Hi All,

Looking at buying a hard-side travel trailer, but nervous about how much the little Tacoma can handle. The manual says it can tow up to 5,000 pounds. That seems to me like it would be pushing me all over the place. Anyone had experience towing, and how much do you feel good about towing?

Thanks for all help.

I've done a fair amount of towing (with a 12x7 tandem-axle hard side trailer) behind my 2001 Double-Cab, and it does okay. Most trailers rated over 2k have either electric or surge brakes, so stopping it is not that much of a concern (you'll need to wire your Taco with a trailer brake controller for electric brakes).

If you have an automatic, you'll want to turn off the Overdrive (as stated in the owner's manual) as the trailer behind will tend to force the ECU to unlock the torque converter, and when it does, the tranny will heat up very quickly. With O/D off, the ECU is more likely to keep the converter locked, and the tranny cool(er).

The biggest issue I've found is the surface area of the front of the trailer, as it will determine the amount of wind you have to push out of the way.

The front of my trailer is at least 8x7, and even with my S/C, tends to really pull hard above about 55mph. In contrast, my stepson just rented a 12x6.5 from Uhaul, with a front area about 5x6.5 (i.e no taller than the truck itself), and his N/A Taco 3.4 pulled it 75mph from Atlanta to D.C. with at least 5K of weight -- no problems.

I have electric brakes, and the Uhaul had surge brakes. No issues stopping. I use a load-distributing hitch (against the recommendations in the Taco owner's manual), as I've found its use makes my larger trailer easier to tow (and keep straight) in crosswinds and as semi's pass on the freeway. Jason used a straight 2" drop receiver with a standard ball (albeit with a smaller trailer) and also had no issues.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply.

Interesting to hear the tall trailer was more an issue than the wieght.

Frontal area and DRAG are the biggest factors unless you are pulling grade.

For example:
Empty 7x7x14 box trailer (1500ish #) pulls harder down the highway than my boat (3500ish #) with nearly the same frontal area but a lot more streamlined.
Or, a car trailer with 4000 # of lumber on it will tow better on the highway than that cube trailer.
Then there is the new box trailer that is not as boxy but bigger, tows better than the old smaller trailer.

Find the most aerodynmic trailer on the market. It makes a huge difference. The weight will hurt starting and stoping but once it is roling and you are on flat ground it is all wind drag.

I have occasionally towed. It's 90% driver 10% rig.