Well I've gotten to the point with my Runner that I'm finding myself wheeling like a wuss because I'm afraid of breaking my rig and not having anyway to get it home. I've been driving it several hundred mile round trips to and from the trails all summer. It does fine on the road. Someone will always get you back to a trailer but the 150 miles home is a different story if I blow a Tcase input, grenade a ring an pinion, ect. I also want to take my rig to Western WA for a week this spring. Anyways I'm about ready to pick up a decent car hauler with two 3500 axles and electric brakes. I'll have a brake controller and all that. The ol Taco is rated at 6500lbs which is gonna be right about where I'll be sitting.

Is there anybody that has towed this kind of weight with their 05+ for any kind of distance? Mine is a 6 speed so tranny heat isn't an issue. I also have a few extra ponies under the hood from stock. Aside from getting horrendous mileage is there anything else that would be a total show stopper before I buy a trailer? I just got the Taco last year or I'd go trade it in for a new Tundra.

 

I haved towed close to 6K with my '05 a few times. Mileage sucks, if you think about it, it will give you a headache I am also running 285's and am considering going back down to 265's just to gain a little power back for towing. Allow some following distance too.. Basic common sense stuff. The brake controller you mentioned is a must. Consider an equalizing hitch too to help destribute the load. Toyota must know folks are going to tow a decent load with the Taco or the tow package would not have come with a class 4 hitch and a 7 pin connector.

In hindsight, if I had known I was going to be getting my '81 as a trail truck I would have bought a used turbo diesel instead of the Taco. I do know that the '05+ tow loads a lot better than my '97 taco did.


My Trekker and trailer weighs about 5K. The truck sits a lot higher on the trailer (my dad's farm trailer) than I would prefer and I may get a lower car hauler sometime.
I do have a tow bar that I will add the mounts to the bumper when i build it on my '81 and just drop the rear driveshaft. Though having the Trekker on the trailer with brakes is better...kind of a toss up I guess.

I am planning on getting a set of OME Dakar rear springs in the future. In the meantime I will be getting the rear springs replaced under the TSB. It should help with the extra leaf.

 

Tow dolly and be careful and you would be fine.

When it finally comes to towing my rig around I would highly consider an older chevy or ford 3/4 ton.

 

get an old ford with a 390... could pull down a house with a granny gear!

 

It should do fine.

I just recently added a Skyjacker 3" lift, which came with new rear springs that have the extra leaf like the TSB springs, new nitro rear shocks, and new front struts.

It does handle better while towing. I towed my boat yesterday (about 4000 to 4500 lbs.), and can tell a difference. Before, it was bouncy and would sometimes bottom out in the rear on hard bumps. Surprisingly, I can't tell much difference in pulling power with the 2.2" taller 285s on it.

Anyway, if I were you I would at least have the TSB done before you try to tow that much. It will definately make a difference.

 

My tandem axle car hauler with 3500 lb axles weighs 2200 lbs cause it is all metal. One with wood flooring etc might weigh less. What does your trailer weigh and how much does your trail rig weigh? I wouldnt guess but I would weigh it if you do not know for certain.

I would be leary of overloading your towing capacity on the Taco cause if you have an accident and are overloaded they can deny your claim and you could be cited if stopped.

Be safe, not sorry.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't even have a trailer yet but the ones I been looking at run right around 1800lbs. I'm guessing full of crap and tools my Runner is going to weigh in somewhere in the 5K range. I have the Revtek lift on mine but I hate the ride of the rear so been thinking of going to a Deaver pack anyways. And no I'm not going to go in the hole trading this truck in or buying a 4th vehicle as a tow rig. I already have a Camry too on top of my Taco and Crawler.

 

One option you might want to consider is renting a trailer from Rider or U-haul and load your runner up on it to see what it would weigh...For a long trip north it might be worth it to see if you could rent a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, just a thought. The couple of times I have towed my truck it was local, but prefer not to do it...

 

Tow dolly and remove the rear driveshaft.. Much lighter, easier to carry and works better than a tandem or single axle full built trailer if you lack a large displacement v8.

 

I also use a dolly, however the disadvantage to a dolly is no brakes on the load, still a lot of rolling mass to slow down with only the tow vehicle brakes.

 

I think your crawler needs to go on a diet.


Start choppin the 4Runner

 

Well since I started this thread I bought a 16ft Carson and have hauled my Runner a couple hundred miles. Power is limited on hills but I am able to cruise in 6th gear on flat ground at 65mph and still get 11mpg which isnt' any less than a full size with a V8 would be getting. I really need to do something with my rear suspension though. To balance the trailer properly it squats my rear end down pretty good and it rides pretty crappy in the truck lane on the freeway. I'm looking into options now. Alot of people seem happy with the OME Dakar springs. Any recommendations on where to buy them from?

 

Do both axles have brakes on them? Trdparts4U.com seems to have decent prices on springs. I was going to order the OME springs when I bought my arb bumper from them but only had the $$ for the bumper...

 

I had to add brakes to the second axle. It made a world of difference in the stopping power. While doing research on springs today I came across the TSB for rear spring replacement on the 06 and 07 Tacos. Not sure how I missed the news on this one or why I didn't get anything in the mail. I called the dealership and of course they played dumb. The forums came through again and somebody hosted the official TSB from Toyota. I just printed it out and I'm gonna slap that down on the service managers desk and tell em I need new rear springs