I tow a 25 foot travel trailer with a loaded weight of about 5500 pounds with my 2000 Access cab 4x4 and have had no problems. I use an equilizer hitch, have no overload springs and no rear end sag. The truck can go up any grade I have encounterred without a problem. The hitch is the answer. Even with overloads, if the trailer is unbalanced, with too little or too much tongue weight it will be miserable to tow.
The reason I am getting a rather big trailer like this is, my wife.
Second, My daughter and myself race motorcross, when we race on the weekends we need some place to sleep and get out of the weather. the "gameplan" for the trailer will be front 10' will be sleeping/living quarters, second 10' will be shop/bikes.
I believe you will be heavier then you think. The bikes and the shop tools will weigh well over 500 pounds. Add another 500 to 1000 pounds of lug-a-longs such as, water, propane, batteries, awning, microwave, food, drinks, extra fuel for the bikes, clothing, etc... Then add the weight of your two passengers in the truck, coolers, Hitch weight, nerf bars, sway bars, bed liner, possible generator, and everything else you put in the bed and you will be very close to the GVWR and the GCWR. That 7200 lbs. towing capacity number is very decieving. You will be adding more weight every trip you make. There is always new things to bring, especially with the ladies.
Lets see the empty weight of this hauling trailer is 3520 [determine actual wt on a scale]. Add weights for people and all the other items listed [not hitch weight since that is part of gross empty weight of trailer, if I read the post correctly]. You have the capacity of 3680 - I don't think you will be very near this based upon what I have read. This type trailer should weigh what the mft states unlike travel trailers in which you must consider options which add addtional dry weight. I think you will be fine!!
The total weight capacity for the Trailier is 3470 printed in their specs.
I know I will never have that much weight in this. I have a 12' enclosed currently. I know I dont put 600lbs in that including bikes, gas, tools, generator, just junk.
I am very surprised that more peolpe have'nt pulled "towed" with the truck, or if they have they dont know how much they are towing.
Hey Guys,
I think a toy hauler is a unit with travel trailer or fifth wheel RV section in the front with sleeping area, kitchen, bath, etc, and an open section in the back with a drive up ramp for loading and carrying such things as four wheelers, motorcycles, etc. I have seen these type units at RV shows. Sort of a hybrid of the RV Type travel trailer/fifth wheel and the enclosed utility trailer.
That's what my wife originally bought. I when to see it…holy crap that thing was BIG.. 28’ long 11’3 tall 7000 lbs, can you say WAY TO MUCH FOR MY TRUCK. I made her get her money back. That’s why I went with this Pace trailer, I will fix the front up for living quarters, back for “toys” I think it will work just fine.
I had a tongue/hitch weight of 480 because my boat and trailer weighed 4800 lbs. It was a TrailRite trailer and they, and most other manufacturers I know of recommend tongue weight should be 10% of total trailer weight. Yours is set up the same, 10% of 3800 lbs. is 380 lbs. Just make sure you keep the ratio when you load the trailer. Out here a lot of people have the same set up you'll have (living front, bikes, gear in back) to take their bikes out to the desert. I never weighed mine with boat AND gear but I load the bed up with water, gas, food, tools, etc. + my 250 lb. cap. With a Class IV hitch the tongue weight isn't an issue.
By the way, on my last trip to Lake Meade I wanted to see how the truck would actually do and maintained 70 mph up a 5000 ft. 6% grade with ease. Granted I was running 4000 rpm or so but I could basically go whatever speed I wanted - the motor just wanted to keep pulling. The air temp was also about 100 degrees (it was night). I've run both my Tundra and my former T100 towing the same boat in 125-135 degree weather with the AC on and the temp gauge doesn't budge, nor has the trans warning light ever come on. Neither truck as much as hiccuped, unlike I see with the domestics that drop like flys at the side of the road in the heat.
My only gripe was the drop in the rear, which I could easily take care of - but I sold my boat anyway By the way, I never towed with the OD on. Experimenting with the OD on and off while towing my two jet skis (2000 lbs.) I found it doesn't make much difference in gas mileage anyway so I leave it off like the manual says.
Thanks for your responses. I have learned a lot about fifth-wheel towing although it seems that no one knows the answer to my original question. I was told that the 5th wheel towing capicity should be greater that the hitch towing capacity which is 7100 lbs (4x4, extended cab, etc.).
No, anything over 7100 lbs. (Fifthwheel or TT) will exceed the GCWR of the Tundra. That's the bottom line.
It seems you and I have a lot in common when it comes to camping experiences. We are 95/5 campers and we agree with your statement about the journey, and not just the destination. Our present fiver is a very tired 1988 22ft. Komfort lite that weighs in on the scales at 3900 lbs. loaded. Prior to getting our Tundra, we pulled our fiver with a 88 Jeep Comanche long bed and we took it everywhere (Yellowstone, Yosimite, Grand Canyon, and hundreds of trips into the High Sierra's etc... We never had a problem finding a suitable site for our short fiver. We had many white knuckle trips pulling with the Jeep, all having to do with the closed cooling system overheating, and none due to handling. Ya gotta love fifthwheels! Our new K-Z Sportsmen ultra-lite fiver fully loaded will be about 1500lbs heavier, and I am concerned about the GRAWR coming very close to the max. We boondock most of the time and I am looking foward to the bigger tanks on the new fiver. Also, I am switching over to two 6volt T105 batteries for longer life and extra staying power. A Honda EU2000i generator is being delivered today. Also, I am going to put a larger trans cooler on the Tundra and I haven't decided on air bags, or overload springs. I switch out my Voyager brake controller and went with the Prodigy. What a great brake controller! No white knuckles with the Prodigy.
5thwheeler,
You might check out the Roadmaster Active Suspension instead of air bags or overload springs. I've read some good things about it, although I have no personal experience with it.
Hey Fifthwheeler,
How involved was switching from the voyager to the prodigy? Did you do both the original install and the switch out? I have the voyager due to the installer having trouble getting the prodigy to function right and ended up with the voyager which he had more experience with. Turned out that there was a "ground" problem which he corrected but it was late and I just took the price difference as a refund rather than have them reinstall the prodigy.
My reg cab 4X4 sits about 1.5 to 2 inches above the rubber stops and the overall "level" is not bad. I may install some additional lift if it appears necessary after I get some more towing behind me.
I tried a popup slide in by Palomino and it put the truck onto the stops. Ordered hellwigs and received a "mess" with items missing - ended up returning all that for a refund and sold the slide in - It was too much trouble leaving the campsite and having to pop up and reconnect upon returning to camp later in the evening, etc. I did haul the slide in several thousand miles with a fairly good ride and no apparent damage to the suspension, rubber stops, etc. I really am not sure if this is a "big" problem or not????
Don't tow a fifth wheel, but do have the RoadMaster Active Supension. (Someone mentioned it below). Very good product. Truck even handles curves and cross-winds much better when empty. In my opinion, well worth the money. Piece-of-cake install too.
Replacing the Voyager with the Prodigy was very easy. The dealer installed the voyager when they installed my Reese 16k slider. The dealer drilled a small hole in the cubbyhole located under the ignition switch in the lower dash panel (the one under the steering wheel). I couldn’t pull the wire connectors through the hole, so I decided to take the panel off to access the wire connections. I had to disconnect the hood release cable (piece of cake) and remove a few screws.
I cut off the wire connectors and then I pushed the “quick disconnect connector” wires through the hole from the front of the panel. I connected the four wires exactly the same way as the Voyager and reinstalled the panel, hood release cable and mounted the quick release controller holder. I put a tapered shim between the back of the holder and the panel thus tilting the front of the controller up a few degrees. I plugged in the wire connector to the Prodigy and slipped it into the holder. Now I was ready to rock and roll. When running solo, I get the poor ground message when I first start out, but it goes off in a few seconds. The Prodigy works fine, so I am not worried about the ground message. One of these days I will check it out to see if the ground wire is connected directly to the battery. Well, that’s about it for the brake controller.
I have a question concerning the ABS load controller. The controller determines how much load is on the bed of the truck by the amount of squat over the rear axel. The more squat, the more rear braking power. How do you adjust the control arm to compensate for the reduced squat when towing with air bags or helper springs?
Towing...no problem
By the way, I never towed with the OD on. Experimenting with the OD on and off while towing my two jet skis (2000 lbs.) I found it doesn't make much difference in gas mileage anyway so I leave it off like the manual says.
Linear Mode
