What do you TOW with your Tundra?

http://attitudetoyhaulers.com/iconic/iconic-limited/

We dry camp in the SoCal desert. We’ve been thinking about one of these.... just a short 19’ or so. Almost positive when we were looking, the big selling point was you could fit a 2 seater sxs.

 

Took a trip to Table Rock Lake over Father’s Day weekend.

 

750 miles: Central Coast of California to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Not knowing the full history of my 2000 Tundra I rolled the dice. She was meant for this! Put her in 2nd up and down the mountain passes and she towed my '64 Valiant perfectly.

 

Wow definitely a good looking set up and seems to check off all the boxes. Now to find a used one under our budget haha

 

2015 1794 with a 1976 Airstream

 

Table Rock Lake!!! I live in Springfield, Mo. You?

 

I pull this Jayco.

 

Edmond Oklahoma....went to old 86 campground

 

Very nice. The picture of mine up above is in Shell Knob, Mo pulling it out of storage and getting ready to camp. Shell Knob a great part of Table Rock.

 

2004 Flagstaff by Forest River. About 2.5k lbs. fully loaded. Don’t even feel her behind me. It’ll follow anywhere the tundra can go.

 

Yeah my parents used to have a place right on the water at table rock in beaver Arkansas right where it turned into the white river. Been on that lake many a time over the years.

My wife wants a trailer but my parents have a fifth wheel so we meet up with them at campgrounds and just stay with them so we can have the boat there as well. Although last week she got a taste of tent camping and she didn’t mind it (18” high air mattress with a pillow headboard didn’t hurt)....but yeah those airstreams are really nice I hear.

 

Trailers are nice for AC and when it rains but my love will always be for a tent. Going to the lake when you own a boat and trailer is a conundrum. We have the best of both worlds because my brother has his boat docked at Kings River Marina and everyone can use it. We got this 1976 Airsteam from the folks but like the boat anyone can use it. They decided they were to old to Airstream around the country and wanted to keep it in the family.

 

Towed the Boat this weekend. The Tundra pulled it so much better than the coyote powered F150.

 

Our offroad Black Series camper.

 

That camper rocks! No more worries about scraping the trailer when going over rocks or through pot holes when off roading. I can drag it to a bunch of places I would never dream of taking a regular camper. It has a ton of clearance, fully independent, super sturdy, suspension, 16 inch wheels with KO2 tires. I'd probably scrape the Tundra over the ground before the trailer. The (plastic) water tanks are protected by aluminum, and it also has rock sliders. As for comfort, it is quite luxurious inside. Has a queen bed, shower, separate potty, inside and outside (slide out) kitchen area, fridge, quite a lot of storage. Cabinets are very sturdy, and finishes are way above average. Standard all LED lighting inside. Has LED light bars on all four sides of the camper. Standard 300W solar, dual propane tanks. Absolutely love it!

 

This is what I pull. A 10' Palomino Trailer Tent with bikes and my cedar strip canoe on top.



I like it because I don't get terrible fuel economy pulling it, and it's easy to bring the toys with us. We are looking for a newer, bigger trailer, but are in no rush. I'm thinking something like a 24' Ultra-Lite.

 

That’s a sweet looking trailer!

 

some leftovers I cobbled together

 

I bought this Jayco 272 SL https://www.jayco.com/tools/archive/2018-octane-super-lite/272/ I haul a 2017 RZR 1000 XP and a 2017 Ace 150 loaded sideways at the back with no problem. I don't haul fuel or water, if we dry camp in the dunes maybe 10 gallons max water to get us through a weekend. I have Airlift 5000 and anti sway and load leveling equipment, etc etc. Only real problem is the fuel mileage going up a mountain pass.

 

think i found the "unicorn" trailer set up that meets almost all of our needs
Forest River-SALEM cruise-lite 251ssxl
https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/travel-trailers/cruise-lite-northwest/251SSXL/3063

hitch weight is a little high but i need to read into that more, loaded up it might not be that bad as i believe toyhaulers are designed for rear-centric weight so it may help balance hitch weight under load? idk someone can chime in if they know

 

Damn you got FULL USE of your tundra.
Looks like you are having a lot of fun man. More joy and power and fun I wish you and yours

 

That’s a bad ass set up! I’ve been looking at those trailers for a long time. They are pretty awesome.

 

Hey Joe, I'd be happy to talk to you about the trailer, and my experiences so far, if you want. PM me.

 

JD 3320 ~4500 lbs including attachments and trailer (6.5'x14').

 

Thanks! I'm on the fence about it. My '08 did better I think, for whatever reason...guessing it's the cap vs my previous tonneau. I just took this on a trip from Austin to Utah and I think it completely killed my springs, but then we were pretty loaded and our weight distribution seemed off. Had to stop in Albuquerque and upgrade the hitch to a 1400#. Still not quite right. I bought some Timbrens I'm installing this weekend then looking at beefing up my leaf pack with a small lift in the future.

 

Any thoughts?? My pops is looking at getting a 24-26 ft light weight trailer. My 16’ tundra w/spacer lift shouldn’t have a problem right??

He also has a tundra. I’m just asking about for mine. Thanks in advance

 

Springs overloaded from that trailer? What does that trailer weigh in at?

 

Never weighed whole rig, but did the math and came in way high. Trailer itself has a tongue weight of 791 lbs, but we did put that on a hitch scale and loaded it came in at 1000. Add a hitch (plus the old hitch), cap, bike racks, bikes, 2 generators, fuel, an extra 20 lb propane bottle, Blackstone, fire pit, chairs, 2 adults, a kid, and a dog...math says we were over 900 lbs above payload. I had no idea it was that high. Trailer itself is 5868 with a max 7600, well within even the Limited's tow capacity. Problem is, even if the truck is completely unloaded with just the bare minimum to pull the trailer (without removing the cap and such hardware) we are already overweight by a few hundred lbs, so moving weight to the trailer wouldn't have cleared us. Plus I don't want to put that kind of stuff in an Airstream, lol.

Springs are looking flat now after this first trip in the '19, and the overload bar is slightly bent. There's about an 1.5" above the bump stop, and not enough to get the Timbrens in without always riding on them.

Conclusion, some Tundras can tow, but if you plan to load the truck too (like a camping trip), you're out of luck. The only way it works payload-wise is if the truck is stripped down with nothing but passengers in it. I'm currently in limbo as to whether I need to keep working with it and leave out all the extra goodies or move to a bigger truck. It's my daily though so I don't want anything bigger than this.

Previous rig really didn't have any problems though! Very slight squat after a year of towing, that's it. Did the math on that and apparently it was overloaded on payload too. Tundra didn't care though. I named it "Mule".