NOOB question 2014 Tundra Towing 7500 pd Trailer

Just noticed this thread. One more Tundra here. My TT is rated 5600 dry, 28 ft and I have pulled it with a full water tank of 60 gallons.

Certainly lighter than what the OP is looking at but I have always been comfortable towing this setup. Except once where the highway 101 runs parallel to the beach and level with it. Wind gusts here can get pretty severe.

Hmm 3 actual Tundra owners replied and two are towing trailers several thousand lbs lighter and recommend they wouldn't want to go heavier with the third owner getting a newer trailer closer to what the OP is now considering and decided to go with a heavier TV.

The way I read these comments is the trailer the OP is considering is to much trailer for his TV and will be so close to the edge that the towing experience will be marginal at best boardering on not being IMO safe to risk at least my loved ones towing.

Well be interest to see if the OP takes heed of the advice his has been given or is simply looking for something to rationalize his potentially bad decision on going forward with his proposed tow combination.

Larry

I had a 2010 Tundra 5.7 and towed with it for 5 years. As you know, half tons are limited by payload. My new trailer is 8500 lbs, Tundra PULLED it fine. I didn't have sufficient payload for the tongue weight, the kids, the wife and I, firewood, bikes, etc. Decided to sell the Tundra and get a heavier truck with more payload.

At 8500 lbs I was also getting about 8.9 to 9 mpg on the highway... pretty poor. My old 6500 lbs trailer allowed me 10-11 mpg highway. Plenty of acceleration, never felt I lacked braking power, never felt like I was getting pushed around by the trailer either. I had plenty of low end grunt to get moving and plenty of mid range grunt if I needed to pass someone at speed. The engine and transmission on the Tundra are very stout and certainly not the "weak link".

Properly maintained trailer brakes and a properly set up weight distribution hitch are a MUST though. Like you I had E rated tires, which helped prevent a "squishy" feel. I have an Equal-I-Zer hitch and love it. Great weight distribution and very good sway control. Never felt sway with my truck, even in the "mountains" on the East Coast where you will be towing.

If you are interested, I have a set of Firestone air bags for the Tundra for sale.

I tow with a Tundra but my 25' trailer goes down the road at about 6500 pounds. You are going to be pushing the numbers a bit. The issue with the Tundra, and most other half tons, is the payload. Your truck will have no problems pulling or stopping with correctly adjusted trailer brakes.

Once you set the trailer on the tongue, get your wife and kids in the seats you might not be able to carry much of anything else by the numbers. The numbers are guidelines and you certainly don't want to ignore them completely but when you go over by a couple hundred pounds I doubt it will cause you to end up in the ditch.

Get a GOOD WD hitch with built in sway control. Keep your speed down and load things into the trailer instead of into the bed when possible.

7500 pounds dry will be 8500 pounds loaded with stuff for a long weekend. That's also 1000-1200 pounds of tongue weight. What does the tire and loading sticker say you have for payload? 1400 pounds means your family and a bed full of camping gear should weigh less than 200-400 pounds. Seems unlikely.

Stay closer to 6000 pounds dry, or you'll be into that 3/4 ton pickup you said you don't want.

I tow a 31' UVW trailer of 5600#, guessing I'm around 6,600 loaded up. Tongue weight is right around 900# + my 75# equalizer hitch + 400# in passengers leaves me around 50# under my payload rating of my Tundra. So needless to say I'm normally over once I throw a few bikes and fire wood in the truck. Truck tows great, but I'm not sure I would want to go any higher even though I'm still 4000# pounds under my tow rating.

OK thank yall so much , hey any Good camping places in Carolinas . Looking for some good ones

Will it you tow it yes, will the numbers work out, I will leave that response for someone else.

Will you be comfortable towing it? That's entirely up to your comfort level! I towed a similarly sized trailer with a 1500, it was not bad but you could not be in a hurry. I would not want to go on a long trip with my setup, after 5hrs the constant correcting the tugs and jerks had me exhausted but on say short trips of 200 miles or less I got along fine and all I did at that time. I was not scared to drive it but the expression I knew the trailer was behind me was completely understood, windy days of corse was worse but I did not experiance much pull when meeting or being passed by trucks.

The truck had Erated tires and an airlift 1000 kit installed, the airlift kit was the best investment. The hitch I used was a Reese dual cam system that I do not feel was ever installed properly. First time they never did much of the setup S test drives and the second time my truck was not even there lol. This was before I got to know these boards. Friend of mine uses the husky straight line, works very well but can be a pain to disconnect, makes a lot of noise on tight turns.

I did upgrade the truck, and camper 3 years later. I started to travel a lot more and as I mentioned above not something I was comfortable with the old setup doing, thus the upgrade.

TT is too large for your truck, look for a shorter, lighter TT. It is not a good deal if you can't safely tow it.

Basically, I think you can do it. A lot depends on what you want to haul in the back of the truck, and you don't have much extra room there at all.

If this is the first trailer and you run close to top capacity, expect some hairy moments.

best of luck.