What do we need to tow this trailer?

Hi All,
I have limited towing experience with Tundra. We have a 2021 Tundra, Limited CrewMax. .
Can our Tundra tow this trailer? Or, are we making a mistake in considering it?

• GVWR7,660 lbs
• DRY WEIGHT5,860 lbs
• HITCH WEIGHT660 lbs
• CARGO CAPACITY1,768 lbs
• WIDTH8'-"
• HEIGHT11'-4"
• LENGTH30'-1"

Many Thanks!

 

Yes, should tow it no problem. Get a good weight distribution hitch. I like the equal-i-zer.
Mist people will add about 1,000 in gear. puts you at 6,860lbs. I think that truck is rated for about 9,500 or so.

 

Where you live makes a difference too. If you are primarily in the rocky mountains, gonna be a lot of trailer. Florida to in state campgrounds, little better.

 

Start here. You'll want to check your payload rating, and understand how it works. You'll run out of payload way before you hit the tow rating. https://www.tundras.com/threads/tow-ratings-guide-how-to-be-safe.39211/


Personally, I would not tow a trailer that long with a 1/2 ton pick up. Others would. To each their own.

 

Wait for it...

 

Find your exact model code on the door sticker. Look in the manual to find payload for that model and subtract the weight on the yellow sticker also inside the door. Example my 21 SR4 4x4 Crewmax with bucket seats and 38 gallon tank, bed liner, floor mats and tailgate lock only has a 1217 payload with the tank full.
It's very easy to exceed payload with smaller trailers unless you stay close to the 10% tongue weight. If the length quoted is the camper body you're pushing the limits of an easy tow. Ditto on the weight distribution hitch. Get one that has built in sway and allows backing. I use a Progress E2 8,000# for a 23" trailer body that grosses at 6K. I'm right between the 6,000# and 8k WDH but figure slighty and I mean slightly heavier WDH is better than pushing the max on the lighter model. Beware of a dealer that wants to install a WDH that's too heavy for your load and consider installing it yourself if you want it done correctly. Invest in a tongue scale or use the bridge method with a bathroom scale like I did. Remember these WDHs add another 50-75# to your payload. If it's just two people traveling consider removing the back seats. This saved me 114.5 #. Sorry about the rambling.

 

Weight yes, size, too much wind sail for me it would be a no. There is a huge difference between pulling 8k lbs of rebar on a flat bed vs dragging a USS Constitution behind a Tundra. If you do decide to chance it, keep the family in a seperate car two miles back on the interstate and make sure you have good insurance coverage. You will never know when wildlife will step out or a gust of wind will throw you off course. Might be the the first tow, may not happen until the 86th tow, but all too often these combos wind up with a totaled truck and a pile of toothpicks. Just go down to a truck stop and ask ten random over the road drivers what they think about what they witness on a regular basis.

 

The “it”, @Tug, is the fact that your ‘21 Tundra does not include a thermostatically-controlled external transmission cooler up front. It is a system that came with all tow-package equipped Tundras through the 2018 model year. 2019-2021 Tundras have the same transmission as before but don’t have the cooler, and their temps run hotter…some report ~ 30-40ºF hotter; some report much hotter than that. There are very, very few reports of failures or issues due to transmission temps on these trucks at this point. We don’t yet have any long-term data on 2019-2021 Tundras, so we can’t know how well the transmission holds up over the long term without the check on temps that a cooler provides. What we do know is that all previous Tundras that earned the reputation for extremely long service lives despite being rode hard and put up wet all came with an external cooler as part of the tow package. Post 906 here sums up why I added one.

If you’re interested in monitoring your transmission temps, I’d recommend the Veepeak OBD2 scanner. It pairs with your phone via Bluetooth and sends info to the Fusion OBD app found on your phone’s App Store. Decide for yourself if you want to install a cooler. It takes up to $750 in parts and a couple hours of your time.

To answer your question, I wouldn’t tow that trailer with a Tundra, whether it came with a cooler or not. Although I think that the Tundra would handle it better than any other half-ton due to its weight, I think that trailer would be much better handled by an HD truck.

 

Too big of a trailer .
I picked up a 4800lb empty trailer from dealer last Saturday and had a 4 hours drive back home .
Upgraded from an 18 feet travel trailer , I could definitely feel the difference and I am very happy I did not go any bigger.
Loaded will be around 5800lb .

I had wind gusts about 15 mph and I could feel the trailer and I had a centerline sway hitch installed .
Total length from hitch to back is 25 feet.

I would not go any bigger or more then 6000lb for a half ton that if you want to enjoy your camping trips and not be too worried about towing it

 

I just towed a Vintage Cruiser 23RSS up from the Gulf in 25 gust to 40 winds. The worst of which were coming from the west while I was going north. The bridge over the intercoastal waterway at Gulf Breeze concerned me but I hardly felt a thing. No worse than being passed by a semi on the interstate. Trailer design plays a major part. Off road types may well be much worse due to the higher CG. Airstreams are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Never pulled one but did have a very interesting discussion with an owner about the design.

 

My 2 cents:
I have a 25 foot (technically 25' 10", they call it a 25 for some reason) trailer weiging 5500 lbs dry. If I add water, gear and everything else, i can get up to 6900 lbs. Will my Tundra, 2014 SR5 with 108,000 miles, tow that, yes, and it has done well so far.

Now a bit of background, I live in Utah, everything is mountain or 5-8% grade hills. I don't think I have taken a trip that didn't have some mountain pass involved. I down shift A LOT to help keep the brakes cool on both the truck and the trailer. Like others have said, your trailer dynamics and where you are driving will play a huge role in how it handles. My first trip with my trailer was through a 2 lane mountain pass bringing the trailer home, 8% up, and 8% down, and blind curves to take your breath away. I was impressed with my setup, and even had an emergency braking situation on that trip that showed how well things will hold up. I prefer to take back roads over freeway, just because here they, including semi's, tend to go 85-90 on the freeway in the 80 zones, and at 55 it gets a bit white knuckle at times.

Let me run through what I did to my truck that made a huge difference.
1) Bigger brakes - I went Power Stop Z36. https://www.powerstop.com/product/power-stop-z36-brake-kit/
2) Falcon Shocks all around, I got the selectable tow ones and they make a huge difference in stability whether towing or not. https://www.falconshocks.com/2007-toyota-tundra
3) Weight Distribution Hitch - I got the Equalizer Hitch, I wanted a 10K, but they were out of stock for months, so I got a 12K. https://www.equalizerhitch.com/store/hitches/1-000-10-000-lb-equal-i-zer-sway-control-hitch
4) I drive in S4 99.9% of the time, and only occasionaly will I go to S5, but never exceeding 55-60MPH. I got up to 70 once, and things started to get squirly, it was down hill too
5) Get ready to see single digit MPG, half tank means fill up now for me with a 26 gallon tank. I found out the hard way, had to coast in to a station on fumes one time. I wasn't the only one, a couple other trucks did the same thing into this small town gas station.

Future upgrades:
- Long Range Tank - 46 gallon (necesity for me)
- Possible Anti-Sway bar, but still debating the functional improvement that will give


My Advice, take it on a couple short trips, and get used to how things handle before a long trip involving more than one tank of gas. Know your rig setup, and if things start to white knuckle, slow down, or pull off the highway where it's safe.

 

I saw these, but never found one in stock when I was looking. How long do the chains last before they need to be replaced? Have you ever experienced kick back when loading the spring bar?

 

I did a lot of homework on the WDH's out there and this is by far the best i've sean and ended up getting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA3_hH60fzE&t=1s

 

Being able to hitch/unhitch at an angle is a very handy option.

 

The OP’s trailer is very similar to the specs of my Grand Design Imagine 2500RLS. I tow it with our 2018 Platinum CrewMax, with no issues. As mentioned in other responses, get a proper WDH and learn how to set it up correctly! The Equalizer is great, as is the Fast-Away. Same tech, using the flat ends of the bars’ friction to control sway.

The dealer did not set my hitch up correctly! Read the directions and put the effort into making it right. Day and night difference…

Recommend upgrading the tires on your trailer. They (almost) all come with junk to cut cost. I pulled the originals off my 2021 trailer and replaced with Goodyear Endurance, and went up one size (+3/4” diameter) to get into an “E” range tire instead of a “D”. This also made a huge stability difference!

My Tundra hauls our last trailer with no issues. Wind isn’t a huge factor here in western Oregon, but we have a ton of hills. I tow in S4, and will downshift as needed on descents. Make sure your brake controller is adjusted properly, and it’ll stop quite nicely.

Our last tow rig was a 2005 GMC Yukon XL 2500 with a 6.0L gas motor. Same chassis and drivetrain as the 3/4-ton Chevy and GMC gas trucks. Everything related to towing is better with this half-ton Toyota than our last rig.

I can’t even imagine how poor the 1500 GM rigs would be…



Truth be told, all of our towing with the Tundra was with stock suspension. We are headed for a 300 mile trip this weekend, and I just installed a new suspension with ADS shocks and Deaver leaf springs. Ive already readjusted my hitch system for the new truck height, and it seems to be extremely stable on the short test drive after setup. I foresee no issues, and only good things from this new arrangement.

 

Hello, in reading your post from last year, I have a very similar towing setup with a 2012 Tundra DC limited and a 22' Bullet Premier trailer. Do you recall what size tires you are running and what load rating they are 4 ply B or 10 ply E's? Wayne