Towing Report

Okay, so I know more people are starting to get their trucks, and this might be moot, but I wanted to give some info on my towing experience. Good, bad and ugly.

I’ll start with my truck: 2022 SR5 CM short bed 2 WD, rear air suspension. Stock wheels and tires. Payload sticker 1400 lbs

My trailer: 2017 Keystone Laredo 334 RE. Outside length- 37 feet. Factory stayed dry weight 8525 lbs. Factory stated hitch weight 1245 lbs. Actual weights are unknown because I haven’t weighed.

My hitch: Curt tru track 10,000 lb WDH.

Towing conditions were mostly flat, with a mountain pass into the blue ridge mountains via I 26 in Asheville, NC and a descent down on the Tennessee side. Total distance towed was about 1500 miles.

The good: The truck has plenty of power. Towing this heavy trailer, I never felt a want for more power or torque. I used different drive modes, played with the tow/haul modes, etc. I used tow+ and sequential when taking off and merging onto the interstates. I also used it on the ascent up the mountain (more on that in a bit). In tow+ mode, I felt the cruising RPM was high, around 2500. I did most of my cruising in normal drive mode with the transmission in D. Cruising RPM like this was about 1800, so I’m guessing in high gear at full converter lock up. The 10 speed definitely doesn’t gear hunt like the 6 speed did in my 18. It cruises in high gear and downshifting for grades isn’t dramatic or overly noticeable. All in all, a good experience. Radar cruise and brake hold performance were flawless. Trailer auto detect stuff worked for the most part. The trailer blind spot was good. While I was for sure over payload, the truck handled it like a champ. My gut says Toyota was very conservative with the capacities on this truck.

The bad: This is a big trailer. Wind was a factor. As was being next to semis. I definitely got blown around a bit and I felt it. For sure it affected this truck way more than my 3/4 ton Ram. I never felt like it was an emergency situation though. Just something to correct for. Trailer BSM sometimes thought the trailer was a passing car. It went crazy on low speed left turns.

The ugly: On my initial trip (Alabama to South Carolina) the brake controller was unreliable. I’m not sure it ever worked to be honest. There were a couple of panic stops that got kinda hairy, but the truck did stop. Under normal braking conditions, the truck by itself could stop the trailer just fine. On the second part of the drive (SC to MO) the brake controller worked perfectly.
On my ascent into the mountains in tow+ I got a warning message: “Transmission Oil Temp. High Stop in a Safe Place and See Owner’s Manual”
Now, I was leaning on the truck pretty hard getting up that hill and the ambient temp was about 90. If any of you are familiar with that area, you know. There is nowhere to stop. Especially with a 37 foot trailer on the ball. So I eased out of the gas and slowed down. The message went away immediately. I didn’t notice any transmission problems, so I just sent it. The remainder of the trip there was no issue.

So there it is. A full, honest write up about my towing experience this past week. Figured someone will get something out of it. I’ll gladly answer any questions.

 

It seems like you could use more wdh. Usually a 10,000 lb wdh is meant for a 1000 lb tongue weight and so your trailers dry tongue is exceeding that by a considerable amount.

I am not sure why but Toyota hates cooling their transmissions. It seems to be an issue with every single one of their trucks and SUV’s. My GX trans was close to 250F towing hills until I added a hayden air cooler. Its so dumb. The video of TFL doing the Ike with the Tundra showed the coolant at like 204F and but the transmission was at like 240F on a 45 degree day

 

So, what your telling me is that with my 7k (loaded for camping) and 1000lb tongue weight I should be good to go?

Seriously though, I’m not that familiar with air suspension and I’m getting a 2022 Platinum. How/when do you use it with the WDH? Thanks

 

You should use a WDH when Toyota says too. I think its anything over 500 lb tongue weight. You need to make sure the WDH is setup correctly to compensate for the air bags:

The air suspension is going to try to level out the truck from the trailer tongue weight and in the process it will unload the WDH bars, reducing their effect. So you need to make sure that the WDH bars are full engaged at the normal ride height of the truck to ensure you are getting enough weight back onto the front axle.

 

Way too much trailer and the truck is telling you in a few different ways.

You should be listening.

SPP

 

I’d never considered needing more hitch. My previous TV was my 2500 Ram CTD and it never felt unstable in any way. You could be right. It got my attention when that message popped up. I don’t think I did any damage, but being “technically” under the stated towing capacity (I know, payload) I didn’t think trans temps would be an issue. I do wish these trucks had a gauge display that showed trans temp, egt, actual oil pressure, and actual coolant temp. It would help a lot when hooked up. My time pulling this camper is almost done. I have one more trip to St Louis with it from here, then it’s parked until I can sell it.

 

I mean you’re within spec on those numbers. You’ll probably exceed payload, which I did for sure. So keep that in mind. What I had to do, was play with my hitch angle and height until I found one where when the truck auto leveled it kept the bars under load. It took a couple tries, but I got it there. I’m not gonna tell you to tow your trailer or not. I’m comfortable pulling mine at reasonable speeds. I also am hooked up about 10% of the time I’m driving since I use my camper as my work home (this is the last trip with it). So I tow(ed) a lot. I’d be comfortable with your set up.

 

I agree. This is my last trip with this camper. Once it’s home, it’s getting parked until it’s sold. I’m experienced, so it’s not white knuckle for me, but for some guys this combo is way too much. At 65-70 it’s reasonable. But no more 12 hour drives with this trailer for me.

 

The 2500 CTD probably had a bigger wheelbase and probably weighs 1500 lbs more. And I bet a good chunk of that 1500 lbs is on the front axle anchoring it to the ground. Im sure that truck covered up any imperfections in your setup

 

I’m done with campers. My work situation is changing, so my road whore days are drawing to an end. Good riddance too. Campers are worse than boats. Every time I pull it out, it costs me unexpected money. Just race cars for me from now on. At least I know what breaking one of those costs!!

 

And by a big margin I'd wager. I towed a similar size trailer with a 3/4 ton diesel and still felt like it was a lot of trailer for that truck. That's way too much trailer for any half ton, IMO, considering weight but also surface area and wind effects.

 

It felt like a lot of trailer when in the wind for sure. The truck didn’t have any trouble pulling the trailer or getting it moving, but I know I was over payload. The tongue, my tools, and myself, I was probably over by a few hundred pounds.