tow capacity question
I'm trying to figure out if my wife's Toyota Highlander (4 cylinder) can safely tow my boat. The car's owner's manual states that the towing capacity is 3000 pounds. The sticker on my boat trailer s...
Forum Discussion
plasticmaster wrote:
It is a 2004 Highlander 4 cylinder. It does not have a tow package.
No boat for you!
Just kidding...sort of...
In my opinion, if this is just a matter of an occasional local day trip tow of twenty or thirty miles to a nearby lake you would likely do just fine with a hitch and light wiring. But if you're wanting to go on trips etc. you'll need to upgrade some.
It may be possible to add the required enhancements if you can find out what they are. If it's just a matter of a hitch, bit of wiring and an add-on transmission cooler, that's a few hundred bucks. But if suspension enters into it, could be dicier. Though since one can tow a boat with a lower tongue weight than a TT, you might squeak by, suspension-wise.
And we still don't know about brakes-on-the-trailer- does it have them? I'm betting not, given that 3,000 pound GWR. Common label stuck on units to stay below State must-add-brakes rules. That doesn't mean yours is going to weigh at or under that number, by the way. It could well be over that, real-world-wise, in which case all bets are off. Better info about the boat itself would help us help you!
