Newbie: Towing TT w/ 2008 Toyota Sequoia

travelnman wrote:
If I were you the biggest surprise may come when your approaching a steep downgrade. Those with the runaway ramps with DMV warnings all over the place for tuckers to check their exhaust brakes and other equipment. A small tow vehicle will be burning brakes on the way down with all that weight behind it plus your load inside the vehicle. It may be best to stay with the corn fields until you get something more heavy duty to tow with, watch elevations on maps, and know the road ahead. I have seen semi's burning brakes smoking up the highway your Toyota will probably do the same as the brakes get hot they become less affective all you can do is hope the bottom is coming up soon or consider those runaway ramps if you get into trouble. They will still ask "are we there yet". I saw a guy pulling your load with a Ford Explorer the sales people said would work, it looked like a accident about to happen going down the road. He made it from Chicago to Colorado like that, I told him not to make the return trip with all those people on board and then he would still be a road hazard. I saw him leaving the park with his TV antenna up.

Haven't you ever heard of downshifting for engine braking? In L1 my transmission limits speed to 35 mph with the engine at 4k rpm. Same with an exhaust brake...semis don't burn brakes anymore, they use engine braking with the exhaust brake...the runaway ramps are there for mechanical failures.