Towing Travel Trailer

[45 Fanatic]

I have a 2005 Tundra TRD stepside 4.7 V8w/VVT-i Engine, great truck so far - I recently purchased a 30' travel trailer approx 6500# Gross. The truck pulled it home ok but I did notice unusual shifting, seems the trans winds out a lot before it shifts? I did not disengage the OD which may account for my experience but I am concerned that this is not enough truck for the task?? Anyone using a tundra with a trailer, what is your experience? Phil

[azbronco96]

There is a towing forum further down with plenty of info. Some very good posts by Rocky Mtn Ray who can say it better than I can. However I tow a 26 ft 6000#+ trailer and can attest that is a LOT of trailer for a light 1/2 ton truck. Hope that helps.
Azbronco96

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by 45 Fanatic

I have a 2005 Tundra TRD stepside 4.7 V8w/VVT-i Engine, great truck so far - I recently purchased a 30' travel trailer approx 6500# Gross. The truck pulled it home ok but I did notice unusual shifting, seems the trans winds out a lot before it shifts? I did not disengage the OD which may account for my experience but I am concerned that this is not enough truck for the task?? Anyone using a tundra with a trailer, what is your experience? Phil

Your truck...with you, full gas, a passenger and some cargo...is going to weigh around 5000 lbs. Add the trailer's weight of 6500 lbs and you are very close to the Gross Combined Weight Rating (the most the combination of truck and trailer should ever weigh) of 11,800 lbs. So since you are almost at the max weight that Toyota designed the truck to handle, you will indeed have to rev the engine to about 4500 RPM (or more) on every shift to even come close to staying with traffic. And that's in flat, almost sea-level Florida. If you take your rig into even the Appalachian mountains, it will be struggling on every hill. And if you ever go "out west" to the Rockies, you can count on being down to around 25 mph on nearly every climb...and some of them are 12 to 20 miles long.

But the powertrain performance is the least of your problems. Quite frankly, a 30 foot long trailer is much, much too long to tow safely with a short wheelbase (only 128 inch) Tundra unless you use a Hensley Arrow hitch. The problem is you simply haven't got enough steering leverage to control trailer sway if it ever starts...and it will, sooner or later, start and viciously increase ....maybe from meeting a semi on a 2 lane road or even from just a strong, sudden crosswind. And uncontrolled trailer sway always will end up in a major accident...truck jacknifed and often overturned, trailer invariably on its side or top (destroyed).

With a standard sway control type weight distributing hitch, the longest trailer you can safely tow is only 24.5 feet. So unless you invest the big bucks (~$3000) for a Hensley hitch, IMO, to tow a 30 foot trailer with your Tundra is simply an accident waiting to happen. It is especially likely to happen when crossing the elevated portion of Florida's many bridges where the winds, especially gusty cross winds, can really push your trailer around.

You have 3 choices...get a shorter, lighter trailer; get a Hensley Hitch so you can at least tow this trailer safely (albeit while maxing out your engine); or trade the truck for a heavy duty (diesel), 3/4 ton, long wheelbase domestic truck.

[KLS]

Too much trailer, not enough truck.

You need to weigh both truck and trailer on a truck scale. The printed numbers are not ever right. Only with real weights do we know the facts.

And about that 30' trailer...the Tundra, fine as our trucks are, is just not enough truck to control that trailer, especially in emergency conditions. A Hensley Arrow hitch is great, but it transfers the sway force from a pivoting force to a sideways force. The force is still there. With a trailer with that much sail area on the side, and that long a lever arm behind the truck, I really don't think the Tundra has enough wheelbase length nor weight to control the trailer is the worst of conditions.

Pullrite now has a hitch for the Tundra, and either Hensley or Pullrite are the safest hitches. But, I wouldn't spend $3000 on one of these hitches to pull that trailer with that truck. I'd either get a 250/2500 truck or smaller trailer.
http://www.pullrite.com/principle.html
http://www.hensleymfg.com/arrowdetails.htm


Ken

[brandkd]

Adding to the above accurate info....I tow a 27' travel trailer with my Tundra, mine is a DC so I have more wheelbase. You have to remember that even though my TT is 27', that's not tip to tip. So, if you're TT is 30' , it probably is closer to 34' tip to tip. That's alot of trailer! I have a WDH with dual sway controls so the wind pushes both the truck and trailer together rather than just the trailer flapping in the breeze. And you should ALWAYS tow with the OD off. All the tranny does is search for gears when it is engaged. If you have to keep this set up I recommend setting yourself up with sway controls.

[KLS]

Rather than two friction sway damping bars, I'd suggest the drawtite/Reese/hiddenHitch dual-cam kit. It can be added to any standard weight distributing hitch. Or, buy either the dual-cam or "Equal-i-zer" brand hitch in the first place. Both have integral sway damping along with weight distribution.


Ken

[tomhole]

That is too much trailer for a Tundra. I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but that is the honest truth. I know your Tundra CAN tow that trailer, it did, obviously. I saw a guy on TV the other day towing a semi with his private parts. Neither is very safe.

Tom

[brandkd]

Originally Posted by tomhole

I saw a guy on TV the other day towing a semi with his private parts. Neither is very safe.

Tom

Yeah, that was me !!!!

[jeffsequoia1]

I'll sound in too. Suggest downsize trailer or upsize truck. I now tow a 23' Hybrid with 2003 4WD Sequoia. Had to get Hensley. I've towed a lot of trailers with a lot of different TVs over the years. Had 1970 Bronco, various station wagons, 1999 F350, 2004 F550. Towed 15 foot boats, to 36' 5th which weighed 16,800 by itself (had to get F550).
Unless you are going to tow a short distance (suspect you're not), you need to upgrade.
We did a Tennessee to Maine round trip this summer with Sequoia Locked out of OD with Hensley. Wife and I were happy. We weigh about 10,500 pounds loaded.

HTH

[SJDoug]

I've got a 29 1/2' trailer of similar weight with an Eaz-Lift WD hitch, 1000 lb. bars, and a single Eaz-lift friction sway bar. I pulled this thing 600 miles over a couple of passes up to 4000 feet with my '02 V8 Tundra, and it did pretty well, considering. However, there's only a couple of inches of travel left in the rear springs, and the trailer was basically empty and dry. Another 50 gallons of water in the tank made noticable difference. I'd never have chosen this combo for regular towing, but my plans from now on are to only tow this rig a couple of miles to and from the dump station a few times a year, and the rest of the time it's in storage where I'll be using it.

Yes, the transmission will hunt, and it takes a judicious application of the pedal without cruise control or overdrive to make it behave.

There's a difference between it working and being something you'd really want to do. I feel like I'd quickly wipe out my truck if I towed such a big trailer very often or very far. Thankfully, I also didn't run into much wind on this one trip, or else it could have been a real adventure. I'd either go for a real towing rig, or rethink if you really need such a huge trailer.

[Owyhee tundra]

Not only is that trailer a bit long for the Tundra, have you conisdered frontal area? With the weight of that trailer and a head wind and any grade you could put some serious wear and tear on your engine and transmission. An excellent site for towing tips is here http://www.rvtowingtips.com/index.htm
It has worksheets to help you estimate GVWR, frontal area maxiums, tow vehicle wheel base to trailer length requirements, and much more. For the safty of your family and the rest of us don't tow that trailer with your Tundra.