Thoughts on towing an 8000 pound trailer?

We have a 2023 1794 TRD, non hybrid, rated towing 11050 pounds. We are thinking of buying a travel trailer which is 22ft (box size) / 26ft tongue to bumper. Loaded with water and cargo it will weigh in at 8000-8500 pounds. There are only two of us, no kids and rather minimum "stuff" in the truck, I figure 500 pounds in the truck.

Wondering what y'all think about the Tundras ability to safely and practically tow this combination? I'll definitely have a WDH and drive responsibly, planning on maybe 65mph on interstate. I do expect the mpg to be poor, I've read that people are getting 10-11mpg under a heavy tow load. I'm fine with that. Just concerned about getting this close to tow rating as my experience with other trucks and trailers is to stay a bit further away from the truck's rating in the interest of highway stability and swaying.

Thanks for any thoughts.
And Happy New year !

 

I know I’ll get roasted by everyone else on the forum but I’ve towed right about 10,000 with a 24ft vnose without a WDH (crush me now) and done easily 5000 miles with that set up and had zero scares towing in windy conditions and mountain passes. In terms of cargo in the truck I had myself my wife and my 2 goldendoodles plus maybe 50-80 pounds of gear in the bed.

Edit: if you’re going to be sticking to 65 mph I see no issue at all pulling that weight. I was doing 75 max on my journey’s and 65 was incredibly comfortable

 

Wow, you are pushing it further than I would. Very interesting. Thanks for the input.
Have you considered getting a WDH? How much sag do you have without a WDH?

 

If I had to take a guess I had 2 inches of sag. However, I didn’t go through and measure it. Normal load leveling suspension. And I won’t be towing that heavy again so probably not. It was a necessity at the time but probably won’t be hauling cars around like that anytime in the near future

 

That’s a heavy trailer for the size. What trailer is it?

 

Toyota added a transmission cooler on the new gen so you should be good. Outside of transmissions overheating I've never heard of Tundras having towing issues. You even have a transmission temp guage so I think your good to go. Last thing I would check is to make sure the tongue weight doesn't exceed the recommended amount.

 

Outdoor RV: https://www.outdoorsrvmfg.com/back-country-series-21rws/
6745 pounds dry, plus 100 gallons fresh water (when fresh is full the gray or black are probably empty), plus gear, bla bla, I estimate 8000 to 8500 max.

 

Is the trans cooler integrated in the radiator? The engine radiator looks to be massive to me.

 

Usually they are mounted directly in front of the radiator. Haven't been able to find anything yet that shows exactly where it is.

 

Makes sense now. Those trailers are fantastic and truly 4 season, but are in a different class that is often too much for a half ton pickup.

Your challenge will be tongue weight. Because of the generator on the port side, hitch weight will likely be close to 1300-1400 lbs when you are loaded.

 

Did Toyota not have a trans cooler on the gen 2 and 2.5? That would seem odd.
What is the deal with some youtube reviews over heating the trans? I recall they overheated the Tundra but not the RAM or F150. Do I have that correct?

 

There was no transmission cooler from the factory on 2019-2021 Tundras.

 

The trouble with that setup is that the payload on these trucks is pretty low. To achieve a stable combo, you need at least 10% tongue weight but more is better to avoid swaying. So if you have a tongue weight of ~850 lbs and 500 lbs of cargo. You are basically maxed out on payload. WD will help but it doesn’t change the payload limitation. Add in the people and you are probably over. Check out the door sticker in your truck and it will show you the payload max for your truck. Mine is only 1,390 lbs.

 

I have an Outdoors RV 21RD and that maxes at 7000 lbs with a tongue wt of 950. I use a 10,000lb WDH and it sits level. The only way I have to reduce the tongue wt and increase the amount of cargo capacity is changing out the lead acid batteries mounted on the tongue with LFP batteries mounted under the dinette in the back of the trailer. That’s about a 160lb savings.

Tom

 

As some others have stated, the tow rating is rarely the issue because you'll run out of payload way before you get to the rated tow amount. Look in your driver door jamb for the sticker that states your payload capacity. There might also be a little yellow sticker that says something to the effect of "Reduce the payload by XXX lbs" to account for any options that were added. That payload number is what Toyota says is safe to have as weight on the truck when it is fully fueled and ready to go. Anything you add to the truck or put in the truck is deducted from that, including passengers. Payload is always the Achilles heel and it's not hard to eat up a 1000 pounds of payload with just passengers and accessories.

 

23 not detuned SR but not imax tundra = good handling

.750 ton ram = better handling

ton ram HO= best handling

 

Just don't buy a diesel.... family member's 3500 dually ate it's DEF system at 13,000 miles. Got it replaced, and within 400 miles it's doing it again. Regulations have killed the reliability and longevity of diesels.

 

Back in 70's pickups were pulling dozers and heavily loaded trailer to point leaf springs were bottomed out. Those trucks were 200 horsepower engines with 3 speeds. So, I'm sure you should be able to pull a trailer around a trailer like that. You sure want get any concern from me. Just pay attention to what you're doing and watch and plan ahead way down road.

Enjoy your trips.

 

^this

you will run out of payload before you run out of towing capacity. also, the WDH counts against the payload.

 

And they weren't moving them quickly either. This is the silliest justification for poor towing choices.

 

I don't recall you being there. How do you know. We were working and running a business.

Point I'm making is today vehicles are way more capable than people think. Just have to use common sense.

 

I'm sure the guy that just snapped the frame of his 3500 Ram dually in half with an in bed camper thought the same thing.

 

OP: short answer? Don’t. Not with that truck.


Seems like a good place to put this thread from yesterday.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/oh-...d-why-the-numbers-matter.118038/#post-3034180

 

Standards and practices were different in the 70’s.
I mean, we all thought it was ok to smoke and consume alcohol while pregnant.

Also, Smokey and the Bandit got their load to Georgia in less time than you ever would today.

 

The roads, understanding of safety, road fatalities compared to population and the miles traveled per year have changed considerably since the 1970s. It’s like saying “my mom smoked when she was pregnant with me and I’m fine”. The world has learned the hard way on many things, unfortunately road safety has been one of them.

I would suggest that the current problem isn’t whether one truck can pull one certain trailer in isolation (because it can), it’s that the truck and trailer will be surrounded by other drivers who are aggressive, inexperienced and lack common sense. Every driver and vehicle needs to hold a minimum standard in order for the North American chaotic Highway dance to keep moving.

With todays speeds and number of drivers compared to 50 years, that standard is really quite low. I’m not top talking about top or Highway speed but acceleration and deceleration - a 16 year old kid can now drive moms Tesla that can do 0-60 in 3 seconds and full size SUV can stop from 60 mph in 120 feet.

And the average half ton truck driver who pulls a trailer 3 times a year to take the kids to the campsite or bring wood home from Home Depot only has enough towing experience to develop their common sense after a decade or two.

 

Also, trucks didn’t have sunroofs, heated & cooled seats, infotainment systems, cup holders, electric windows, AC, “consoles”, crash ratings, or any of the other payload-robbing “necessities” found in a modern truck.

 

Payloads the problem on many many trucks, you'll run out much quicker than reaching max tow.

Partially related:
Comprable build / trimmed ram 2500
Diesel payload 19xx, tow 14xxx
Hemi payload 28xx, tow 16xxx
Minimum 10% of max tow on the diesel renders truck useless for max capacity.

Only stating that to show as example of the importance of buying for intended use.

 

The trailer you are thinking about buying is very heavy for a 22-footer. But it looks to be a quality rv that is very insulated for all weather camping. The truck will pull it fine, but you need to think of stopping also. I pull a 28ft er that has a dry weight of 5600 and 7500 GVWR. It tows great, except it's like towing a big kite in the wind. Im picking up a new trailer this week 4ft shorter and the same weight. Nice trailer but a bit heavy for my taste.

 

You got point there. But, don't know whole story on that. Dodge has always had problems. But, they always have known how to make horsepower.

 

The guy was over his payload. There was no problem with the truck. He overloaded it and broke it. The trouble is that payload overloading doesn't present any kind of immediate red flag or throw a light on in the dash, so most of the time the response is "it feels fine" or "I've had it this way for a year with no problems." That guy went over 20,000 miles overloaded like that. It may not bite you immediately, but it will bite you.

Now, his was an extreme case, but even the best case of over payload consequences is going to be faster wear and tear. Then we will have people bitching that they are changing components at 50K miles that should last 3 times that, and they can't seem to connect the dots back to abusing the vehicle beyond what the manufacturer recommends. It's like the guys that try to use a knife like a pry bar and then how that it's a garbage knife when they break the blade. It's not a garbage knife, but it is a piss poor pry bar! Same thing here. It's not a weak truck, or terrible components, but it's a piss poor excuse for a HD truck.