Towing with the Base SR 4x4 - quick report

Just a quick report for those who wonder. last weekend I did a 8h round trip camping with the family, pulling a 6000lb 23ft loaded travel trailer with my base SR. Yes, the SR has around 40hp less than the rest, it has no tow haul mode, but let me tell you..., don't worry it tows that trailer with ease. Way less effort than my chevy 6.0 V8. To be honest, that 10 speed tranny was never fishing for gears on the steep hills, so I am not sure the tow haul mode really makes that much difference. My truck feels powerful as is, another 40hp will be even better with the SR5, but I never felt lack of power, but for fun in the future JB4 will be added. Going downhill, the tranny did not down shift, I think tow haul mode will do this for you, but no biggie, you can always manually downshift if you want.

After all my truck 4x4 crew cab 5.5 bed was 44K and it is a smoking deal!!.. think about it, around 30k less compared to the top of the line tundra. 30k???... it is not worth it to me, my base truck is a truck, it tows and it goes!! : ). , it is the bargain of the century in my opinion. Get one!

With the trailer , two propane tanks and battery up front, the back squatted a little. I will add firestone airbags, just ordered them, and that would be it. You find them for around 120$, and the install is easy. After that, I won't need anything else

 

Glad to hear your positive experience with your truck!, can't wait for mine to be built and delivered

 

Pictures of the rig please! Are you using a weight distribution hitch?

 

Cancel your airbags, they will not help your towing. In reality they will add weight to your rear axle.
Get a quality weight distribution hitch & dial it in! You will get rid of your rear end sag & restore weight to the front axle & trailer axles. Then you will feel like your towing on rails.

 

I have WD hitch but I am sure it can be adjusted better-I will try that for sure However from what I have seen on the net no 22 tundra towing 6-9k trailer stays completely leveled ,even with WD hitch, plus I have some stuff in the bed . The bags are just bladders should not weigh much

 

sorry, don't have better pic when I was towing

 

I had bags on my 2015 and removed them. The truck rode like crap empty.
They don't add much weight but they do put your rear axle weight right over the top.
IMO, not a good solution.
I put a set of Sumosprings and that was a better solution in that the ride was WAY better empty. But I still had the problem with weight on the rear axle. Here are two weight slips. Same camper, same WDH. One was my 2015 with Sumosprings and the other is my 2021 Pro without. I did dial my WDH in for the Pro.

Things to note:
1. The truck without Sumosprings had more front axle weight - A good thing
2. The truck with Sumosprings was overloaded on the rear axle. It was not allowing the WDH to do its job.

The Pro does squat with the camper but the ride and axle weights are worth the squat... IMO

I have a set of AirLift bags for a 2.5 gen that I will sell for $25 plus shipping if someone is interested. All hardware included.

 

good info - thx! I noticed that my WD hitch is not tilted back, that's the 1st thing to adjust. My airbags will not replace the spring, they will sit inside and I will only inflate to augment the load. Leveled back does not add weight on the front axle - I agree, I just don't want it to sag, but I hope my adjusted WD hitch will distribute the load better. I sometimes add weight just in the bed, so the airbags will help leveling it in those cases, when WD hitch is not in play.

 

Very nice! I have to say that SR looks a lot better than a lot of the SR5 and Limited combos I've seen. I'm also with you on it not being worth another $20k-$30k for the higher trims in today's market--no thanks!

 

@mverkaik

On those 2 weight slips, did you readjust the wdh after putting the sumos on? There is a 300lb difference between them so its hard to compare, but the ratios I understand are way off. The sumos would unload the wdh bars a ton, so I’m curious if you reset the hitch at all to accommodate for that?

i tow my smaller trailer with sumos and they are awesome. They really help with weight in the bed so you don’t bottom out all day. I usually run 5-600 lbs of camp gear when hitched up, the wdh isn’t helping with that load

 

If your bags are installed attached the the frame and the axle like most kits do they will never be disengaged..... even at 0psi. As soon as the axle travels up they pressurize giving you an effectively stiffer spring, then when you axle goes to droop you get negative pressure in the bag and they limit your down travel. This really shows up when you are driving over a railroad track or an undulating road. Night and day ride difference with them removed.
They have a similar problem when in use. The pressure changes as the suspension travels effectively limiting your travel and killing the ride quality.
Some are fine with this and they love their bags. Some put Daystar cradles on them and this helps with some of the problem.
I found that a progressive bump stop like the Sumospring actually worked much better for me. It did fix the squat look but it did not fix the overloaded rear axle.

Remember that if you are eliminating squat with bags or some other helper you are reducing the effect that the WDH is having on moving weight off the rear axle to the front. Unless you are really loading up your bars prior.... But then you probably won't need the bags because you have moved all the weight off the axle.....

Function has to follow form when you are towing if you want to be safe. Here are pictures of the two trucks pulling the same camper. The Pro is about 1.5" lower in the rear than the 2015 was. The Pro looks more pronounced because it sits level from the start whereas the 2015 had about 2" of rake. That and the front suspension one the Pro moves more than the 2015 with weight transfer. It is softer and helps with the ride.

 

I don't get it either!? .. yes, lifting the back would not add weight to the front axle - people often misunderstand that part , but stiffer springs not allowing WD to work well?? .. that is news to me

 

totally. You have to re measure and adjust the wdh after installing any spring helper. Otherwise you’re wasting your time. You raise up the back of the truck to get the bars on, so of course adding bags or sumos are gonna have the same effect unloading the bars. One could easily add more tension to the bars after the helper springs to reset the weight back to the front

 

hmm.. I never thought of it that way, makes sense. I think the kit that I ordered may just be sitting loose inside the spring, will know more in few days. I can see where it must be attached when installed on top of leaf spring, but inside a coil, this may not be the case, and with zero pressure in the bags I might be back to stock ride feel.

 

I tried. It is hard because or the amount of bar that needs to be applied to keep the truck off the Sumosprings. If you dial in that much bar you won't have squat without the Sumosprings. Things behave very oddly with that much bar dialed in. Keep in mind that I only have about 2.5" of suspension deflection without the Sumosprings.
Have you weighed your rig? It is eye opening.

Edit: I purchased that camper and WDH after having the Sumosprings installed. The setup in the picture at the gas pump was after the dealer installed the new hitch on the new trailer. I played around with the adjustment on it after. I readjusted for the Pro after I got it.
I always use the front wheels as my guide as to how much bar I dial in. The front axle should not gain height when loaded.

 

Bags inside of coil springs my be different. I will have to give that some thought.

 

44k for a base SR truck? wooof.


That's where this market is though...

 

thanks for the info on your towing experience, on the list for an allocation at a couple local dealers. Hoping to have our tundra for a late summer trip with a 3,000 lb travel trailer to CO, WY, MT, SD from AR. will be about a 4,000 mile tow. I have a 2019 Silverado that can do the job now, but hoping for a Limited or Platinum to take advantage of a larger fuel tank. 10 MPG is what I am hoping for as that is about what I get with the Chevy.

 

[QUOTE=" 10 MPG is what I am hoping for as that is about what I get with the Chevy.[/QUOTE]

I was getting around 11mpg towing on the highway, doing 65mph max. If you go to 70-75, you drop to 10ish, and if you stay with 60 max, it is possible to get 12mpg (as others report). Tundra's mpg numbers are always based on max 60mph highway speeds, maybe even 55. Also wind direction, trailer aerodynamics will play a role, You should be able to get 11mpg for sure. Just me driving it on the highway , no trailer, 18mpg is easy, I have gotten as high as 20 when doing backroads 45mph mixed with highway 70mph. I also think mpg is getting better as I drive it more, now I am at 2000 miles, and no issues!