Trailer Towing

New here
I bought my truck so I can tow a travel trailer. Retiring and traveling the USA/Canada with DW. Any tips?
Any forum like this for Travel trailer folks?
Thanks

 

What kind of TT are you towing? There are many of us on here that have TT's. Generally speaking, the Tundra has plenty of pulling power, but you have to be careful with the payload numbers.

 

Don't forget that you will want a Quality Brake Controller. The IBC that comes on the Tundra is Hit & Miss as to whether it will work to your satisfaction. Most here op to change it out for the Prodigy P2 0r P3.

 

Wow great info! What a great group.
Haven’t bought a TT yet but looking at under 26-28 feet. My fav so far (after giant RV show) Forrest River Wildwood. Great winterizing. Under belly and pipes. Great heavy duty cabinet hinges. But now that I have my truck I can spend my time shopping for TT.

 

Just be careful of the tongue weight on the TT. Tundra has a payload capacity of approx. 1400 lbs depending on model and trim. That includes the tongue weight of the trailer (fully loaded), weight of things you put in the bed, and all the weight of the passengers/cargo.

As a reference, I have a 21 foot Hybrid TT with a fully loaded tongue weight of approx. 650 lbs. My Tundra has a payload capacity of around 1350 lbs. That leaves 700 lbs for me, my family, and the bikes (and stuff) we throw in the bed. Plenty of pulling power, just not a lot of payload.

Check out ForestRiverForums.com - a forum for trailer owners. Some decent advice from owners there, but some of those guys can be pretty fanatical/ultra conservative about payload capacities.

Agree with ColoradoTJ about what to have with your TT. The trailer forum will have a checklist of what you will need and also have some good pre-purchase advice and a checklist of what to go through before signing the papers.

Good luck and congrats.

 

I tow a 25' Airstream. Ask me anything.
PS Good for you man.

 

multiply the max towing capacity of ANY car by 0.75 and you should be fine. e.g. when they say 10500 lbs. it translates into 7875
Toyota is not bad but for some other cars, I use 0.7 factor.
In general, I feel more comfortable under 0.65 of listed capacity.
the bs that the car companies list is ok if you want to crawl up hill ... lol

if u want max towing capacity (e.g. 10500 lbs) buy a diesel.

 

Some good advice there.

 

Hi
I just joined as well. I'm another one interested in towing a travel trailer.
I live in Australia, and we are coming over later this year to purchase a travel trailer that we've selected (Keystone Outback 272UFL) The max gross weight is 7600# and the overall length is 31'9".
After seeing all the problems reported with the Ford and GM trucks, we've decided to buy a (Used) Tundra to pull the trailer.
Looking through the specs, it shows that the 5.7L will pull 10,000 odd pounds, but that says with the tow package.
My questions are:
1) Can a full tow package* be retrofitted to a truck that doesn't already have it, and is it necessary/worth it?
2) According to CarComplaints.com, the 2013 and 2015 model year Tundras generated the fewest complaints. I'd like to get some feedback of other members' opinions on the various MY problems they may have had.

*The full tow package for the year truck I am considering (2013) consists of
Receiver hitch
Lower rear axle ratio
Tow/haul switch
Trans fluid temp gauge
Supplemental engine cooler
Supplemental trans cooler
HD battery
170A Alternator
And of course the 7 pin connector.

Thanks everybody for helping.

 

You should find one with a tow package. Plenty of them out there with factory tow package and 5.7L.
2013 should be pretty good. 2014 and newer have updated interiors (worth it) and slightly different exteriors (a matter of taste).

The rule of thumb on travel trailers is to have the tongue weight somewhere between 10-15% of the gross weight. For a trailer with a gross weight of 7600#, that means the tongue weight should be between 760-1140#. This helps balance the load so you don't get too much porpoising or sway. A good WDH helps, but balancing the tongue weight is a factor. I try to put about 12% of the trailer weight on the tongue.

If you put 12% on the tongue, you would have about 970#s on the tongue. Then, you have to be really conservative about what other weight you put in the Tundra (passengers and cargo). I believe that a double cab has more payload capacity than a crew cab since the double cab weighs less. If you buy a limited, it has less payload capacity because it weighs more.

My experience with the Tundra is that it is a good tow vehicle. However, the payload capacity runs out rather quickly.

 

Thanks heaps for that. That is consistent with all that I've read so far except the 12% part. That is new to me and sounds about right. As it will only be my wife and I in the truck, I think we should be OK for max payload limit on the Tundra. I read somewhere that the max payload for the 5.7L model that we looking for is about 1400-odd#, so I think we shouldn't be overloading it if we're careful.

 

You should be good then. For our family of 5, we try to carry lighter things in the bed and put heavier things like the cooler in the trailer. If you put 100 lbs into the trailer and it is distributed properly, then only 12 lbs is added to the tongue. Pulling power is not an issue with the 5.7

 

Hey Victor, one thing I've found is that the Tundra is a good tow vehicle, but not for the really heavy stuff. You'll find that you're kind of limited on the size of 5th wheeler you can pull with a Tundra, but from the size you described, you should be fairly well off. I was pulling a 26 ft TT and had no problems.

 

Hmm, very good point also!

 

Just wanted to add, I definitely do not know everything about towing but I promise you that you will panic when you pull into that gas station ! lol , Towing Travel trailers around can be very daunting due to the size.

 

Amen to that brother. I average about 9-10mpgs towing my travel trailer.

 

yea, your right about the mpg's, I really meant the limited space at the gas stations. Passenger cars just look at TT'S like your in their way and don't realize that your movement is very limited.

 

Yes, we plan to park the TT before filling up whenever possible.
Unfortunately, I think that people sometimes leave their brains at home when filling up at the gas station. Once when we were on our recent US trip, I had a guy in front of our class C, who had already filled and paid, just sit at the pump while he was looking at maps or texting or something. After about 5 minutes waiting on him, I finally lost patience and honked the horn. It still took him another minute to move.

 

I average 9-10mpgs in my Tundra and that is w/out TT.

 

Is that the 5.7L? If so, is that normal for that size engine?

 

I have a crewmax 5.7l with 4wd. I average about 13 mpg in normal driving (mostly suburban type traffic). I average 9-10 mpg towing my TT (mostly highway type driving). If I were towing the TT in mostly stop and go traffic, I bet the mpg would be around 7-8.

 

I'm getting about the same as others; around 12-13mpg around town, 14 highway and 9-10 pulling our 22' TT. Mine is a DC 5.7 4wd.

 

1) I put a TransferFlow replacement tank in my 2014 Tundra. ( 46 Gallon tank) My trailer LOA is 34', weight 8,900lb fully loaded. (Boat). With gas stations in New England designed for the Honda Fit and Mini Cooper, Its awful finding a station you can swing into and out of.
2). Real tow mirrors.
3). Anything you can do to up-grade brakes is a huge plus. I have a 4 disk electric over hydraulic brake system in my trailer. When you need to go from 65MPH to 0 quickly on a down hill slope, all the braking power you can get.
4) As mentioned before, best quality and highest load rating tires you can find for your trailer.
5) Spare bearing pre-packed as mentioned before.
6). Make sure the jack being used for the trailer is flat enough to get under and tall enough to lift hight.
7) Always have a stop plan "B" available. If having a bad day on the road, having a place to stop for the day 2/3 to your destination is always nice.
8). In your cell phone, there is a notes function; use it and make a to do list, restock list, and fix it list for the trailer.
9). And most importantly, Take your time, have fun and cheers to you and the 1 million new great memories in your future.

 

Welcome and congrats to you and our new Aussie friend. You’ve got the right tow vehicle (whole reason I chose Tundra) now go find your RV and have fun doing so. Picking one can be similar to the choosing the right Tundra - so many options.

Agree with all the above advice. My $.02 would be to allow time to enjoy. Don’t push yourself 300-400 miles a day and still expect to get to your campground and have time to enjoy. There is a learning curve to be able to arrive at campground, unpack, setup, enjoy, and then get up the next morning, repack, load and get back down the road. Some nights you will stay hitched and sometimes you want the Tundra available to go explore.

I sometimes grin at all the $ that we/others are spending on mods for the Tundra until I remember how much I’ve spent on my TT. Wouldn’t change a thing! Pictured is my 2008 CM Limited with our 31’ Rockwood. Camped in 15 states. Recently upgraded Tundra and looking forward to more adventures.

 

AS others have said, the most important number is your cargo capacity. If you look at the drivers door jamb you should see a yellow sticker, which will have the cargo capacity as built. From this number you need to deduct, all passengers, cargo, hitch and tongue weight of RV when loaded. Don't look at the factory numbers for tongue weight as those typically don't include propane, batteries or cargo loaded in the RC. Typically you run out of cargo capacity long before you run out of towing capacity. Towing over cargo capacity can put undue stress not only on the transmission but axels etc. That being said, we have 1528 cargo capacity, just my wife and I with minimal cargo in truck, and we pull a 27RLS Jayco, total length 30'. Trailer loaded is about 7200 lbs. We tow all over Colorado and have had no issues..we average 9 to 11 mpg towing depending on terrain. Non towing we get 18 to 20 around town, slightly more when highway driving on flat terrain. We LOVE out Tundra !