Can a 2008 Toyota Sequoia 5.7L tow a Salem 33' TT

bmanning wrote:
You're in the same boat some 1/2 ton & 1/2 ton based SUV owners find themselves in:

Enough engine & transmission to absolutely dominate your RV...

...but just a hair too little frame & suspension beef to shoulder the weight.

Well put. My advice -- don't do it. My experience is based on the same concept but with a 07 Tundra --- just not enough payload. Upgraded to a 3/4 ton. I should have skipped the 1/2 ton.

My two cents.... based on the numbers provide, OP will likely be somewhat over, both payload and hitch weight ratings. Both somewhat concerning, however from my experience in towing longer TT's with short wheelbase SUV's (Tahoe & Yukon), sway and general handling will be the most significant concern. Even with something solid like the Reese dual cam setup, you WILL have sway in windy conditions and WILL be affected by semi's passing. No way around that, and the short, halfton SUV's are less capable in handling the effects. If I was you, I would look at shorter, lighter TT's.

BlackJohnny wrote:
The conditions were very windy and ideal to test the set up. There was some sway due to high wind gusts, overall the trailer tracked well and did very well when passed by Tractor Trailers. I did not go beyond 60 MPH/100 KM.

The question begs itself:

Taking all things into consideration, can the Sequoia with 122" wheelbase handle the length of the TT? IE is trailer sway going to be a concern with the current set-up or do I need to upgrade to a Hensley Arrow or Pro-Pride 3P trailer hitch?

Thanks

That sway IMO, is unacceptable. I've towed my heavier Jay Flight 23' travel trailer with my midsize Ford Explorer Sport Trac 'truck' and never had any sway. The reason is that the Sport Track Truck has 131" of wheelbase and I used the best inexpensive antisway control system, the Reese Strait-Line System (Trunnion WDH with Dual Cam High Performance System). Even in 40+ winds durring thunderstorms with tornadoes, I never had any sway. Trucks obviously never caused sway. Now as with any truck combo, did get pushed by wind, but the truck and trailer pushed as one vehicle with no sway. LT tires can help with the stability while being pushed but I've been pushed by wind with much larger rigs towing construction equipment.

My 2010 f150 (same as my 2012) has a 145" wheelbase and never had any sway using the Reese Strait-Line Sway Control system.

I'm betting you're using one, and only one, of those cheap add on sway bars to a standard Husky WDH system. Those are questionable and only dampen sway after it starts. The better systems don't allow sway to even start. If it doesn't start, you don't have to stop it. For that matter, my F150 have electronic sway control built in to brake individual tires to bring sway back into control. However it's never kicked in because the need was never there.

With that 122" wheelbase, a Hensley Hitch, or a Propride Hitch, or a Pullrite Hitch are needed. Pullrite is like a reverse 5th wheel but under the frame. Don't know if a 1/2 ton truck has a robust enough frame for that hitch system.

You could try a Reese Strait-Line system or an Equalizer brand system but with such a long trailer and with such a short wheelbase, it's hard to know if these would fail durring an emergency swerve or high wind gusts.

I would seriously look to find a more capable truck.

Good luck

It's not going to be fun, that's for sure.

Well, you've done a bunch of "bench" number crunching and actually took the combo out on the road in some less than ideal weather conditions (windy) and you felt the trailer behind you, but that's to be expected... I feel my little 22' TT behind my F150 with it's windy out... ;)

Too bad you didn't find any scales to drive it over, as that would give you some real numbers to crunch...

The decision really rests in your hands now... There was another member on here that used to have an Armada, which is similar to your Sequoia in terms of WB and tow ratings I believe.. He ran with that combo for a couple of years and spent additional $$ trying to make it work, but in the end, he traded it for an F250 I think it was... ;)

He did all the number crunching too and on the "bench" it looked like it would work.. In the real world and after a couple of towing seasons under his belt, he made a new decision..

Anyway, I may not have gotten all the details correct, and won't say one way or the other what YOU should do... Just wanted to rely the story if the other member does not see this post..

Good luck no matter what you end up doing!

Mitch

BlackJohnny wrote:
Hi,

I'm looking for an educated & deconstructive analysis of the following calculations that I performed regarding a 2008 2WD 5.7L Toyota Sequoia with tow haul mode & factory integrated hitch. The specs for the Sequoia are as follows:

GVWR: 7,300 lbs
GCWR: 16,000 lbs
GVW: 5,985 lbs
TW: 1,000 lbs
LTWR 10,000 lbs
Wheelbase: 122"
HP: 381
TORQUE: 401

The specs for the 2013 Salem 33' model 30KQBSS are:

GTW: 6,884 lbs
TW: 899 lbs
CC: 4,137 lbs
L: 33'0 Feet
H: 11'2 Feet

The TT will be hooked up to a HUSKY weight Distribution Hitch with anti-sway bar & a Tekonsha P3 electric trailer brake controller.

Taking into consideration the TT's specs & a 12% Tongue weight percentage override and adding a 10% level of safety margin of the tow vehicle's maximum ratings, I came up with the following operating capacities for my Sequoia.

Maximum Trailer Weight Loaded with Gear: 8,333 lbs
Maximum Trailer Weight Loaded with Gear & Safety Margin: 7,500 lbs
Maximum Tongue Weight with Safety Margin: 900 lbs
Maximum Passenger Weight with No Cargo: 1,315 lbs

The revised figures suggest I can only carry a maximum of 1,449 lbs of cargo in the TT. If I want to play it safe the calculations suggest I only load 616 lbs of gear. Naturally the trailer will not be filled with fresh or waste water when traveling. My total combined passenger weight is 605 lbs well within the 1,315 lbs max. The cargo & gear weighs 894 lbs, again well within the 1,449 lbs max.

I took the rig out for a test spin on the highway and county roads yesterday with no gear and 2 passengers. The conditions were very windy and ideal to test the set up. There was some sway due to high wind gusts, overall the trailer tracked well and did very well when passed by Tractor Trailers. I did not go beyond 60 MPH/100 KM.

The question begs itself:

Taking all things into consideration, can the Sequoia with 122" wheelbase handle the length of the TT? IE is trailer sway going to be a concern with the current set-up or do I need to upgrade to a Hensley Arrow or Pro-Pride 3P trailer hitch?

Thanks

I'm going to start fresh with your numbers.

Now you didn't say how you obtained all your vehicle data. Was it from the correct source, the actual tread act sticker that shows your actual tire loading and payload specs?? Then you have your white sticker stating the GVWR and GAWRs.

I looked up your specs here and here (p.233). You state your weight is 5985 lbs for your 2008 "2WD" Sequoia. For a payload of 1315 lbs, the towing capability is 9100 lbs, not 10,000 lbs. Your GCWR is 16,000 lbs.

For a full size SUV, 1315 lbs is pretty low. Lower than many midsize vehicle payloads so you must really be careful of what you can tow with this. When not useing a 3/4 ton truck or above, your towing capability is based more on payload, GAWRs, and hitch weight ratings than the overall tow rating.

Also you stated a 12% tongue weight which is low. From what I have seen over the years on here, is that most have a 13% tongue weight. 12% is closer to what single axle pop ups have.

I've also seen that most people have at least 1300 lbs loading over the trailer's brochure speced weight. This is for food, water, clothes, and camping gear.

Also over the years, I've seen average weight distribution equalize the vehicle at 80% of the total tongue weight (with hitch weight included in that 80%), and 20% go back to the trailer axles. This is an average and can change according to loading and hitch adjustment obviously. The same can be said of the 13% of total trailer weight for the hitch weight. It's an average that can change according to loading and even the way the trailer was made.

But for an average, with correctly adjusted hitch and loaded trailer, I'd use 13% for hitch weight and 80% for weight distributed from the hitch to the SUV's suspension that goes against payload.

6884 lbs for your Salem would have a minimum loaded weight of 8184 lbs going by loading just 1300 lbs over the brochure weight.

With a total loaded weight of 8184 lbs, you'll have a tongue/hitch weight of 1064 lbs. which is already over your 1000 lbs hitch capacity rating. The distributed weight of that 1064 lbs is 851 lbs going to your vehicles suspension. With a payload of only 1315 lbs, that leaves only 464 lbs. So that's basically about 100 lbs gear in the truck meaning everything down to your wifes purse, and the 2 of you.

Then to top it off, you only have a 122" of wheelbase with a 33' trailer. That's a combination for destruction! You'll need to get one of heavy duty hitches to combat sway, as a Hensley or Propride. Those hitches are heavy so take at least another 100 lbs away from your 464 lbs and pay about $3000 for that hitch.

That'll leave you no room at all for any gear including a toolbox. You'll just have enough weight capacity for you and your wife. Then you'll still be overloading your receiver hitch on your truck.

This camper demands a 3/4 Ton truck, not a SUV with a short wheelbase and one of the lowest payload capacities in the industry.

Since Toyota doesn't make a 3/4 ton truck, you'll have to pick from GM, Ford, or Dodge.

With a payload that low, you'll have to go down to a trailer with a total bumper to ball length of around 22' to even come close to being within the capacities of your SUV and still be able to have gear in it.

Good luck

bmanning wrote:
You're in the same boat as many 1/2 ton & 1/2 ton based SUV owners find themselves in:

Enough engine & transmission to absolutely dominate your RV...

...but just a hair too little frame & rear spring pack to shoulder the weight.

Said perfectly.... and IMO the manufacturers are borderline fraudelent with the advertising. I fell victim to it and this board is full of threads of people in the same boat.

To the OP - Here's a comparison you probably don't want to see.... I have a Salem 26TBUD that weight about 8K loaded up and ready to camp with average water and storage. I rolled through the scales with my 3/4 Chevy and was only 600lbs under my 9200 truck total weight. I would have been about 1100# over in your truck.... and I'd think you're trailer will be quite a bit heavier than mine since it's 4 feet longer.

Do you have a slide? Also, some of your numbers don't make sense. I'm going to guess "GTW" is dry weight? And the 899# tongue is dry? If you have a 4137# cargo capacity you undoubtedly have 5000# axles like mine which makes it heavier as well. From what I see you are well into 3/4 ton land.

You're in the same boat some 1/2 ton & 1/2 ton based SUV owners find themselves in:

Enough engine & transmission to absolutely dominate your RV...

...but just a hair too little frame & suspension beef to shoulder the weight.

If I read your specs correctly you want to tow a 11k GVWR TT with a TV that has 1400 lbs of payload. No way will you do that without exceeding some of the maximum ratings of the vehicle

As others have noted, the payload is the Achilles heel for the Sequoia (see my sig). Our TT is just over 6K loaded and ready to roll and the Sequoia handles it easily. Now, having said that......

What model is your Sequoia? What power options do you have? What wheel size do you have?

In my research prior to purchasing (in Feb. '09) our SR-5 I noted a couple of things. First, the 20 inch wheel option reduces your tow rating. Second, higher trim lines (Limited & Platinum) often come with power seats all the way around and power folding 3rd row seats. This also reduces your tow rating.

IMHO you need to take your Toyota to a scale and weigh it, then run your calculations again.