Just wondering if an additional braking connection under where the hitch was installed is necessary to tow a 23 ft travel trailer with a 2011 4Runner SR5? It is equipped with a towing package and the trailer is within towing capacity; however, the seller of this camper mentioned that I may need this. We want to ensure a straight, safe stop when towing the camper. Any thoughts?
Help-travel trailer braking system for towing??
- Thread starter Mark7411
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brockeverly
New member
You already have a 7 pin connector, but you need a brake controller. Do not pay someone for install, they are plug and play. There is a plug underneath the dash, a search online will provide info for setting up a brake controller. That is a big trailer to tow without brake control, I would not recommend towing it until you have a controller wired up.
brockeverly
New member
Yes, and that is over 75% of your total towing capacity, and much more than you can safely stop in an emergency with your TV brakes alone.
Socco
New member
Remember that although the towing capacity is 5000 lbs, that is with a skinny dude driving with nothing else. Add a few passengers, their luggage, camping gear... it adds up fast.
Trailer brake controllers are cheap to buy and easy to install. For under a $100 bucks, why take the risk? If it saves you 1 inch in stopping distance, that may be the difference between a close call and damage or injury.
Trailer brake controllers are cheap to buy and easy to install. For under a $100 bucks, why take the risk? If it saves you 1 inch in stopping distance, that may be the difference between a close call and damage or injury.
This is not directed to you Mark, (since the seller of the trailer suggested you get a brake controller) but other's reading this thread who may not be acquainted with towing, brake controllers etc. Make sure your trailer has it's own brakes! If not, a brake controller does you no good! I have seen some larger trailers set up like this. Not sure why, but they are out there!
Another suggestion. Since your family will be involved, get a good anti-sway weight distributing hitch set up. Yea, few hundred dollars and a bit of a pain to connect and disconnect, but will worth it IMHO.
philsey
New member
I get the impression that this trailer HAS brakes ... AND that without a controller, you'll not have brakes.
Towing #3800 without brakes is a serious mistake ... please trust us on this and just do it.
I'd also strongly suggest you find Antman's thread for his Airlift install and do that too. The 4R is softly sprung, and if you have the proper tongue weight you'll soon find out why. Not to mention gear and passengers...
X2
A look at this simplified brake laws table may help in showing what most states consider safe regarding towed vehicle weight as well as ratio between trailer and towing vehicle weight.
Got to have brakes!!
Ditto on the need for trailer brakes. Fully loaded, you are going to be pushing the limits of the 5000# rating. Trying to stop that without trailer brakes will be like trying to stop on a gravel road. I pull a 20ft travel trailer that weighs about the same. I bought a Prodigy P2, installed it myself (which means I plugged it in), and set it up on a desolate road according to the manufacturers directions. Trust me when I tell you it makes a huge difference with the trailer brakes working properly.
In addition to that, I strongly recommend a WDH with anti-sway. Your trailer is longer than mine, which means it's going to want to wander a little going down the road....especially when passing or being passed by semis on the highway. Anti-sway will solve that problem. Also, with a good WDH, you probably won't need air bags, either.
With a good hitch set-up, anti-sway, and a brake controller, you'll feel MUCH better going down the road with your family inside.
Ditto on the need for trailer brakes. Fully loaded, you are going to be pushing the limits of the 5000# rating. Trying to stop that without trailer brakes will be like trying to stop on a gravel road. I pull a 20ft travel trailer that weighs about the same. I bought a Prodigy P2, installed it myself (which means I plugged it in), and set it up on a desolate road according to the manufacturers directions. Trust me when I tell you it makes a huge difference with the trailer brakes working properly.
In addition to that, I strongly recommend a WDH with anti-sway. Your trailer is longer than mine, which means it's going to want to wander a little going down the road....especially when passing or being passed by semis on the highway. Anti-sway will solve that problem. Also, with a good WDH, you probably won't need air bags, either.
With a good hitch set-up, anti-sway, and a brake controller, you'll feel MUCH better going down the road with your family inside.
I am currently setting my 2011 4runner up for my 23' travel trailer. I added airbags, wdh, swaybar, and brake controller. Havnt towed it yet, but it is 4200 pounds dry. We don't plan to race while towing and I am thinking of also adding a tranny cooler although Toyota acknowledges the 4runner being able to tow 5000 pounds for every mile of the life of the vehicle.
Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I also added a tranny cooler. However, I am not necessarily convinced you really need one. I agree, if Toyota is going to rate the vehicle to pull 5000#, then it should be able to pull 5000#. I guess I'm just a little OCD and added the cooler. It was a simple install and only costed about $60.
Socco
New member
But without an auxiliary tranny cooler, I would expect that vehicle's life to be much shorter.
Slamoneggs
New member
Where to mount the controller?
I mounted the brake controller (Prodigy 2) under the dash on the left side of my 2010 4Runner Limited, but it interfears with the parking brake pedal. There's an airbag below the steering wheel and no room unde the dash on the right side.
Does anyone have a better idea where to mount the controller?
I mounted the brake controller (Prodigy 2) under the dash on the left side of my 2010 4Runner Limited, but it interfears with the parking brake pedal. There's an airbag below the steering wheel and no room unde the dash on the right side.
Does anyone have a better idea where to mount the controller?
Catchlight
New member
As others have stated, installing and learning to use a high-quality brake controller like a Tekonsha Prodigy is essential before towing a trailer even half the size and weight of yours.
I'm just about to start towing a 19-foot travel trailer with my 2011 Trail Edition. This trailer weighs in at about 3800 pounds ready to camp, and I would not tow any more weight than that with a TV rated at 5000 pounds like the 4Runner, especially on mountain highways.
For safety, it's essential for you to find out what your trailer would weigh with propane and water tanks (fresh, black, and grey) even half full, as well as everything else you plan to take with you carefully added up. You might find that you are uncomfortably close to the limit for a 4Runner.
There are some excellent travel trailer forums online, with lots of experienced RV towers who know this stuff inside and out. The FiberglassRV, Escape, and Casita users groups are all very helpful.
I'm just about to start towing a 19-foot travel trailer with my 2011 Trail Edition. This trailer weighs in at about 3800 pounds ready to camp, and I would not tow any more weight than that with a TV rated at 5000 pounds like the 4Runner, especially on mountain highways.
For safety, it's essential for you to find out what your trailer would weigh with propane and water tanks (fresh, black, and grey) even half full, as well as everything else you plan to take with you carefully added up. You might find that you are uncomfortably close to the limit for a 4Runner.
There are some excellent travel trailer forums online, with lots of experienced RV towers who know this stuff inside and out. The FiberglassRV, Escape, and Casita users groups are all very helpful.
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G8RB8_12SR5
New member
I recently did all this and towed my 4850lb (fully loaded) RV 800 miles (including through the mountains of southern Oregon/Northern California), it was also just me and my wife in the car and not a lot of gear (GCWR was 10,300lbs well below the 11,500 max GCWR, HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Taking your truck and trailer to a scale and having it weighed, I found the manufacturer dry weights at least for mine were lighter than specified). Didn't have the airbags then (about to add them this week) and have a Prodigy P3 brake controller installed next to the lower switch blank on the left hand side of the steering column. I bumped it a couple times with my knee (6'1" tall) but it's not too bad in that spot and don't notice it anymore. I did have to shift into second for a few of the grades and climb at about 45-50 mph but even then it mostly stayed in third around 3500rpm and around 3000rpm at 65mph in 4th on flats. The temps never went above normal operating temps when not towing and after speaking to my service guy at the dealer who also owns a TE he said it wasn't necessary to have a tranny cooler so I haven't bothered.
According to the 4R Manual you MUST have working trailer brakes on any trailer over 2000lbs. Also ensure either you or wherever you take it for maintenance does the additional towing maintenance section in the maintenance guide. Leave plenty of stopping room and you'll be fine. The trailer brakes worked great on my trailer (make sure you sync them with your 4R brakes) and never really had any major concerns with a completely stock 4R (no suspension or wheel mods). I had my tire pressure set to about 42psi all around. Also Avg. about 11 mpg for the trip, was getting about 13-14 on the flats in Oregon but about 9.5 in the mountains and then strong headwinds in California never let me get above 10.6.
EDIT: Forgot to mention about the WDH. I picked up a solid one from etrailer, I think it's a Pro Series 10000lb with 550lb tongue weight max, with round bars. Super solid hitch and wasn't too expensive (around $300 IIRC) but it is heavy, shipping weight of 103lbs was no joke. It came with friction sway control, which on highways and through the mountains helped immensely (never experienced any sway whatsoever the whole trip) but when I'm in town I back it off because it makes some horrendous noises (which I learned after I put it on and thought my truck was falling apart) doing tighter turns and doesn't really provide any help at low speeds (under 35mph).
According to the 4R Manual you MUST have working trailer brakes on any trailer over 2000lbs. Also ensure either you or wherever you take it for maintenance does the additional towing maintenance section in the maintenance guide. Leave plenty of stopping room and you'll be fine. The trailer brakes worked great on my trailer (make sure you sync them with your 4R brakes) and never really had any major concerns with a completely stock 4R (no suspension or wheel mods). I had my tire pressure set to about 42psi all around. Also Avg. about 11 mpg for the trip, was getting about 13-14 on the flats in Oregon but about 9.5 in the mountains and then strong headwinds in California never let me get above 10.6.
EDIT: Forgot to mention about the WDH. I picked up a solid one from etrailer, I think it's a Pro Series 10000lb with 550lb tongue weight max, with round bars. Super solid hitch and wasn't too expensive (around $300 IIRC) but it is heavy, shipping weight of 103lbs was no joke. It came with friction sway control, which on highways and through the mountains helped immensely (never experienced any sway whatsoever the whole trip) but when I'm in town I back it off because it makes some horrendous noises (which I learned after I put it on and thought my truck was falling apart) doing tighter turns and doesn't really provide any help at low speeds (under 35mph).
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stanleybb50
New member
Prodigy P3. Done.
LXRunner
New member
I'm towing 19" Rockwood Roo every warm season. Based on my own experience, you MUST to use brake controller, and to drive safe, use WDH with sway control. My controller is easy to set up and I happy to use it every time: Tekonsha Brake Controller - 90250 Tekonsha Prodigy RF Wireless Trailer Brake Controller - 1 to 3 Axles - Proportional Tekonsha Brake Controller 90250
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/membe...+t4r+te-picture20885-rokwood-roo-backyard.jpg
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/membe...r+te-picture20886-rokwood-roo-gas-station.jpg
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/membe...+t4r+te-picture20885-rokwood-roo-backyard.jpg
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/membe...r+te-picture20886-rokwood-roo-gas-station.jpg
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G8RB8_12SR5
New member
Good choice, the LCD screen is very nice and allows, if need be, to easily switch between vehicles as well as fine tune braking power on the fly to get the trailer synced with the tow vehicle. Added bonus, you can dim the screen and change the background colors so it's not so obnoxious at night, just make sure you buy the Toyota harness to make plug and play a cinch.
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