fight insane speeds and traffic. power to start and stop will still be issues, but now you will be over working the transmission, even with coolers, I think it will burn up in 30-40 thousand towing miles.

DONT let me forget to mention yet again!

stopping the big *** trailer with that micro pickup, will be scary when you have a "sudden" stop to make, especially downhill and things like that.

wmjbuying said:

Since my last post about adjusting a WD Reese hitch, we have purchased a 27 ft Towlite. We had a 22 ft. I'm now asking for persons input on pulling this 27ft trailer with a Tacoma four door. We have a 2002 Tundra now. The Tacoma would have the 4.0 V-6 and 5 spd auto. Tundra has 4.7 V8 and auto trans. I'll check this posting daily.
Wayne

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I would stay with your Tundra, for sure. I just traded in my Taco for a Dodge Ram 1500 HEMI, b/c I wasn't happy pulling our Prime Time Tracer 195M (traditional TT).