Towing 6500 lbs plus other stuff

[mac424205]

After trailer and truck added, I was about 6800lbs. 200lbs below what the truck is rated and above 800lbs what the Runner weighs. I had a safe trip and the truck did what it was suppose to do. Happy with the performance of the stock V8 and it did what it was rated to do. Do I regret towing close to 7000lbs? No, I don't I am glad that the V8 is rated at 7,000 lbs. if I had the V6, which I didn't want in the first place.

 

[V8Man]

Tow it!

If it were me I would have rented a tow dolly, one way rental. I just pulled #3, 2003 black Sport, with #2, 2003 blue SR5, and had no problems. #2 has the engine and transmission from #1, 2003 black Sport and currently has more than 185,000 on it. Pull the drive shaft and go.
Of course they all are V8’s!!

 

[matthewpstro]

If it were me I would have rented a tow dolly, one way rental. I just pulled #3, 2003 black Sport, with #2, 2003 blue SR5, and had no problems. #2 has the engine and transmission from #1, 2003 black Sport and currently has more than 185,000 on it. Pull the drive shaft and go.
Of course they all are V8’s!!

Why did you go with a dolly rather than a trailer? When I drove from Florida to Pennsylvania, I got a quote for a dolly for like 130 or 180 for a trailer, and thats some wear and tear savings. I guess it depends on the distance you were traveling.

 

[wnelax04sr5]

Why did you go with a dolly rather than a trailer? When I drove from Florida to Pennsylvania, I got a quote for a dolly for like 130 or 180 for a trailer, and thats some wear and tear savings. I guess it depends on the distance you were traveling.

in some cases the dolly removes a significant amount of tongue weight, and also lowers the total amount of rolling weight

 

[Climb14er]

I'm not trying to make excuses or anything. I'm just stating my scenarios and situation. It's my brothers truck and I'm not paying for gas. My mom is footing the gas bill for this trip. Idk how she would feel about fueling up my dad's truck because it will almost double the cost. Diesel is at an average of 3.89 a gallon and goes above 4 dollars a gallon when entering Georgia. 32 gallon tank on my dads is $125 to fuel up at empty. So say about $100 Everytime. 8-10 mpg gives me at te most 320 miles. We did this trip in his truck, pulling my brothers 2nd gen taco, a couple weeks ago and averaged 9 mpg. That gives me 288 miles to a tank of fuel. It is 669 miles up there then 669 back. That's 5 total fill ups and $500 in fuel atleast. We averaged 9mpg coming back also. Idk how, maybe we were ready to get home.

It takes roughly $65 to fill up the 4Runner and I'm gonna guess around 10mpg in the runner. That puts me at 200 miles at empty. Up there is gonna be 3-4 fill ups. That puts me at $260 in gas one way. Coming back I might average 12-13 just pulling 1500 lbs (trailer). So less fill ups coming back.

You're near the limit of the 4Runner's V8 capacity. You're also concerned about fuel costs.

All it takes is one wrong/bad move with the 4Runner while trailering and your accident will cost many thousands of dollars in repairs plus possible injury to others and loss of life.

You should be fortunate you have access to a one ton dually. USE IT!

This should be a no-brainer! :violin:

 

[matthewpstro]

in some cases the dolly removes a significant amount of tongue weight, and also lowers the total amount of rolling weight

thanks for explaining that, i hadn't thought of those things before.

 

[V8Man]

Dolly

Why did you go with a dolly rather than a trailer? When I drove from Florida to Pennsylvania, I got a quote for a dolly for like 130 or 180 for a trailer, and thats some wear and tear savings. I guess it depends on the distance you were traveling.

Besides reducing the weight, you also reduce the wind drag. A high profile SUV on top of a trailer catches a lot of air, especially in a crosswind. In Oklahoma it’s always windy! I’ve pulled things on trailers before and it feels like your pulling a parachute.

 

[matthewpstro]

Besides reducing the weight, you also reduce the wind drag. A high profile SUV on top of a trailer catches a lot of air, especially in a crosswind. In Oklahoma it’s always windy! I’ve pulled things on trailers before and it feels like your pulling a parachute.

With the wind resistance, here was my thinking. The SUV is designed with aerodynamics in mind, and by putting it on a dolly, you're exposing the undercarriage to a significant amount of direct wind, leading to some parasitic drag and such. But i'm sure the trailer probably creates a lot of wind eddies as it is which negate that....

I've always just blindly thought "save wear and tear." I have not been looking at the whole equation obviously.

 

[mac424205]

That's my issue. I don't like the extra wear and tear on the rear end. Plus, I had stuff loaded in the bed and 35's are not Uhaul strap friendly!

 

[ARunner]

Glad you made it safely, can't say I'm surprised. It's easy to sit behind a keyboard and lecture, but the reality is that the truck is rated to tow that amount of weight and experience and competence behind the wheel makes all the difference in the world. FWIW, most V8s do have a hitch that goes further forward on the frame with attachment points compared to the V6s in order to better distribute the weight forward, and that along with the other items like the transmission cooler and slightly higher weight are why they are rated to tow more. A weight distributing hitch would have been better, and if you were to make a habit of this, it would be a sound investment. I tow my car & trailer a few times a year with about 5,500-6,000 lbs gross. I use air bags in the coils to assist with the sag & bottoming issues, and a healthy dose of common sense and experience to take care of the rest.