Towing with a Tacoma

[gmann1972]

Hello All, I am new to this forum so bear with me. I have a 2013 Tacoma, tow capacity of 6500lb. I just purchased a 2014 Sportsmen Showstopper 242sbhss dry weight 4400lb, gvw 6000lb. I did purchase the weight distribution setup and break control set up. But I have never towed anything of this size and weight with my truck. According to this information my truck should be able to handle the capacity of the camper. Although not sure if the truck has enough HP to pull the camper. Has anyone had any experience with towing a camper of this size with a truck of this size. Thanks All, Greg

[RinconVTR]

You're good...but its pretty odd to own both truck and trailer then ask if its ok!

For more direct answers from actual owners...post this question on a Taco forum. Not here. You were lucky to have a couple owners chime in, but in most cases you'll get responses from non-owners who are not well informed.

[Mike_Up]

BAreEhD wrote:
I tow a 2014 Jayco 264BH with my 2007 Tacoma TRD Sport. The listed dry weight of the trailer is 4355 lbs and like yours, the towing capacity of the Tacoma is 6500 lbs. I also have a WD hitch and am very careful about payload.

I've had no trouble towing thus far. I live on the east coast of Canada where nothing is flat. I can definitely feel the trailer behind me, and I let the truck slack off on the hills. Just be sensible and you'll have no trouble.

The tongue weight alone will exceed your Tacoma's hitch rating greatly. I suggest beefing up your hitch receiver at a hitch shop before something negative happens.

[BAreEhD]

I tow a 2014 Jayco 264BH with my 2007 Tacoma TRD Sport. The listed dry weight of the trailer is 4355 lbs and like yours, the towing capacity of the Tacoma is 6500 lbs. I also have a WD hitch and am very careful about payload.

I've had no trouble towing thus far. I live on the east coast of Canada where nothing is flat. I can definitely feel the trailer behind me, and I let the truck slack off on the hills. Just be sensible and you'll have no trouble.

[Passin_Thru]

Kinda like a 3 incher. Ok around the house but don't get it out away from home!

[Campnjoe]

Hi there. I tow a 26 foot camper that weighs 4300pounds with a 06 Toyota 4 runner. It has the v6 and I added external tranny cooler. It towers like a dream. There is plenty of power. I do use a weight distribution hitch. I know somebody will read this and say I'm nuts for towing this camper with a v6 4Runner but honestly is handles it great. I took it to Colorado and up to about 8500 foot altitude campground with out any problems. You should be just fine

[MitchF150]

never mind... 😉

[rexlion]

Buy a Sherline scale and verify your hitch weight before leaving. This will be the thing to watch. I think that TT has 480 lb dry hitch weight. Add LP and battery and cargo and the weight of your WD/anti-sway, and you may be very close. Where is your fresh water tank? If it's forward of the axles, you may have to travel with that tank empty and fill up when you reach the CG.

[campinia]

I own a 2015 KZ Sportsmen Showstopper S242SBHSS and love it. Loaded for a trip ours has a tongue weight of 675 pounds measured with my Sherline scale. I tow with a Silverado with a 5.3L engine and a payload capacity of 1750 pounds. This combo pulls ok with our family of 4, but I have never towed in mountains and I don't put much in the truck bed. I would not want to tow this trailer with any less of a truck then I have. I do not know what your payload capacity is for your Tacoma, but, you may be ok with one person in the truck and not much cargo. I would not like towing this camper with a smaller truck especially with a good headwind and/or bigger hills.

[TacoPuller]

Greg-
Question; have you pulled the rig yet? Curious about your initial thoughts.

The best advice for larger rigs with Tacomas can be found at Tacoma World forums, in the 'towing' section. I would recommend you read the towing bible in the sticky there. There are a lot of people pulling larger rigs than mine (mine is a 22', yours is 27'), and the advice found there varies a lot on towing environment and driver expectations. I just looked at your trailer specs, and noticed that it is a bunkhouse model, which I assume means you have a family. One thing that will impact the overall towing satisfaction will be directly proportional to how much gear you and the family load your rig with before driving off. Gear adds up quickly, and you really need to be aware of your total (truck+gear+family+trailer)weight once it is loaded. We selected low-weight cookware, don't travel with full water, pack light, and have great trips.

EDIT:
Used to have a paragraph here regarding the TRD supercharger kit from Toyota; just found out that on June 1, the factory TRD has been discontinued. 😞

Good luck-

[gmann1972]

Thanks for all the great information everyone.
my tongue WT is 640 lb, Payload is 1280 lb, TacoPuller gave a lot of great information, feeling a little better about towing with the TV and TT. Living in New England there are a lot of mountains in Main and New Hampshire to over come. I appreciate everyones input. Nice to know there are people out there that are willing to help.

[TacoPuller]

gmann1972 wrote:
Hello All, I am new to this forum so bear with me. I have a 2013 Tacoma, tow capacity of 6500lb. I just purchased a 2014 Sportsmen Showstopper 242sbhss dry weight 4400lb, gvw 6000lb. I did purchase the weight distribution setup and break control set up. But I have never towed anything of this size and weight with my truck. According to this information my truck should be able to handle the capacity of the camper. Although not sure if the truck has enough HP to pull the camper. Has anyone had any experience with towing a camper of this size with a truck of this size. Thanks All, Greg

gmann- Boy, a lot of Greg's with that moniker 🙂
I am also a Greg, also have a 2013 Tacoma. My TT is a 2011 Nomad UltraLite, 3600# dry, 4500# loaded. First, my thoughts, then some things to consider.
If you are pulling on flat to moderately hilly ground with that rig, the Tacoma will prove to be an awesome TV. In '4th', it handles that amount of weight perfectly, and the power is good to great. I put over 4K miles on mine in the last couple of months, all around Lake Michigan, Superior, Huron, Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin, etc. There were virtually no issues with power...but no mountains. Now the caveats. Some owners on the Tacoma towing forum tried to keep up with their friends in Diesel rigs going up long, steep grades in high temperatures from Phoenix to the mountains. Not a good idea at all to try to keep up. Pushed hard enough, it will, there is a video of a stock 2015 Taco pulling a large covered cargo trailer filled with ATV(S)from Denver to Eisenhower tunnel at 65mph, ~5K rpm. That is at the peak of the Taco HP/Torque curves, but I don't know if I would want to do that all the time. Just keep the trans in 3rd/4th 3000-3500rpm which will put you at 55-60mph up all but the steepest hills, and relax, don't try to hit speed records. Within it's limits, the truck will perform flawlessly, and give good mileage to boot. Tacos are far, far under-rated; I pulled a 5x8 cargo trailer loaded at 2,000# across the US 12 times in a 2.7L taco (6x over the Rockies), and when I sold it a 185,000 miles, it was still pulling strong. Literally 10 years with nothing but oil and filter changes. Currently, the 4.0L is showing to be a much stronger engine, and I also expect to drive this for 10 years with the same quality.
Good luck!!
Greg2

[westend]

What is the payload rating of the Tacoma?

[guidry]

Duplicate post

Same post with answers. Hope you get the right answers this time to help you, Good luck

[downtheroad]

Post a little more info and details: Start with:
What motor in the Tacoma?
What is the payload rating of the Tacoma?

Lots of experienced and friendly folks here can give you their take on this...I think it's going to be close.

[gmann1972]

Thanks