Can my 4Runner tow this thing?

juneau92

juneau92

New member
I need some help for those of you who tow. I'm going to buy my first travel trailer sometime soon. Right now I'm looking at a new Star Stream model SS24QB. Here are the specs for my 4Runner and the travel trailer:

Toyota states the 4Runner's GVWR for V8 4x4 is 6005 pounds, and towing capacity is 7000 pounds.

For the StarStream trailer:
GVWR: 7100
GVW: 3855
Base/Dry Hitch Weight: 3472
Overall Length hitch to bumper: 26'11"

Also note that I will be using my Hensley Arrow hitch for towing of the trailer.

Perhaps some of you can tell me of your towing experiences with the 4Runner.

Thanks for your help! :)
 
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I don't know much about travel trailer specs, but I take this to read that the unloaded weight is 3472# to 3855# (only because I dont know what is included in the GVW that is not in the 'Dry Weight'. It then lists a GVWR for the trailer of 7100#. You need to calculate the weight of ALL the stuff you will be hauling inside the trailer including propane and tanks, water, food, clothes, linens, towels and whatever else you could have and make sure you keep it below the towing capacity and/or the hitch capacity for your T4R. I think the only thing the trailer GVW is for is so you know not to have the loaded weight of the trailer including all the stuff previously mentioned + the people exceed 7,100#. In other words, you can only add about 3,400# of stuff (that seems like a lot). Likely the reason for this is that the trailer is transferring all its weight to the ground on 2 3500# axles.

Also be aware that this trailers length seems pretty long campared to the 4runner but I tow a boat that is 20'+. The overall trailer length is probably about 24' and I have never had a problem. FWIW, my loaded boat and trailer weight is about 4500# (per a scale) and my V6 SR5 doesn't have a problem whatsoever.

I hope this helps.
 
juneau92 said:
I need some help for those of you who tow. I'm going to buy my first travel trailer sometime soon. Right now I'm looking at a new Star Stream model SS24QB. Here are the specs for my 4Runner and the travel trailer:

Toyota states the 4Runner's GVWR for V8 4x4 is 6005 pounds, and towing capacity is 7000 pounds.

For the StarStream trailer:
GVWR: 7100
GVW: 3855
Base/Dry Hitch Weight: 3472
Overall Length hitch to bumper: 26'11"

Also note that I will be using my Hensley Arrow hitch for towing of the trailer.

Perhaps some of you can tell me of your towing experiences with the 4Runner.

Thanks for your help! :)
Click to expand...

Hey juneau92,
I just bought the Star Stream 21RB. Cool trailer, my first as well. I haven't picked it up yet though. I think the 21ft is 500lbs lighter than the 24ft and I plan on towing it with my V6 4X4. Even fully loaded I should not be over the 5000lb max. The dealer is putting on a weight dist hitch and sway bars. I have air bags but not sure if I will need them. I have pulled close to that weight many times with no problems.
I would think you would be fine with the V8.
 
You might want to look at Toyota's Towing Guide. I have seen it on the Toyota Canada (www.toyota.ca). I used to occasionally tow a 25 foot travel trailer with a max weight of 6500 lbs, but in towing mode may have been 5,500 lbs. The 4Runner did fine, and I did not have trouble with sway. The concern I have is the lack of decent exterior decent mirrors.

I now have a 26 foot trailer but have yet to tow with the Runner, as we most often use the Chev. Avalanche.
 
i'd also look into what kind of terrain you're looking to be towing into ... in montana, i wouldn't tow with anything less than a V8 ... and i don't ... i got a hitch put on my taurus, and i used to tote around a little 14 foot aluminum boat all the time, but that has nearly no weight at all ...

if you do find yourself towing in steeper terrain, always make sure to keep an eye on your temperature ... if it seems to run high when towing, you may want to consider a heavier duty radiator ...

if you have an automatic, and this goes for anyone, and you're towing in steeper areas, be sure to run it in Drive, and not OverDrive or don't use the OverDrive button, depending on the vehicle ...
 
Best advice I can give is to add an extra tranny cooler to your transmission. You can get one from Jegs or wherever. I got one from Summit, with some AN fittings, and some stainless tubing, and hard lined it into my Ram. It's made for a 27,000LB GVW rated vehicle, think it was made by B&M. Nothing kills a tranny faster than heat, and towing a trailer will heat up a tranny fast.

And like the cowgirl said, keep it out of OD. I have lower gears in my Ram, 4.10's, and with the tranny cooler, I can actually tow my boat, and 18.5' Cajun fish/ski, in OD, at 70, and never skip a beat, and I've actually had punks try to race me and I've beaten them, towing a boat or a 16' utility trailer LOL. But with highway gears, and no added tranny cooler, you need to stay out of OD.
 
Let Me Tell You About My Experience

Me and my wife pulled a very heavy built dual axle trailer from Kentucky to Iowa. Once there we loaded a 1988 Jeep Wagoneer SUV 4wd. Pulled all of that through a long road trip/sightseeing through Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, & Kentucky. All with our 98 4Runner Limited and without as much as a hiccup from the 4Runner. That thing did awsome, remember to turn off overdrive and to engage ECT power button if so equipped on your model. We had rig set at 65 mph on a lot of the drive. Very impressive performance, all from a V6-Automatic.

Hope this helps, Bobby
 
First - you already have the V8 so you should already have the tranny cooler installed from the factory (although with the '07 having the towing option they may have omitted that) - it's easy to check for the small raditor cooler in front of the main radiator. You got the weight-distributing hitch and you need to get a brake controller installed (you may have to pay for the connector from Toyota if it's not in the glovebox).

The weight looks like it should be no problem whatsoever as it is half of the towing capacity of your vehicle. Just keep in mind that a rig that big won't stop quickly and having a 26' wall behind you in a crosswind will push you all over the road.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I've been learning alot about all the numbers associated with towing, like tongue weight, GVWR, and all that. Now I've another concern regarding the trailer I have on order. Check out this thread if interested:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/19693327.cfm

Just yesterday I installed my Prodigy brake controller. Over the next few days I'm going to have a look at some Rockwood trailers in the 25-27 foot range.
 
juneau92,

Sounds like I have a setup that is pretty similar to what you are putting together. I have a 2007 Limited V8 4WD, and pull a 27' Trail-Lite with a dry weight of about 4300 pounds. I also have a Hensley Arrow, which is a truly remarkable hitch, and a Prodigy brake controller. I live at an altitude of about 7000 ft, and generally head for the mountains when I have the camper in tow.

The T4R moves the camper around just fine, and the Hensley keeps everything pointed in the right direction. My previous tow vehicle was a 1996 Tahoe with a 5.7 liter engine and 4-speed auto. Granted, it had a lot of brutal miles on it (towing to 49 states and all the Canadian provinces), but the T4R pulls the trailer significantly easier. I think the 5-speed auto makes a big difference. And the back-up camera in the nav system makes it easy to hook up the Hensley, too.

I just bought a pair of Tow-N-See convex mirrors, which look a lot better than the junky generic strap-ons I tried first. They seem to fit fine - hopefully they will perform well, as they are a pretty neat design.
 
Nice to see the many positive replies about the 4runner's towing capability. There are also a lot of good things written over on rv.net.

I've finally found my travel trailer! After much research and shopping, I settled on a Rockwood 2603S. What sold me was that it had two entry/exit doors, ducted heat/air, front and back windows, and a slide. Weight is still kept reasonable at 4126 dry. Looks to be well made. I'll be picking it up this Wednesday. I'm excited. When I get time, I'll post a photo or two of it in my sig, along with my 4runner.

Thanks very much everyone for all the replies! :)
 
drodvold said:
juneau92,

Sounds like I have a setup that is pretty similar to what you are putting together. I have a 2007 Limited V8 4WD, and pull a 27' Trail-Lite with a dry weight of about 4300 pounds. I also have a Hensley Arrow, which is a truly remarkable hitch, and a Prodigy brake controller. I live at an altitude of about 7000 ft, and generally head for the mountains when I have the camper in tow.

The T4R moves the camper around just fine, and the Hensley keeps everything pointed in the right direction. My previous tow vehicle was a 1996 Tahoe with a 5.7 liter engine and 4-speed auto. Granted, it had a lot of brutal miles on it (towing to 49 states and all the Canadian provinces), but the T4R pulls the trailer significantly easier. I think the 5-speed auto makes a big difference. And the back-up camera in the nav system makes it easy to hook up the Hensley, too.

I just bought a pair of Tow-N-See convex mirrors, which look a lot better than the junky generic strap-ons I tried first. They seem to fit fine - hopefully they will perform well, as they are a pretty neat design.
Click to expand...

Yes, we have almost the same setup, right down to the brake controller! Nice to hear your 4runner does so well. I was a little concerned about the length of my new trailer (27ft), being that the 4runner has a relatively short wheelbase at 110", but all the folks over at rv.net assured me that with the Hensley there should be no problem. Can't wait to pick up the trailer this week!

Where do you go camping at? Any long distance travels or trips? I plan mostly on just weekend getaways, since I still work. But one or twice a year I plan to make a long trip, perhaps as far as 2000 miles round trip. Take care.

edit: I be that rear view camera you have makes a big difference for hooking up that Hensley! Never thought about using a camera, wish I had one. I'll need to buy one of the hitch helper mirrors.
 
Your Rockwood 2603S is very similar to our Trail-Lite 8263-S - queen bed, single slide, two doors, etc. The bed is in the front of ours, the sofa slides out instead of the dinette, and a few other minor differences. But they are within 100 pounds in weight, and the same length right down to the inch. It looks like a great choice and I am sure you will love it. Have you had a camper before, or is this your first one?

We do a lot of weekend camping in the Colorado mountains, anywhere from 30 to 250 miles from home. Two of our favorite spots are Mueller State Park and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We have one longer trip planned for this summer, to Yellowstone (about 1300 miles, round trip). Our longest trips (before the 4Runner) were to Newfoundland and Alaska, starting in Colorado for both. We took about 6 weeks for each.

So far the biggest shortcoming of the T4R for towing is the smallish gas tank. Our old Tahoe held 30 gallons, and at 10 mpg towing, I could comfortably go 250 miles between fill-ups. With the 4Runner's 23 gallon tank, I have to start looking for a gas station a lot sooner. And maneuvering around gas stations with a trailer in tow can be an adventure...

You are right about the Hensley - I would not consider towing anything this big without it (or a Pull-Rite). We have had ours since 2001 and I consider it money well spent. Before we had the Hensley, it was pretty common to get nasty fish-tailing, even with a good weight-distributing hitch and friction bars. And that was with the Tahoe, which had a longer wheelbase, more weight, and a shorter rear overhang. I was always grabbing for the brake controller to have the trailer straighten things out. Finally, we had a violent fishtailing episode in the mountains west of Cheyenne that almost put me into the side of a passing semi. That was enough for me (and my terrified wife).

Make sure you get a Sidewinder with your Hensley, it makes the job of hooking things up much easier. It does take some practice getting proficient hitching up with the Hensley, but once you learn the tricks, it isn't bad at all. Let me know if you are interested in the Hensley tricks and tips I have collected, and I will post them.
 
Thanks so much I can hardly wait to get my new trailer and hit the road! :) This is my first camper. My dad just sold his Sunnybrook trailer, and bought a really nice MH. Since I was just buying my trailer, he passed on all of his towing items, like Hensley, mirrors, brake controller, etc to me. That was so nice of him, dear dad.

You've taken some nice trips! I plan to go to Alaska also, but not this summer, probably next. My dad says Whistler is a nice place to go, so I'll be sure to include that in our list of places to go.

Yes, thought about the smaller gas tank. It's unfortunate that our 4runners don't carry a larger tank.

I've read so many stories like yours about the fishtailing of a long trailer on a shorter wheelbased vehicle. Had I not had the fortune of getting the Hensley, I would have gotten a shorter trailer, perhaps 23-24ft instead of the 27ft. I'm glad you and your wife made it though that one bad episode. My dad told me he thinks in the big picture of things, that the Hensley is "cheap insurance."

Is the sidewinder the same as a hitch helper on the Hensley website?

Absolutely, I am interested in your Hensley tricks and tips. I need all the help I can get! :) I hitched up the hensley one time to my dad's trailer before he sold it, and I think it took me about 5 times to finally get it, and that was with him helping me! So yes, I'll definately need to practice some.

Hope you're having a good hoilday. I'm just hanging out around the house and not doing much, excited and waiting to pick up my new trailer. Going to take it to the mountains here in AZ next weekend, along with my significant other and of course my dog. Don't know what campground yet.
 
OK, here are the tips and tricks I have collected over the past 5 years of living with the Hensley Arrow. Most of these items won't make sense until you actually start using the hitch. And while this list may make it sound painful to use the hitch, once you get the hang of things (after a few trips out) it all becomes second nature. Apologies if this post is a bit off-topic.

Get an electric drill with a socket to fit the nuts on the top of the spring bar jacks. This will make tightening the spring bars much, much easier.

Make sure you get a Hitch Helper (they used to call this a Sidewinder) to make it easier to line things up during hitching. It is the best 30 bucks you can spend to make your Hensley easy to live with.

Practice using the spring bar jacks to adjust tilt/pitch of the hitch box. By turning the nuts on the top of the spring bar jacks (with your electric drill), you can vary the geometry of the hitch box with relation to the trailer A-frame.

Make sure you line up the tow vehicle along center axis of trailer. With a traditional hitch, you can come at it from any angle, since you just need to position the ball under the coupler. However, the Hensley hitch bar requires you to come at the hitch box straight on.

There are three positions that the hitch box can lock into. You can reach into the receiver and release the lock, which sticks down through the top of the receiver. The head should be locked into the middle position before trying to hook up. If the part of the hitch that swings looks crooked compared to the part that doesn't move, it needs to be locked into the center position before you try to hitch up.

When hitching, have one wheel of the trailer chocked, but not both. Having one chocked will hold things in place as you back up if things bind a little, but if you have both of them in place, the Hitch Helper won't work.

Back up so the hitch bar is close to the receiver, use the Hitch Helper to line things up, use your tongue jack to get the height right, and then adjust the spring bar jacks to get receiver lined up with the hitch bar. If you don't get this all aligned right, when you back the hitch bar into the receiver, it will bind before it gets all the way in.

Once in a while, you will find yourself in a weird trailer-tow vehicle geometry, where you just can't get the hitch bar all the way into the receiver without binding. This seems to happen most often when backing over an uneven surface during the final hitching, or when there is trailer and tow vehicles are on significantly different slopes. If you can get it most of the way in, but can't get the last inch or two by backing up, you can generally use the over-the-center latches to pull everything together. Using the latch wrench for leverage, you can often "muscle" the latches into place.

Make sure the strut bars are really tight. You shouldn't even be able to wiggle them using both hands. If you experience any sway, it is likely the strut bars aren't tight.

Another thing to adjust if you are having any sway is the alignment of the stable part of the Hensley with the A-frame of the trailer. If it isn't aligned with the center line of the trailer, under hard braking, the trailer may seem to push the tow vehicle to the left or right. The best way I have found to check for correct alignment is to brake pretty hard from about 40 mph. You might want to turn the gain down on your brake controller for this exercise, to allow the trailer to push the tow vehicle around more than normal (don't forget to set it back to normal afterwards, of course). If you have to counter-steer to correct during hard braking, you need to align the unit by loosening one strut bar, and tightening the other by an equal amount. If it gets worse, you adjusted the wrong way. It may take a few tries, but it is worth the effort to get this right, and it only needs to be done one time.

Don't forget to grease the hitch now and again - I do it at least a couple times every season. There are grease zerks to make this task easy, and oil holes in the spring bar jacks.

If you switch trailers and/or tow vehicles, it is possible that the vertical offset ("drop") on the original hitch bar won't be right. Hensley will provide a free trade-in to the original owner of the hitch. I am not sure what they charge (if anything) if you bought it used.

The Hensley increases the distance between your trailer and the tow vehicle a little bit. If your electrical cable didn't have much slack before the Hensley, you may need to install a longer cable.

Good luck with the new rig, and have fun camping!
 
Thanks drodvold. I printed your tips, so I can refer to them. Appreciate the time to took to type that. I got the trailer this past Wednesday, and boy have I been busy to try to get it ready for a trip this coming Tuesday! Here's a photo of the trailer behind my 4runner, just after I drove it home.

IMG_2449.JPG


The next day I got the Hensley installed, everything went pretty smooth on that. Since the Hensley added length, I today had to install longer chains. Also, the brake/turn signal cable reaches, but I noticed that if I make a hard right turn, it pulls out enough to lose connection. What a pain! :) So now today I went to Camping World and bought a nine foot 7-pin cable to install. Oh well, once I get it all done, it will be worth it!
 
Hey, I just hooked up my new toy hauler today and I found the same problem with the electrical cable. DO you have to buy a 9ft cord like you did or can you buy a jumper/extension to add on to the existing cable?

How much was your 9 footer?

Thanks
 
I tried to find an extension, but no luck. Camping world sells the 9ft cord for $40. I've not yet installed it, but will as soon as I get a chance. What toybox are you hooking up to?
 
I have a 16ft baja toy hauler. I wonder why Toyota put the connector way off to the side instead of right by the hitch?

Oh well, I'll look around at the local trailer place.
 
That sounds like a lot of work for a dang trailer hitch?

I back up to my boat at all sorts of cock-eyed angles, hook all the crap up and go (straight and smooth) down the road. Are travel trailers just that much different?
 
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