goin campin' this weekend....anyone have some advice for me??

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2003Can4runner

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Got my truck all set up for towing! put a large tranny cooler on it just incase as well.

I'm going to be towing a 15' Triple E trailer. Weights approx. 1500lbs. Gonna have quite a bit of gear....4 bikes, two on the roof and two in the trailer. a generator, food, another tent, BEER, and 3 friends. Anybody have advice for me? i unforunately don't have the equilizer bars. when i towed the trialer home (empty and by myself...) it was totally fine. I'm thinking if i distribute the weight in the trailer evenly i should be OK.

but, just incase, anybody have some advice? The trip is about 3hrs.
 
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I think you should be just fine. I haul my 3k lb. camper all over the place with no problems. I have sway control hooked up so that helps offset the high center of gravity and shorter wheelbase (which contributes to sway). I also have brakes on the camper but if yours is only 1,500 lbs you prob. do not have them. Just remember to turn off O.D., your RPM's will be higher but you wont be killing your tranny.

I see you are bringing beer with you, VERY good idea. Because we all know that camping without beer is just sleeping outside.:beer:
 
haha yeah what's camping without beer? c'mon!

no the trailer doesn't have brakes, unfortunately, but i'll just have to be careful. Do I really need to turn off O/D?
 
I guess if you are towing in a VERY flat area you should be o.k., keep an eye on the tach. to make sure your not searching for gears. I have noticed it doesn't take much of an incline for this to happen. I always tow with it off, regardless if I'm towing 15 or 500 miles. Better safe than sorry is my outlook.

What exactly is a triple E trailer? Is it a small TT (travel trailer), or a hybrid?
 
its just a small regular travel trailer. Just realized after starting this topic that it actually weights 2400lbs. the previous owner said it was 1500...
either way, took it for a test tow today, straight into a headwind and did pretty good. on the way back, she towed like a dream, even with O/D off.
 
Iwas gonna say that is about the lightest TT I have ever seen. 2400 lbs. makes a little more sense. I would definately tow with O/D off.

So where you going camping at?
 
You should be fine, I towed a trailer with a piano on it to NYC and did just fine.

Stepdad has towed fence posts (big wood ones is what i am talking about) with ease.

But like the others said, keep the O/D off!
Stepdad learned the hard way, and lost his tranny at 124k... which is pretty sad for a Toyota...
 
so loaded that much, and revving at 3000rpm is going to hurt anything?

i'm heading out to the duck mountains! staying in childs lake. i'm looking really forward to it.
 
I sure hope not, I tow above 3k all day when towing without a trans cooler. Took me a while to get used to it, but it is what it is. Youll be fine, now get out there and have a great time. Have a cold one for me:beer:

We camped 41 nights last year - me, wifey and the kids who were 3 and 1 at the time.:D
 
You'll be fine even with o/d on except under large stress conditions (hills/ acceleration). When you're going downhill you may as well save your gas along with the flats. My Runner came stock with a tranny cooler and i have no transmission problems. But always remember gas is a lot cheaper than a transmission!
 
It will keep up and down shifting, running at slightly higher RPM's will do far less damage than constantly shifting.
 
kingbiscuit said:
Overdrive is for the highway. It is basically just 4th gear I believe. It is really good on gas in 4th gear, but there isn't any power. It puts alot of stress on the transmission to put it in a low gear and gun the engine. Just picture putting your bike in the toughest gear and head up a steep hill. You are going to step on the pedal so hard the teeth might come off of the gears. But really Auto transmissions are still just a big mystery to me covered in a bunch of steel.

I also second not bringing the generator. It ruins all the sounds of nature for the other campers.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify/add to this, your 4Runner is in O/D all the time, unless you press that little button and the "O/D OFF" light comes on in the dash.
 
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