io

Hey guys. I tried a search, but ther eare so many different types of trucks on here it was a pretty fruitless search.
Anyway, I've got a 1996 Toyota Tacoma 3.4V6 5-speed 4x4 regular cab. It came with the stock chrome toyota bumper with a hitch ball on it.
It didn't come with an owners manual.

What I'm wondering is how much weight can I tow with that stock hitch bumper?

io

And does anyone have a tow dolly in MN that I can borrow for cheap. (Had to ask.)

93ToyKid

It should be stamped onto the bumper. But for reference, my 93's bumper can tow 500 lbs. tongue weight and 3500 lbs. total. Can't remember what the actually hauling capacity of the truck is, but that is for the bumper. Yours should be the same. As for the tow dolly, I would check with U-Haul for the price. We just rented a car hauler about a month ago to transport a 4Runner from Florida back here to North Carolina. The price was reasonable, and the trailer looked like crap, but worked flawlessly. 75+mph was no problem. Just a thought.......

io

Doh! RTFM eh? Or in this case RTFBumper? ANyway, thanks man, I'll look tomorrow when it's light out.

roger

If you have the owner's manual that will tell you how much you can tow. Personally, I would not tow 3500 pounds on a bumper-mounted ball...safer to have a Class 3 hitch. But that's just me.

Last time I got a quote, U-Haul wanted $450 for a car hauler to go from Texas to Florida. If you're towing a FWD car, just get the dolly, it will be much cheaper.

io

In my case my used truck didn't come with an owners manual.
Though the bumper does indeed say 350 lb tongue weight / 3500 lb gross vehicle weight.

Money is always relative.
If I bother getting a "class whatever" hitch installed "and" rent a dolly (it a rwd car, so I'd have to disconnect the rear driveshaft, but it'd work) the cost rises to the point that it'd be cheaper to fly out and drive it back.

As for the weight. The car is a Mazda RX-7. '83, and partially stripped for racing. So it probably weighs 2200 lbs total. Plus the weight of the dolly.... which is about 650 lbs. The car itself is street legal and has current tabs on it. So driving it would be an option. Too bad plan tickets are so expensive at this point in time.

calisurferdude2000

If it's RWD, just put the back end up on the dolly.

io

*laughs*
I suppose that'd work... Might look funny going down the road backwards.
I'd also have to secure the steering wheel from moving. SHouldn't be too hard though.

Gangus2006

Youll screw up your steering rack/lock

93ToyKid

If your bumper is in really good shape, then you'd probably be ok hauling the car behind it. It's really not going to be any tongue weight with the dolly. Granted, an actual hitch would be better, but I think you would be fine. My bumper has the usual rust holes in it, so it's good for nothing other than a step.........