Considering a Tacoma as a Tow Vehicle......Thoughts??

[Thunderseye]

GFs family has a Tacoma, it struggled with a uhaul trailer and hills. Forget trying to tow a 24foot boat with it. Tacoma has truly turned into a crossover truck. OK its not as bad as a Ridgeline, but it's a lot less truck than they used to be.

I pulled my fully loaded Subaru, with my fully loaded taco, from Colorado to Georgia when I moved here, and being from Colorado pulled my two up quads up 6 percent grades with the truck. If a taco couldn’t pull a uhaul trailer there must have been something wrong with the truck.

 

[eastcoaster]

I tow with my 2007 double cab 4x4 Tacoma. Rear squat and taking weight off the front wheels made it feel less than comfortable at speed. Before moving to a larger truck I thought I would try a weight distribution hitch. They are not that common on boat trailers, but wow what a difference in the comfort and confidence level while towing.

 

[motomandan]

I tow with my 2007 double cab 4x4 Tacoma. Rear squat and taking weight off the front wheels made it feel less than comfortable at speed. Before moving to a larger truck I thought I would try a weight distribution hitch. They are not that common on boat trailers, but wow what a difference in the comfort and confidence level while towing.

2017 and up is a much different truck

 

[Thunderseye]

Yeah on the newer ones, the tow package even includes electronic anti sway for the trailer

 

[BlkGS]

I pulled my fully loaded Subaru, with my fully loaded taco, from Colorado to Georgia when I moved here, and being from Colorado pulled my two up quads up 6 percent grades with the truck. If a taco couldn’t pull a uhaul trailer there must have been something wrong with the truck.

It pulled it, but it was downshifting like 2 gears and revving to like 4500 to 5000 rpm to maintain highway speeds. I was driving and didn't put it into any special mode. It got like 5 or 6 mpg when we calculated it.

The new Tacoma is an "in a pinch" truck. It makes a good daily, has a bed, and in a pinch can tow or haul. If I was towing regularly, I would move into a larger truck. This coming from a guy with a 2wd Colorado, so i get the not needing a huge truck thing.

 

[LeeFlan7]

Hmmmm, no worries on a 2020 here

 

[eastcoaster]

There must of been a lot of weight in that uhaul. I pulled a 24' centre console with a t top over 1200 miles last spring with my 2007 Tacoma. It weighed in at 5400 lbs including the aluminum trailer. It was of course in trailer haul mode all the time but only downshifted a handful of times on the steepest of hills. I never went over 65 MPH and let it go down to 50 on the steeper hills to avoid downshifts.
A full size truck would have done a better job and a 3/4 ton better still, but this was a one shot deal as I had just purchased the boat and once home I only tow aprox 20 miles spring and fall. The Tacoma is a surprisingly good hauler for a small truck

 

[motomandan]

It pulled it, but it was downshifting like 2 gears and revving to like 4500 to 5000 rpm to maintain highway speeds. I was driving and didn't put it into any special mode. It got like 5 or 6 mpg when we calculated it.

The new Tacoma is an "in a pinch" truck. It makes a good daily, has a bed, and in a pinch can tow or haul. If I was towing regularly, I would move into a larger truck. This coming from a guy with a 2wd Colorado, so i get the not needing a huge truck thing.

Something really wrong.Turning on ECT and shifting in to S5 as the manual states for towing would have helped whole lot. Sounds like an issue with the trailer brakes or bearings. My Tacoma outpulls my buddies 4wd GMC canyon no problem

 

[BlkGS]

It's possible there was an issue with the trailer, but it was barely loaded. There was a couch and a mattress in it, with a little bit of other stuff. Less than 500 pounds of stuff in it by far. It did fine on flat land, but you hit a hill and it was desperate for power to keep going 70. We had to reduce our speed because it just didn't have the power for it. To be honest, I thought it was a 4 cylinder it was so gutless. I was stunned when I saw the v6 badge on the back.

 

[Thunderseye]

The taco has absolutely no problem pulling the boat. And the trailer has brakes I’m a boater now

 

[motomandan]

The taco has absolutely no problem pulling the boat. And the trailer has brakes I’m a boater now

Inferno pulls better!

 

[Thunderseye]

Inferno pulls better!

View attachment 118467

Nice truck!

 

[eastcoaster]

Hard to see but wondering what the wheels and tires are on your truck

 

[motomandan]

Hard to see but wondering what the wheels and tires are on your truck

17" Method 312
265/70 r17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers
Old Man Emu Lift
888 front springs with NitroCharger Shocks
HD Dakar Rear spring pac with Nitrocharger shocks
(sorry about the nasty tire shine! I took it to a full service car wash!)

 

[Wright2e]

I would think that would be plenty of towing capacity for a 190. I tend to agree with the others in here though. May want to think about how long you plan to keep the 190. I have a 195s and tow mine with a Sorento that can handle 5,000. Works great for it but would never be able to tow anything above the 19 footers. Will have to get a bigger tow rig. But will cross that bridge down the road. Absolutely love the 195s so far.

 

[eastcoaster]

Truck looks great ! How did the mods affect road nose and MPG

 

[motomandan]

Truck looks great ! How did the mods affect road nose and MPG

get about 18 miles per gallon. Tires are a little noisier but stereo take care of that!

 

[motomandan]

I would think that would be plenty of towing capacity for a 190. I tend to agree with the others in here though. May want to think about how long you plan to keep the 190. I have a 195s and tow mine with a Sorento that can handle 5,000. Works great for it but would never be able to tow anything above the 19 footers. Will have to get a bigger tow rig. But will cross that bridge down the road. Absolutely love the 195s so far.

Pretty hard to compare a unibody car platform to towing with a body on frame truck. My Tacoma has a 6400lb tow capacity. Tows fine run 80 no problem. Its definetly not my old truck an F250 diesel but I like much more than the f250 for ever day use. I soldthe f250 with 180k on it.

 

[Thunderseye]

Pretty hard to compare a unibody car platform to towing with a body on frame truck. My Tacoma has a 6400lb tow capacity. Tows fine run 80 no problem. Its definetly not my old truck an F250 diesel but I like much more than the f250 for ever day use. I soldthe f250 with 180k on it.

The 24’ 224 on tandem. Dealer said was around 5000. Last I checked capacity is 6800z. You have plenty of room for growth. I was worried after everyone’s comments, but I barely knew it was back there, and pulling it out of the water on a pretty steep ramp was nothing.

 

[justinh]

Add me to the surprised category. I‘ve got a 2009 d-cab 4x4 lifted on heavy 285/70/17’s with a steel bumper, winch and camper shell. I was pleasantly surprised how well it handles our new AR240.

A little more squat in the back than I would like but I still have OEM rear springs with the lift and shell, so it was already time to address that. I’m not sure I’d want to tow long distances with it but for our short haul to the lake it’s fine.