2ND GEN TOWING??

HEY ALL! IM NEW TO THE TUNDRA WORLD, AND HAVE JUST PURCHASED A 2008 2WD, SR5 4.7 TUNDRA. I AM LOOKING FOR TOWING INFO FROM YOU GUYS, WHAT ARE YOU TOWING? HOW HEAVY? AND HOW IT IS WORKING OUT. I AM LOOKING TO POSSIBLY PURCHASE A TRAVEL TRAILER, AND I WANT TO BE AS SAFE TO DRIVE-LINE AS I CAN BE. I HAVE RESEARCHED SOME OF THE TOW SPECS ALREADY, AND SEE MY TRUCK IS RATED TO PULL 8000 POUNDS? I'M THINKING I SHOULDN'T LOAD IT UP THAT MUCH RIGHT??! ANYWAY... ANY INFO WILL BE GREAT INFO, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS!! THANKS!!

 

You towing flat lands or mountainous areas? I’ve been pretty happy with how the 5.7’s pull, my dad had a 1st gen 4.7 for work that I remember pulled pretty well too. @ColoradoTJ is our resident towing expert.

 

Mostly flat, will want to get into the southern Appalachian mtn area soon though. Beaches and mountains!! Anywhere away from home. I really am kicking myself for not getting a 5.7 rig though

 

Go here, read the stickies at the top of this sub forum too: https://www.tundras.com/forums/towing-hauling.53/

 

There are many threads on this subject in the 2nd Gen forum.

 

I have a Kubota I occasionally move. I did it with my 1st gen Tundra but I really felt it back there. I'm guessing 6k lbs for the tractor and another 2k for the trailer. With the 1st gen I wouldn't even think about it without a weight distribution hitch. A week ago I had my first chance to do it with my '07 (with the 5.7). The trailer I normally would have used (10k capacity) wasn't available so I ended borrowing a friend's 12k trailer that wasn't set up for a WD hitch but it was 24' so I easily could position the tractor to get the tongue weight exactly where I wanted it. I would guess I was around 9k and it pulled it just fine. There's a lot more to pulling than an engine. The 4.7 is going to work hard if you want to tow 8k with it but the rest of the truck will be ok. As long as you aren't expecting to hold 65mph on hills you'll be fine.

 

That is what im thinking, that the 4.7 may struggle a bit. But i also wanna be easy on the tranny too. Im really thinking i shouldn't pull more than about 6500 pounds, just to be safe and not prematurely wearing out the driveline or suspension, as it is all stock with 167k miles on it. My truck has a trailer hitch installed already, but now im hearing more about the weight distributing hitch now. Is that a whole hitch receiver, to replace what i have? Or is that an add on to the current hitch set up?

 

I personally would never tow more than 75% of towing capacity of any vehicle. Yeah it's rated for a certain level but I wouldn't feel safe pushing it. As posted above, check out the towing/hauling thread. All of the information you need will be there.

 

I have moved up to 12000, but she gets mighty hot, so I am not planning on doing it again.