Pleasantly surprised by towing capability

[whiskywizard]

I'm new to T4Rs. I bought a 2011 Limited to serve as my wife's daily driver (serious snow where we live) and as the primary tow vehicle for all "my crap".

"My crap" weighs in at about 4,000lb max, and much much less when I'm pulling things like 2 ATV's, or making runs to the Dump, etc.

My biggest load normally is using my biggest trailer, loaded with a compact Kioti tractor and front end loader. That trailer is a 16' x 96" car trailer with removable steel sides and heavy duty gate/ramp. It's got 2, 3500lb axles. Both axles have electric proportional brakes. Normally, when loaded with the tractor and implements I hit about 4100LB GVW. Well within the trailer's limits and comfortably under the T4R's limits.

This weekend I hauled a 2003 Dodge Dakota PU on the trailer for a couple hundred kilometres.

The Dakota's curb weight is a smidge under 4000lb, and it had some junk in the box. The trailer itself weighs just under 1600lb. So I estimate my GVW for the tow package was about 5800lb - maybe a bit more.

Eyeballing the Dakota, I guessed where its centre of gravity would be and first tried backing it onto the trailer. The tongue weight was perfect but there was too much load on the trailer's rear axle. So I turned the truck around forward and tried it again. Axle load distributions were good, but tongue weight was a bit high. It pressed the back of the T4R down about 3 or 4" at rest.

I tied down well and headed out slowly to re-adjust the trailer's electric brake force proportions. Hmmm - it felt pretty good. The T4R's V6 accelerated the load Ok. Not fast, but acceptable. Braking with 2 axle brakes was no problem at all.

Headed on to the highway (401). Running at 80km/h the rig rolled along pretty well. The load CG on the trailer was high, and you could feel the sway created by movement of the Dakota on its suspension. It required a steady hand on the wheel, but otherwise the trip was uneventful. Bumped the speed up to 90km/h. Still OK, and shaved a few minutes off the trip ET.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience and the T4R earned some more respect from me for being an excellent all-around vehicle.

 

[offroadingatc]

So you were the guy doing 90 on the 401 haha

Actually I'm glad to hear that as I'm considering buying a dual axle trailer and was wondering what the stability would be like.

 

[whiskywizard]

So you were the guy doing 90 on the 401 haha

Actually I'm glad to hear that as I'm considering buying a dual axle trailer and was wondering what the stability would be like.

Yup, that was me slowing up the right lane. Were you among the 62,000 vehicles that passed me? Even the semis blew by! :biggrin2:


I've got 2 tandem axle trailers now and a single, and have been hauling trailers for many years. If you've got questions, I'd be glad to take a stab at them.

 

[offroadingatc]

I'm considering getting a double axle dumping box trailer, I'm basically convinced that the 4runner has the ability to pull up to it's advertised weight with some caution, but I did have some concerns about stability. I used to pull a lot with an f250, and that was great, I was curious how the much shorter wheelbase affects things. I would probably be looking at ~4000#, possibly putting in airbags to level if required. Mostly short distance hauling, but ocationally as far as 100 km. Should I be looking at some sort of stabilizing hitch to prevent sway etc? I'd be getting the trailer custom fabbed so I could configure it any way I wanted. Obviously this would be pretty ocational pulling or I wouldn't have bought a 4runner

 

[whiskywizard]

Well, it's not the tow vehicle your F250 was, but it's pretty good.

For 4k pounds, and occasional fairly short distances, I wouldn't make any changes to the vehicle and I don't think a load distribution hitch is necessary (nice, but pricey and not mandatory). I would insist on brakes on both axles, and a good brake controller (I've had best success with Tekonsha.)

Dump trailers tend to have high CG. Did you have a specific make in mind?

 

[offroadingatc]

Interesting, I hadn't considered brakes on both axles. I have a tekonsha controller, I think it might be too old to get a dedicated harness for but toyota provided a 'wire your own' harness with mine so I should be able to make it work.

I would probably get http://www.berkelmanswelding.on.ca/dump_trailers.html to fab it, as my dad is friends with a couple guys that work there, so I would hopefully get a decent deal, and I know they do good work.

I just miss having a truck to throw dirty stuff in the back and for like 5K I could have a sweet trailer that would actually be better than having a truck IMO

 

[Curt Sauve]

I was surprised at how well my Limited tows as well, but I think there is difference in the spring rate between the LTD with XREAS and the stock SR5. The SR5's seem to have a lot of rear end sag when towing even light loads. I saw one last summer at a gas station towing a small single axle trailer with 2 small jet skis on it, I don't know what jet skis weigh, but it was sagging bad. I looked in the cargo area and it was empty. I would not tow any where near 5000# GVW with an SR5.

 

[offroadingatc]

From what I have read XREAS is mostly for body roll although it will help with rear end sag, but there are other options for that such as airbags or lessening tounge loads to accomplish that for SR5 or TE owners. In my experience with trailering people tend to overweight the tounge quite a bit. If I hung an 800# block from my trailer hitch, it would sag enormously, but balanced properly on a trailer a smart car could pull it.

Anyways I don't think XREAS should affect the gross weight you can tow in any way, but it possibly helps prevent sag. To me stability (IMO wheelbase mostly) and to a lesser degree power are probably the main issues although I haven't pulled anything with it yet

 

[Curt Sauve]

From what I have read XREAS is mostly for body roll although it will help with rear end sag, but there are other options for that such as airbags or lessening tounge loads to accomplish that for SR5 or TE owners. In my experience with trailering people tend to overweight the tounge quite a bit. If I hung an 800# block from my trailer hitch, it would sag enormously, but balanced properly on a trailer a smart car could pull it.

Anyways I don't think XREAS should affect the gross weight you can tow in any way, but it possibly helps prevent sag. To me stability (IMO wheelbase mostly) and to a lesser degree power are probably the main issues although I haven't pulled anything with it yet

I know that the XREAS system won't increase towing capacity, but I believe that the Limited has a different spring rate and suspension tuning than SR5, because the springs have a different part number. Under power with the proper tongue weight, and a balanced towing load, the XREAS system does a fantastic job of keeping the rig stable. I love it for towing.

 

[offroadingatc]

yeah XREAS is a sweet option, and probably will eliminate the need for other leveling options like air bag, also I suppose it would stiffen up the whole suspension when it was under load so it would potentially provide a more stable tow.

I don't have stock suspension anyways, so it will probably be different again