Can a 2023 Tundra Hybrid max force tow 9000lbs?

The info is all over the place. The trailer is a coachmen freedom ultra lite. It is 6610 dry weight and after that is where it gets confusing. The tongue is 824, but not sure if the fully loaded trailer weight is 7600 or 9000lbs. I thought I would tentatively plan on the higher number. It’s a new truck and a new trailer, so not so familiar with either. Any intelligent experience would be greatly appreciated.

 

Will it drag it? Yes.

Will it be pleasant or enjoyable? Unlikely.

Will you be over the payload rating on a trailer with an advertised (that means lower than reality) tongue weight over 800 lbs.? Probably.

I'd shop for a much smaller trailer or a bigger truck.

 

Welcome to the forum!

What trim is it and how long is the bed? 4x2 or 4x4?

 

I tow a 7000lb boat. Not the most inspiring tow vehicle for that weight on long trips. To the boat ramp, no issues. But the day I bought the boat and drove it home on a 5+ hour trip, it wasn't fun. It wasn't bad, but if I had to tow close to the tow weight of the truck, might as well go to the next size truck.

 

It’s a 4 x 2 Hybrid with imax Force

 

cab type

 

Limited

 

Limited is the trim. Assuming it's a Crewmax? Not a double cab.

 

I’d have no qualms about pulling that trailer. Our travel trailer is about 1k lbs lighter with an advertised tongue just over 700 lbs; it scaled at virtually exact numbers dry weight/tongue weight that the MFG listed. The tongue weight was actually a little lighter and that was with batteries and full propane tanks. My vehicles are all the old 5.7’s and even the sequoia pulls it very comfortably with the kiddos and dogs loaded up. The new tundra platform and drivetrain should handle it with ease. I’ve pulled much more with my ‘13 without issue.

From what I gather, the rear coil springs are a little soft on the gen3’s so unless you have the self leveling air suspension, you may want to look in to some suspension enhancements. Airbags have been my go to. Either way, a good weight distributing hitch is advised. Andersen is my preferred hitch, but there are lots of great options. Learn how it works and get it dialed in for a comfortable tow.

 

Welcome to the forum.
Here's my very recent experience preparing for and pulling a rented 28 ft toy hauler with a drive weight of 7850 lb. Here's my '24 4x4 CM Limited Hybrid hooked up to the Forest River XLR boost fully loaded.


The truck performed flawlessly, with no lack of power. And as I'm sure the hybrid system helped, I believe the non-hybrid would have performed similarly. I used a BlueOx weight distribution hitch definitely helped, but not enough.
The two areas that need to be addressed for towing this much weight is the rear suspension and an external transmission cooler. I researched the difference between Airbags, Timbrins and Sumo Springs, to help with the rear suspension sag. I decided on the Sumo Springs in Black which I believe is 1,500 lb capacity. They worked well but not good enough. As you can see from the picture. The rear end is still too soft. The Timbrins would have worked better, but I believe they would have been too stiff of a ride for my normal everyday drive. Before I actually buy my RV in the near future, I will install airbags to level the truck while towing. They are more expensive, but I blew that up trying to save money going with a cheaper option first.
I used the Carista OBD plug-in to monitor the transmission temp while towing. This past Memorial weekend in northern Michigan was quite mild, 50°-70°. While most of the time the temp was ok but not great (205°-215°) there were a couple times the temp reached 217°-223°. In my opinion, and many others on here, that is too hot for the longevity of the transmission. I'll be installing an external cooler with a bypass, so in the winter the fluid can run through the radiator as designed and in warmer months it can bypass the radiator and run solely through the external cooler.
If I were only making this trip once or twice, I'd leave it like it is. But planning to pull the RV 3-4 times a season at minimum, it's worth setting up for optimum safety and long term performance.
All 'n' all, the dog gave the entire trip, 2 paws up!

 

Nice rig. What toys did you have in the back of the trailer? Toy haulers are typically quite nose heavy, especially if your toys are light or non-existent.

It looks like you could use an extra link or two on the blue ox - the bars could be more parallel with the trailer frame. With how nose high the truck is, it needs to distribute more weight back to the front of the vehicle which, after all, is what a weight distributing hitch does.

I’ve been very happy with airbags on my truck. For serious towing, they are the way to go, IMO.

 

Just putting 2 & 2 together with your screen name. Thats a nice setup.

 

Yeah, she's an oldie, 25 years old, but in mint conditions. Old school Chevy 350 TBI and Bravo 3.

 

Temps below 230F when towing wouldn't worry me. Just curious were you locked out in 6th gear when towing? If not, just locking out in 6th gear will likely lower your max temps significantly.

 

Normally I'll have a Road Glide in the back. But due to the temperature we ended up not bringing it. The BlueOx was on the 8th link instead of the recommended 9th, as recommended. But the owner of the trailer didn't feel comfortable with how sprung the load bars were. He normally pulls with a Dodge 3500 and said he'd never seen the load bars sprung so much. Obviously he didn't really need the load bars. I believe with airbags And the load bars set properly. I'll have no issues with my own trailer.

 

The 3rd gen's are 10-speed and utilize Tow+ for heavy towing in drive modes. From what I've read in other threads, the dashboard lights up at 125° for the transmission temp. Which tells me 223 is too hot. And granted that's in combined mid-60s ambient temperature towing. What happens when I get into the mid-90s? Hell last time it was in the mid-80s with no trailer whatsoever. I was 212° just driving home from work. That means I'm investing in an external transmission cooler.

 

Bulletproof out drive.

 

To me, these trailers mentioned here are more of 3/4 ton territory. Tundra is too light for dragging such a big box. Any wrong movement and you'll be tumbling to kingdom come.

 

Do you mean the warning light come on at 125C or 257F? Or that the gauge doesn’t start reading until 125F? Either way, 212-220F is perfectly normal operating temperature and mirrors you engine oil temperature under load. My Whipple’d ‘13 runs in those ranges when towing just about anything, including 10k lbs in the mountains, and ran in those temps before it was supercharged. It has the factory transmission cooler and over 220k miles of hauling and towing.

As to locking it in 6th as @szabo101 - 6th gear is direct drive 1:1 in the 10 speed transmission. 7-10 are overdrive gears and 1-5 are under drive gears. Manually selecting 6th keeps the transmission from unlocking the converter and/or hunting for the correct gear. It is the same as running in 4th on the Gen 2’s 6 speed, or 3rd in most 4 speed overdrive automatics from the 30 years previous to that. Keeping the torque converter locked reduces fluid friction in the transmission which quickly builds heat, hence the suggestion to run in 1:1 or 6th gear.

Overdrive is a torque reduction gear, while underdrive is a torque multiplication gear. Letting the trans slip in to overdrive gears requires more power from the motor to get the same power to the wheels; keeping it in direct drive puts more power to the ground at the expense of rpm and usually a small fuel economy hit (unless you are really hunting gears and constantly speeding up/slowing down) a few mph.

The WD hitch still looks to me like it needs adjustment, simply by the nose high character. It doesn’t appear to redistributing enough weight. The nose of the truck should be around the same height as stock. The lack of weight in the tail of the trailer is definitely contributing to it.

I’d respectfully disagree, but that’s just my opinion based on what I pull.