Towing a 10' Popup with a Toyota Camry

[dkpat]

About 10 years ago I came to this forum and asked about towing a 10’ Colman popup with a Toyota Camry 4 Cylinder.
One member, who fortunately lives in my region and had towed with a Camry, suggested I contact a local RV dealer about having a custom hitch put on, which I did. I had a class III hitch with equalizing bars installed.
After 270,000 Km (168,000 Miles) on the car, two trips across the continent (through the Rockies and Black mountains) and many local camping trips I just sold the car. I did do in the transmission after 10 years and all those miles (reverse was slipping under a load). Even if I had replaced the transmission at $3,000.00 dollars it was still cheaper than buying a larger towing vehicle which was $10,000.00 more than the Camry. Plus I saved a lot on gas!
The Camry was much more comfortable for the family on long trips.
A few things I learned while towing were;
Don’t use the cruse control while towing, it was great on the highways until I hit a grade that caused the transmission to kick down two gears at once trying to maintain the same speed.
Someone suggested I never tow with the overdrive on. I now disagree with this, especially on the highway. The automatic transmission shifts as needed as long as you do not force the engine, as a cruse control will do to maintain a steady speed. Let the vehicle slow down going up inclines.
Never force the trailer up a hill in reverse!! That’s what finally did in the transmission, backing the trailer up into camp sites I should never have tried to get into.

I have always wanted a pickup, but with two kids and long road trips, it was not an option for me, as I could not afford one large enough for the kids to be comfortable. Now that they are grown, I have replaced the Camry with a Tacoma pickup.
I would have purchased another Camry if the pickup was still not an option.:)

[PAThwacker]

10ft pups of modern manufactures are 2000lbs or more wet. heck 10 years ago i could mt bike 20 miles, enjoy beer, and have fun. all of that is irrelevent today!

[drae0814]

I am still waiting to see a car tow a rv i know they did it all the time back in the day i saw it on i love lucy

[bradnailer]

We towed a tandem axle Jayco pop up with a Chevy Monte Carlo and it did just fine. Glad you had a good experience.

[Road_Ruler]

'tiredTeacher wrote:

Back in my early days of travel trailers (I'm 66), folks would tow with what they had. My FIL towed a 18' Shasta with a Buick Electra 225. Your towing a pop-up with a properly installed hitch continues that tradition - well done!Teach

My dad was also a teacher. Back in the day he also towed a Shasta (16') with a 1958 Ford Fairlane, custom hitch, 6cyl. Made a number of trips to the East coast and Midwest. Worked good even with 4 of us in the car. Back then 55mph was about as fast as one would tow.

The familiy tradition continues here as well.

Like dad we also tow with a V6 sedan with a custom hitch. These days the car is smaller, the trailer is larger, and the performance/handling/speeds are better. 200 hrs of towing in the last 6 years and all is well. The rig handles the hills in Ontario very well. We did do the climb to Watkins Glen State park in 1st gear without a sweat.:)

[_tiredTeacher]

dkpat wrote:
The Camry was much more comfortable for the family on long trips.

Back in my early days of travel trailers (I'm 66), folks would tow with what they had. My FIL towed a 18' Shasta with a Buick Electra 225. A V8 with a long wheel base and equalizer hitch - bam! Down the road in comfort. Your towing a pop-up with a properly installed hitch continues that tradition - well done!

Teach

[Jayco-noslide]

It really doesn't matter if one tows with a compact car or a diesel pick-up, they all have manuals that tell us how much we can tow safely(considering, the brakes, trans, radiator, motor, etc) and it is best to go by those recommendations. Some real small cars specify no towing at all and some cars state 1000 or 1500 lbs. Any tow vehicle can be overloaded. Many do and get by with it OK but stopping ability can be an issue. You can argue that some companies may be conservative with tow rating, some less so but I would still pay attention. Years ago we towed small pop-ups all over the country with compact 4 cylinders but I don't think I would today. It took too long to stop and tough to start on a steep hill with the manual trans.

[Terryallan]

It's great the Car did what you want. and it truth a car does well with a pup. but why could 2 kids not be comfortable in the rear seat of a crewcab truck? The rear seat in a Crew cab truck is pretty much the same as the rear seat in a SUV. both are larger than the rear seat in a car.

As for them being gone. DON'T count on it. I thought the same. But now my SuperCab carries 2 kids in car seats, and often their mother. so there are three back there on camping trips.