Safely tow with a lifted tundra?

[GHinson]

OK, here's a question for the experts...
I have a buddy that wants to buy a travel trailer. He's single, so initially he was looking at travel trailers in the 19-22' range. After spending some time at a dealership this weekend, he has, of course, fallen in love with larger trailers (26' range). I warned him not to go in the largers models, but he didn't listen!
Here's the catch...he has a 2011 (or maybe 12) Tundra 5.7 with a 7" lift and 35" tires on it. Don't know the make of the tires, but they are load range E. At this time, I also don't know any details on the lift, but knowing him, let's assume it is a quality lift and was installed correctly. The lift did not require any cutting of the frame.
The question: I know Tundras are very capable tow vehicles, but what can he expect from his with the modifications he's had done? Can he safely tow a smaller trailer (less than 4000# GVWR) or even a larger trailer? Would you recommend any further modifications to ensure a safe tow (air bags possibly)? Would those modifications be necessary for a smaller trailer, larger trailer, or either? I understand I haven't provided enough details to expect very specific answers, but I have no experience at all with this and would greatly appreciate any advice or experience you all can share.
I'll post specifics on his setup as I find them out or as I'm asked about them on this thread. Right now, I don't even know enough about it to ask him any more details.

Thanks,
Greg

[stratus]

Wills250psd wrote:
I think it will eat transmissions like candy, jmho it is not the best platform in stock form.good luck

I've been towing a 7500lb trailer for 5 years with my stock Tundra. Not one issue and it has performance to spare. Night and day from my 5.4 F150-which was scary compared to the Tundra. I'm currently considering a a not quite so lifted version of the Tundra.

[mkirsch]

The weight of the tires is one thing, but the increased diameter has even more effect on the acceleration and braking performance. The axles have less leverage on the wheels so it takes more power to get them turning, and the wheels have more leverage on the brakes so it takes more to stop them from turning.

A while back we had a thread on here from a guy who lifted his Chevy 2500, and was complaining that power was way down when towing... His problem was he went from stock ~32" tall tires to 37" tall tires. Several people told him to put the stock tires back on, and like a miracle, his power was back!

[GHinson]

Thanks for all the responses folks. I've forwarded this thread to my friend and will let him decide what he should do based on this feedback. Maybe he'll even join the forum and ask his own questions!

[BenK]

GHinson wrote:

BarneyS wrote:
Folks,
Lets try to get the OP's questions answered without all the "smart" remarks. I am referring to the posts I deleted already. Thank you.
Barney

Thanks Barney. Everyone else, I appreciate the constructive comments.

Here are some more specifics:
The lift is a BDS 7" lift (7" in the front, 4" in the back). The following is taken from their website:
4-1/2" & 7" Tundra Lift Kits

Was that to 'level' out the unloaded orientation of the truck?

•Built for daily driving, yet will handle off road

to me, not great at either, but okay for both

•One Piece High Clearance Crossmember

so they replaced the center cross member? Why?

Folks always forget that, yes lifting does gain wheel well clearance
and more height to avoid 'high centering', but do NOT see that the
diff's needs taller tires in order to lift them. Yes see that that
guy has taller tires, but not in the 7" range as the lift kit is

•New Lower Strut Mounts

Wonder if the kept the 'Z' height of the shocks and if they have new
custom shocks, did they engineer the bump stop travel?

Did they supply axle travel limiting straps (cable or chain) ? This
is because of the larger wheels/tires and their added weight will
be tough for the shocks to limit travel as the OEM architecture
of shocks and bump stops being the limiting components

•Ductile Iron Steering Knuckles

Doesn't tell me if they dropped the steering box or not, but think
this knuckle has the drop necessary to work right with the 7" lifted
front...did they also include new links and joints?

•Massive Belly Pan Included for Superior Off Road Protection

I always drop the marketing verbiage to see what is really
there and this says an after market skid plate

Everything else on the truck is stock. He's interested in a Jayco Feather Ultra-Lite 197. Unloaded Weight (from brochure) is 3570 and dry hitch weight is 425. He will not be carrying water nor will he have it loaded with a lot of extras. I know he'll need actual loaded weights, but for planning purposes I don't think he'd ever exceed 4600#.

Stock, so are the drive line angle increases addressed? There is
a 'Z' height differential dialed in for the OEM's choice of U-Joints.
Did they drop the tranny/transfer case to keep that stock 'Z' dimensions?

Hope they did NOT tilt the diff's in the mistaken premise of reducing
the articulation of the U-Joint...been there done that with so many
lift kits to find mystery vibrations later when things wear

'Dry' is not a good metric...best to go out and weigh it and most who
have done that find that it weighs more, some times lots more

I parked my F250 4x4 next to his this morning, and his hitch is actually maybe only 2" higher than mine (stock F250 with 295/65/18 tires), so I "think" he'll be OK with a weight distribution hitch.

Says how much lower it was before the lift kit. Do you know why?

That has to do with sizing of the frame, suspension, etc.

Making it taller does NOT make the frame any stronger, more likely
reduced it's strength in reference to the greater lever arms working
on it

The concerns I have are the same as those posted here: Higher center of gravity and what's the extra weight going to do to the truck components. Of course the dealer told him he'd be fine. Surprise, I know.

Any other comments or observations are welcome. Thanks again for the input so far.

Other things that techie folks understand and look for.

The OEM has designed, tested and certified that vehicle for X years and
XXX thousand miles.

There are lever arms in just about everything and ask if the kit
designers took ALL of those lever arms into account and beefed up
their stuff to make up for longer lever arms that all lift kits introduce
into the OEM frame/brackets/etc?

Does the kit address the increased axle wrap issues? How? Most use
some form of a traction bar, but traction bars reduce ride quality.
Most don't believe and just ask them if there this in the sales
brochures: "ride quality"...does not, minimizes, etc? Why would they
need to address that?

I do NOT ride in any high lifted vehicles. Worst of them are suspension
lifts. Body lifts is not as bad, IMHO

And to the original questions? only the kit manufacturer can or should
answer the ratings questions. As they are the ones who engineered that
kit. If several kits from several DIFFERENT manufacturers...then they
have to answer. Us folks can only off an opinion...

[MitchF150]

I think he'll be okay for the most part with that size of a trailer.. If was thinking of getting a #10,000 GVWR Toy Hauler, well.... 😉

He will feel more top heavy more than anything IMO. He might want to consider re-gearing if it feels like it's bogging down due to the taller and heavier wheel/tire combo.

I see lifted trucks towing trailers of all sorts all the time. Not saying it's ideal or that I would be comfortable doing it, but it can certainly be done within reason.

How about him just renting a covered utility trailer and loading it and giving it a tow? That'll pretty much tell him where he stands on towing with his truck?? A lot cheaper than buying a new TT and finding out he does not like the way it tows! 🙂

Mitch

[GHinson]

BarneyS wrote:
Folks,
Lets try to get the OP's questions answered without all the "smart" remarks. I am referring to the posts I deleted already. Thank you.
Barney

Thanks Barney. Everyone else, I appreciate the constructive comments.

Here are some more specifics:
The lift is a BDS 7" lift (7" in the front, 4" in the back). The following is taken from their website:
4-1/2" & 7" Tundra Lift Kits

•Built for daily driving, yet will handle off road
•One Piece High Clearance Crossmember
•New Lower Strut Mounts
•Ductile Iron Steering Knuckles
•Massive Belly Pan Included for Superior Off Road Protection

Everything else on the truck is stock. He's interested in a Jayco Feather Ultra-Lite 197. Unloaded Weight (from brochure) is 3570 and dry hitch weight is 425. He will not be carrying water nor will he have it loaded with a lot of extras. I know he'll need actual loaded weights, but for planning purposes I don't think he'd ever exceed 4600#.

I parked my F250 4x4 next to his this morning, and his hitch is actually maybe only 2" higher than mine (stock F250 with 295/65/18 tires), so I "think" he'll be OK with a weight distribution hitch.

The concerns I have are the same as those posted here: Higher center of gravity and what's the extra weight going to do to the truck components. Of course the dealer told him he'd be fine. Surprise, I know.

Any other comments or observations are welcome. Thanks again for the input so far.

[gijoecam]

I'm curious whether or not he'll be able to find a weight distributing hitch shank with enough drop to accommodate the lift? Eegads, that's gonna be expensive!

Personally, without knowing what the truck is rated for, I'm going to guess he'll be pushing it. Don't really have any difinitive data one way or the other though...

[Dr__Blake]

JMHO - it is a great platform stock if you keep it within the limits specified...

However, after the lift and the added stress that already puts on the components expecting it to tow 26 footer is probably unrealistic. I tow my trailer with relative ease through the mountains but I dont think it would do as well with those big tires spinning and much higher center of gravity.

Just my thoughts.

[BarneyS]

Folks,
Lets try to get the OP's questions answered without all the "smart" remarks. I am referring to the posts I deleted already. Thank you.
Barney

[Wills6_4_Hemi]

I think it will eat transmissions like candy, jmho it is not the best platform in stock form.good luck

[rhagfo]

f150camper wrote:
With a lifted truck and larger tires, pretty much all components are stressed more than stock. That means that the real towing capacity is reduced. I doubt that somebody here will be able to put a number on it though.
One thing that's specifically stressed are the brakes, they need to work much harder to stop the heavier wheels. And brakes are much needed for stopping heavy trailers, even if the trailer does have brakes. A 7" lift is quite a bit.

I would agree with all above, in addition the truck is less stable, no mater how high the quality of the lift kit. Bigger tires change the effective gear ratio, makes it numerically, lower so a 3.73 goes to a 3.55 or taller.
Most likely will need a stepped receiver to get the trailer level.

[f150camper]

With a lifted truck and larger tires, pretty much all components are stressed more than stock. That means that the real towing capacity is reduced. I doubt that somebody here will be able to put a number on it though.
One thing that's specifically stressed are the brakes, they need to work much harder to stop the heavier wheels. And brakes are much needed for stopping heavy trailers, even if the trailer does have brakes. A 7" lift is quite a bit.