New Tundra/Toy Hauler Owner

Hello Tundra Forum,

New to the Tundra world, been driving a Tacoma since I was 16 and finally jumped up to a V8 to address my towing needs. I've been towing my RZR XP4 Turbo S on a trailer but would like to upgrade to a toy hauler. Safety comes first so I'm curious if I'm missing anything in my calculations to see if the hauler I'm looking at will be a good fit (and safe).

2019 Toyota Tundra SR5 Crewmax TRD Sport 4x4 5.7L
Icon Stage 10 suspension, RXT leaf packs at option 2, 35" Toyo RT's, PowerStop Brakes
GVWR: 7200#
Payload: edit: (sticker 1265#)
Capacity: 9800#

Toy Hauler: 2021 Heartland Lithium 2414
GVWR: 10,600#
Dry Weight: 6,360#
Hitch Weight: 1060#

Cargo:
Polaris RZR XP4 Turbo S: 1990#





Planning on towing dry and filling up water once I'm close to my destination to keep weight low.

Just the toy hauler + toy puts me at 8350# which I believe gives me some additional room for gear, beer, etc. But since I'm new to this I want to make sure I'm not missing anything important. Would appreciate any feedback!

 

You will want a weight distribution hitch for the TT.

 

WDH is a solid idea, and you should probably weigh your truck as you would hook it to the camper, meaning all gear and full fuel, etc. I'd bet money your payload, even empty, isn't 1560. That looks like a spec sheet number and those are hilariously optimistic. You'll want to check your door sticker for an actual payload, and then subtract anything you've added to the truck from it. Wheels, tires, bumper, sliders, skid plates, and even the WDH you will need for the trailer are all direct deductions from your payload rating. You can look at your sticker and work the math, or you can just weigh your loaded truck and see how it compares to your GVWR.

 

To add on to what Adam said, that tongue weight sounds pretty high for a Tundra. That's going to be with an empty trailer, no propane, no battery, etc.

 

I would definitely want gears to go with those 35’s

 

Move the SBS back or load it with most of it's weight in the rear of the trailer to reduce tongue weight.

I don't know how the weight is distributed on those things.

If the water tank is in the rear of the trailer, you can load up and take weight off the front as well.

As for weights, I think you are fine. If you are hilly, you want to stay in 4th. The tundra doesn't mind 3 k rpms at all. Mine lives in 4th when dragging the RV.

 

NO! TERRIBLE ADVICE! DO NOT ASS LOAD YOUR TRAILER. See video below.
Tongue weight generally needs to be in the 9-15% range (varies by trailer and vehicle). Read your truck and trailer manuals for recommended tongue weight.

https://youtu.be/4jk9H5AB4lM

https://youtu.be/w9Dgxe584Ss

 

I'd say start with scale, WDH, airbags, and go from there. I put my 2012 on the scale, empty, with a full tank of fuel and came in at 6200 lbs.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Thanks for the responses. Door sticker just gives the GVWR unless I'm looking at the wrong thing?


Would the WDH help with the hitch weight then since unloaded it's already at 1060#? Surprised to see no 3/4 ton recommendations yet haha
Will definitely go get the truck weighed to see what I'm sitting at with my additions.

 

I've gone with the smallest toy hauler to fit my toy, I'll have about 6 inches to spare front and back for the RZR, so really no option to front or ass load it. Just with my current trailer I notice a worse towing experience if I ass load it for sure.

 

That's not the sticker that has your payload. There should be another sticker that looks like this, and there might be a small yellow sticker that also says to further reduce you capacity for port/dealer add ons. These are just internet screenshots for examples of what to look for.

A WDH doesn't help with weight, it just distributes it evenly across the front of the truck and the rear axle of the trailer. I mean, there might be a minor reduction in hitch weight, but it will likely be offset by the weight of the WDH itself. They are just designed to even the load out for better sway control and handling. A bigger truck or a smaller trailer would probably be the safe recommendation, but these threads pop up like weeds and there are always those that rail at anyone suggesting you can't blow by your payload and tow ratings if you add X, Y, or Z components. It's a waste of breath to make the recommendation anymore. Everyone knows better than the engineers that designed the truck anyway.

 

I can imagine there have been a lot of these. Sticker shows 1265, so I'm probably pushing the limits from that perspective.

 

Congrats on truck and trailer. Cold beer will clearly put you over weight.....

 

With 1200 lbs tongue weight, you need to get weight off that hitch.

Yes, you need tongue weight, not 1200 lbs.

 

The 1060# hitch weight is without battery or propane tanks, so add 100lbs for those, then approximately 100lbs for a WDH. That puts you at 1260lbs before adding the SXS to the trailer or you to the truck. Just the trailer puts you over payload before any gear to your truck or anything in the trailer.
If you can find a lighter trailer or a way to load it to reduce the hitch weight some, you may get within the legal payload amount.
With that said, I would recommend regearing the truck with 529s to give you back the lower power and torque you lost with the 35s. I did 529 over a year ago while on 295/70/18s and it made towing our travel trailer so much easier - truck held gears even on inclines, I could run 5th gear of flat ground.

 

I towed a dump trailer to the dump this weekend. Scale said I was 14460lbs, which puts the trailer at just over 9k lbs. While the Tindra did well over short distances, I can not imagine towing this load all over the country, up and down mountain passes, etc...

 

Toyhaulers are designed with higher tongue weights because the heavy toys will already be rearward. If you pile all your other weight back there you'll be lifting on the hitch too much to safely tow.

TLDR: Don't ass load a trailer.

 

OP it looks like you are over your payload allowance.

 

Lifted truck, 35s, that trailer and SXS= overweight for what your Tundra should be towing. One thing you could look at since you already purchased everything, takes the payload issue out of the equation- http://www.trailertoad.com/

Not much else you can do. No upgrade is going to give you more payload. I speak from experience, towing at limit for any length of time and at highway speeds is no fun.

 

Ended up not going with the Lithium, I'm now looking at the Genesis Supreme Wanderer 19SSWL
Hitch Weight: 700lbs
Dry Weight: 5620lbs

Should keep me within payload. Now to see if the Turbo S fits

http://genesissupremerv.com/wanderer-bumper-pull-toy-haulers/

 

Just curious, did you ever go weigh your truck in stock configuration with you in it?