Unbraked Towing Capacity

Evening All

Just bought my 3rd Tundra Sr5. Ive done a lot of towing in the past . Small #2200 Travel Trailers with brakes and a Robalo R160 GVW #1800 without brakes ( boat trailer from Robalo did not have brakes )
I just read in the manual that the unbraked towing capacity of the Tundra is #1000. My trailer is a 2018 Teardrop Tag Little Guy 5 Wide (unbraked) . I towed this trailer for years with my 2015 Tundra
Two thoughts here:
- Can my Tundra handle this unbraked #1150 trailer , most certainly yes . I am not the least bit worried about the trucks ability to handle this trailer . Ive taken the trailer cross country with my previous Tundra a couple times.
- Legally am I over the specified limits maybe leaving me liable ???

looking for your thoughts
Thanks
mike

 

Unbaked is the only way to tow, allegedly, fwiw.

 

Seems strange to me that the Gen 3 would even specify max trailer weight without brakes. I don't find any reference to trailer brakes vs trailer weight anywhere in my 2013 manual. Max unbraked trailer weight laws are different in different states. I tow a 4500# boat/trailer without brakes. I had to panic stop one time while doing 50-60 to a dead stop with the boat behind me. Truck handled it with no problems at all (truck handled it better than I did, LOL). A 1000# limit seems ludicrous.

 

https://rvibrake.com/pages/flat-towing-law

 

That confirms what we were told when we bought a camper. They wouldn't let anyone tow a rig over 3,000 lbs off the lot in MN without a trailer brake system.
My boat and trailer are under that with no trailer brakes at about 2,000 lbs.

 

Why?

The tow rating is based on the power of the engine (which the manufacturer knows) with a healthy safety margin. If the truck had 10,000ft/lb of torque to the wheels and you floored it with a heavy trailer, it would for example rip the trailer hitch from the frame. Or something else would break. But the point is the trailer would separate from the towing vehicle and everything will be bad.

Stopping is just like my acceleration example. But in reverse. Deceleration rates under hard braking on almost all vehicles far exceed acceleration rates, hence the forces on all components involved will be far above normal towing conditions.

 

I didn't question the maximun towing capacity of the vehicle, which your first non-sequitur example is addressing (you wouldn't try to accelerate with the trailer brakes engaged..... I least I wouldn't). And even those glorious 3rd Gen Tundras are NOT going to come close to ripping the hitch off, no matter how hard some doofus tries. All I addressed was a requirement to have brakes on any trailer over 1000 pounds, which would damn near include every trailer ever made when hauling ANYthing in it. And addressed the fact that such specifications are not in the 2013 manual, and as far as I'm concerned, are not needed, differing from your opinion.

 

Mashing the brakes on a truck with a 5000lb trailer that has no brakes will absolutely rip the hitch ball off.

 

For what it’s worth, I tow a Robalo R200 that weighs about 4250 pounds between the boat and trailer. The trailer has surge brakes, but they are pretty rusty and don’t work that well. The truck stops pretty good, but I will probably refurbish the brakes to better assist with sudden stops.

 

Such drama! Like I said, the one panic stop I've ever had to make pulling by 4500# boat/trailer w/o brakes while doing 50-60 also did not "rip off" anything or do an other sort of damage, other than subtracting a couple years off my life expectancy.

 

You got lucky. Or didn't brake hard enough. With towing equipment there is an engineering safety factor of about 300-400%. If a hitch is rated 5K, that means at 5K there is absolutely no chance of it failing. But at 15-20K you are at the very limits.

Same with the Toyota recommendation of 1K un-braked trailers. It's so low because of the safety factor.

 

-

 

Maybe @Ericsopa has really tough ball(s)? Seems possible.

 

I'm in this same boat....

Simply HAVE to start mowing with two zero turns at the same time as one route has gotten so large with so many large yards that only two zeros going at once can get it done in a day.

So, as soon as the Tundra is out of the shop and onto the road, I'll buy a 16' to 20' two-axle trailer to haul the mowing equipment. A 16 footer I looked at yesterday has brakes. I'm not really interested in more complexity....but...

Last fall, I saw a deer making a suicide run and locked the brakes up on my '05 Canyon while pulling the 2000 pound trailer with a load of brush on it. I felt the rig begin to jack knife and immediately let off the brakes (yes I killed the deer).

I may have to get a brake controller as deer are a thing around here and zero turns are crazy heavy!