Need help from Toyota Highlander owners

If not with first person accounts here and that it’s Toyota Highlander manual, i’ll Be surprised that it’s allowed other than the super light pop ups.

Highlander is based on Camry platform with a low wheeelbade.

rexlion wrote:
Try to find something with less than 3500 lbs dry and 350 on the hitch, and no more than 7' wide.

Many manufacturers offer them, the Coachmen Apex Nano series being one, though I would say that just 7' wide isn't nearly as common as 7.5' wide.

I towed trailers for 140,000 miles with a 2008 Highlander; they are great tow vehicles. But I would not tow that Jayco with a HL! Hitch weight (in real world use) will definitely exceed your limit. Too much frontal area, too (the wind resistance factor is worse than the weight, except when climbing hills). Try to find something with less than 3500 lbs dry and 350 on the hitch, and no more than 7' wide.

If I didn't ask the question, you might be right!

Just another small car pulling a bigger trailer.

Chris Marino wrote:
We're looking at a 2018 Jayco Jay Feather X213.
Unloaded Weight: 4,315
Dry Weight, Hitch: 405 lbs
GVWR: 5500 lbs

Here's your next lesson ... UVW for any trailer you buy will always be greater, sometimes by several hundred pounds, than what may be indicated in fancy brochures or the manufacuturer's website. What really matters is what the yellow weight sticker affixed to the front street side of the trailer indicates is that particular trailer's unloaded weight as it left the factory. A few years ago that included the weight of empty propane tanks but no propane, these days it seems to include the weight of both even though the trailer ships with no propane in the tanks. Here's a 2018 Jayco X213 and if you can read the weight sticker it indicates this particular unit actually weighed 4503 lbs, including propane, as it left the factory.



Add the weight of even just one battery and this trailer will weigh at least 4560 lbs before anything else is added to it. Include the weight of enough water to fill the water heater tank and some reserve in the fresh water holding tank so the system is functional and this unit could easily top 4700 lbs with no other cargo of any kind in the trailer. See where we're going with this? ;)

This is all really great advice, thank you all for sharing!

Guess we'll move away from the Jayco X213 and find a less heavy trailer for our family.

Another thing to keep in mind, is your destination. For me, My V6 did excellent towing on flat ground, however, towing up mountains here in north Georgia was different story.

I spoke to a tacoma owner at a campground who asked about towing and he shared similar experience I did. His TT was also close to max towing.

I upgraded to V8.

carringb wrote:
Loaded hitch weight will probably be around 650 pounds, so that's a no-go for the hitch receiver.

I don't see how this trailer's gross tongue weight would end up anywhere near this light. Presuming a family is using this trailer the OP, as I already said, will be challenged keeping this trailer's GVW within it's GVWR of 5500 lbs. My own previous K-Z Spree 240BH-LX typically averaged ~ 5500 lbs loaded & ready to camp and gross tongue weight consistently averaged ~ 750 lbs, or ~ 13.6% - right where it should have been.

To the OP - bear in mind that rear glide trailers which were popular about 10 yrs ago are much less so now, one reason being lack of storage. Trailers with a conventional queen front bed usually have a fairly generous front pass through cargo compartment which rear glide trailers do not. Your only choice really is to raise the lower front bunk bed on it's hinges and use that space for storage ... but that of course means removing all of what you've loaded in there if you expect to use that lower bed. Some owners also complained of cold seeping up through the glide out bed platform during spring and fall camping ... not a show stopper but worth being aware of.

Loaded hitch weight will probably be around 650 pounds, so that's a no-go for the hitch receiver.