I am a very happy owner of a brand new V6 Toyota Tacoma with the towing package. I'd like to by a small travel trailer and have been looking at various models including Jayco Jayflight Swift and Starcraft AR-One, as well as reading books on the subject (such as The RVer's Bible). As you can probably tell, I am a beginner--never hauled anything but a two-horse trailer and not with my new truck! My truck as an overall towing limit of 6500lbs with the towing package, but I am a bit overwhelmed by GCWR, tongue weights, front and rear axle weighs, types of hitches, etc. I plan on installing trailer breaks since the truck is wired for it, and I definitely want anti-sway bars, but I am so worried that I am going to drive a trailer off the lot and it just not work with my vehicle. So I thought, "Why not find some other Toyota Tacoma peeps and find out what trailer they haul? That way I will know, maybe not for sure, but nearly, that that particular make and model jibes well with my vehicle."Take it away TTers! :D

I don't drive one but start with payload. What is the payload of the truck and who and what will be in the truck. Include the weight if the hitch. What is left is your tough weight. What ever that number is will equal a trailer less than your towing weight most likely. On the trailers it is tongue wait and loaded weight that you are interested. RV salesman understand this but want to make the sale, truck salesman don't understand at all.

If you start with a dry weight under 3500 pounds and do not expect to drive at 65mph up a mountain (or any hill for that matter), then the Tacoma will do fine. Engine (assuming 4.0L) will hum along at 2500-ish on flat ground and sing at 4000-6000rpm up hills. That's how it is designed, but many people don't like it.If you want to tow 6000 pounds dry at 65mph in top trans gear/1800rpm, um, you'll be dissapointed.

Haul or tow? They'll TOW a lot more than they'll haul for sure.

I'll weigh in with some comments about what I refer to as "the brother" to the Tacoma. And that is, my Frontier. Most all of the sizes and specs are very comparable between the Taco and the Frontier. Mine is a '06, 4.0L V6 crewcab, 4WD six speed manual.I pull a funfinder 189FDS ( and also a two horse bumper pull ). My funfinder weighs just under 4000 ready to camp, although with all the water tanks dry. Nissan also specs just over 6,000 pound tow capacity, but as others have said, before you hit the limit of 6000 lbs of travel trailer, these trucks will bump up against their GVWR and/or rear axle rating.However, at the comfortable weight of just under 4000 pound camper, I am, as hitched, right at 500 pounds under my trucks rear axle rating. So it's a good match, in my opinion. I have pulled from the gulf coast ( sea level ) to over 13,000 feet in Colorado, Wyoming, and have been all around New Mexico, Arizona, and from Ohio to Wisconsin. It's a good match. At 2800 to 3000 engine RPM, I can pull most hills I encounter, in fourth gear ( that puts me at about 55 to 59 mph ). On steep grades in the mountains, I can still outrun 18 wheelers up the hills, so I call the power "good", and generally just slow down some and hang out in the right lane with the slower traffic. I'm in no hurry anyway.To the OP, PM me if you would care to discuss any of this further.

go to http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/towing/ for the best information.

Toyota Tacoma Owners: What do you haul? | Good Sam Community

25 Replies

happybooker1
Explorer
Jul 09, 2014
See my Sig picture. Again, tows just fine but man does it suck GAS!!

Also check out this forum: Tacoma Towing
xteacher
Explorer
Jul 09, 2014
Look at the Palomini TTs, the Starcraft AR-ONE TTs, the Aliner Expedition, and the Camplite TTs. We used to pull an Aliner Classic, which was a wonderful hardsided PUP, but we wanted a bathroom. We pull a Starcraft AR-ONE 14RB with our 2010 Nissan Pathfinder (similar specs as your Taco). It pulls it just fine, but sucks gas, which we knew going in. We keep the speed 60-65 mph, which helps.
mxranger
Explorer
Jul 09, 2014
I had a 2009 DC 4X4 4.0L Auto Tacoma and it pulled around a 24 BHS trailer with dirt bikes in box approx @ 11,000lbs.

Added a brake controller (truck pre-wired) and never had any issues with brake wear/fade or tranny overheat, that little truck was awesome!!!

Yeah, it sucked gas but so does my F-150 when towing
gapeachy
Explorer
Jul 09, 2014
we have a 2012 tacoma and pull a starcraft ar one 25 ft 4000 lbs unloaded 8 hours to florida. sway bar and brake system. does fine. only sucks gas like a mother
NorthernVandal
Explorer
Apr 08, 2014
I just bought my first TT, ended up getting something a lot heavier on the tongue weight than I anticipated. I towed it home from Boise, about 7-8 hour drive. Tacoma double cab with the V6. I put a weight distributing hitch on it and it towed it fine. Problem was it was like towing a parachute uphill in a tornado on fuel. After evaluating the stress I would be putting on the tranny, as well as the additional load I need to haul for bbq competitions, I sold my Tacoma in about three hours for more than I paid for it.

Ended up getting a Silverado and am happy now.
AH64ID
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014
profdant139 wrote:
John, I am no expert -- but I have a friend who is a Toyota repair guy (not a dealership -- he has his own shop with several employees) and he said that as long as the temp is below 230, I will be ok. It has never gotten to 220, and it rarely gets over 190. He said that the problem is not the fluid, which can withstand a lot of heat -- it is the components of the transmission that can be damaged by heat in the 250 range. And he said that the Scangauge monitors the temp before the the fluid goes into the cooler, which is why the temp varies so quickly. The Tacoma with the towing package has a trans cooler.

With that data it would seem WS can handle more heat than the trans, which is normally not true with ATF.

I saw up to 250° a couple times doing some slow speed driving, it climbs very quick when the tq converter won't lock.

Doing some 4wheeling I saw it above 200° frequently, but not much above that.

I had the towing package with aux trans cooler.

Yes the SGII will monitor the temp in the pan. IIRC Toyota doesn't have their AT TRANS TEMP light go off until something like 375°, so it is more of a "new trans" light than anything. At least that's what it was on the older trans'.
johnnyrv
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014
We have a 2012 Tacoma V6 with the towing package. Our trailer is a 2014 Jayco Jay Feather 228, about 4000 pounds loaded. We also have a weight distribution hitch and sway bar. We easily tow in 4th gear at 60 mph. Terrain is mostly flat with a few long, moderate grades. This is our only vehicle so fuel efficiency was a factor for around town driving. We are very pleased with our rig.
profdant139
Explorer II
Apr 07, 2014
John, I am no expert -- but I have a friend who is a Toyota repair guy (not a dealership -- he has his own shop with several employees) and he said that as long as the temp is below 230, I will be ok. It has never gotten to 220, and it rarely gets over 190. He said that the problem is not the fluid, which can withstand a lot of heat -- it is the components of the transmission that can be damaged by heat in the 250 range. And he said that the Scangauge monitors the temp before the the fluid goes into the cooler, which is why the temp varies so quickly. The Tacoma with the towing package has a trans cooler.
AH64ID
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014
profdant139 wrote:
Were you towing at 70 mph?? Maybe I am confused.

I have one of those Scangauge things on my Tacoma, and I programmed it to tell the transmission temp. No matter what, it stays well within the recommended limits. I go up and down some major mountains. Not fast, though.

Yeah towing at 70, sorry for any confusion. It had power and did okay, but always seemed like it was having to work much harder than it should have.

I had a trans temp gauge installed in the hot line to the cooler, which runs significantly hotter than the pan. At the time there where no published differences in temps that the WS fluid could handle, but it was still presumed that they where similar to ATF. I only ever had to let it cool a few times, but it was hot often. The temp in the hot line is more important to watch as fluid is damaged from heat before the trans, so you want to know when the fluid gets hot.

What are the recommended limits for WS? I haven't researched it in 7 years.
profdant139
Explorer II
Apr 07, 2014
Were you towing at 70 mph?? Maybe I am confused.

I have one of those Scangauge things on my Tacoma, and I programmed it to tell the transmission temp. No matter what, it stays well within the recommended limits. I go up and down some major mountains. Not fast, though.