Newbie towing - need quick advice

Lake Murray Man · 02-27-2009, 11:35 PM

Hey folks .. You guessed right ! I'm a NEWBIE. I am going to look at a Roo 23SS (~4000lb dry) tomorrow morning. My wife has already decided "we are going to buy it". Assuming shes right and she usually is ....... will my 08 Tacoma - Crew Cab - long bed - V6 Auto handle it with a 6500lb. max tow?

Will I need weight distribution and sway control? I want to be safe. I am thinking one of the new straight line distribution and sway rigs with 600lb bars. The Roo 23ss showes 367lb tongue weight. Does this sound about right? No regrets?

Radio · 02-28-2009, 12:31 AM

Look in your owners manual for the tow ratings for this vehicle. Or google for "trailer life" tow ratings. Push come to shove, ask the service people at the dealer where you bought the truck what the numbers are.

And the RV dealer my have a copy of Trailer Life's tow ratings for 2008 or 2009. Ask them. Remember to allow added weight for all the stuff you'll take along it the truck and trailer. And then throw in some safety margin.

You'll probably be fine.

And welcome to the forum!

MtnGuy · 02-28-2009, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lake Murray Man

Hey folks .. You guessed right ! I'm a NEWBIE. I am going to look at a Roo 23SS (~4000lb dry) tomorrow morning. My wife has already decided "we are going to buy it". Assuming shes right and she usually is ....... will my 08 Tacoma - Crew Cab - long bed - V6 Auto handle it with a 6500lb. max tow?

Will I need weight distribution and sway control? I want to be safe. I am thinking one of the new straight line distribution and sway rigs with 600lb bars. The Roo 23ss showes 367lb tongue weight. Does this sound about right? No regrets?

The wheelbase listed on the Taco Crew Cab long bed is 140", which is a good thing. There used to be an excellent "suggestion" wheelbase chart @ http://www.rvtowingtips.com/, but the guy running the site had some copyright issues or something like that and had to shut it down. I think the Roo with your Taca falls within those perimeters, if I remember correctly.

The ~4000 lb dry weight will "grow" some as you add options. The listed dry weight on my SV 263 increased about 500 lbs. after adding AC, awning, and such, plus the added weight of a battery, and propane. You still should be well within the 6500 lbs. towing limit of your Taco even loaded for camping, but be careful and don't overload.

The 367 lb tongue weight will "grow" some also, but that is a good thing. With that lite of a tongue on a 4000 lb. trailer, you really need to get more weight up there to provide a 12 to 15% percentage on your tongue to prevent sway. A battery and full propane tanks will add ~100 lbs. just by themselves. My concern with the 600 lb. bars, is if you do load the camper to 5500 lbs. or so, and your tongue weight is at the recommend 12%, then that is 660 lbs., or at 15% it is at 825 lbs. All of this is speculation, but I hope you can see the possibilites of too light of spring bars. Again, you don't want to get too stiff bars, as they can cause problems also. It all depends on how much weight you carry, and how you load the trailer. I think I would consider 750 or 800 lb. bars (depending on the manufacturer). I got 800 lb. bars with a listed tongue weight of 559 lbs., and when I ran the trailer across the scales lightly loaded for camping, I had a 720 lb. tongue weight. Depending on how I load my extras (food and clothes) and if the tanks have fluid in them, I figure sometimes I am going to be over 800 lbs, so I ended up ordering 1200 lb bars.....at an extra expense, of course.

Yes, you will probably need a WDH with sway control. Reese Straight Line, Equalizer, Blue Ox and others should work for this combo. I have the Reese, and my unit tows sweet.

Like Radio stated, check out the stats on your truck to be sure of the towing limits. Check out the stats on your factory hitch to make sure that can handle the load, and get a good brake controller.

Oh, and by the way.....

to the forum!!!

dimurrrw · 02-28-2009, 08:02 AM

Like Radio and Chap said! Post often, we like to answer questions.

Lake Murray Man · 02-28-2009, 01:34 PM

Thanks a ton guys!! Regarding the bars ... should I go with round or turruion(sp?) . Also, I seem right between weight ranges ..... should a 600 or 800?

Lake Murray Man · 02-28-2009, 01:39 PM

..and BTW - we bought the ROO 23SS. Now we really get to start asking questions. :-)

MtnGuy · 02-28-2009, 02:27 PM

Cngrats on the new camper!!!!

C130Av8r · 02-28-2009, 09:34 PM

Congrats on the new trailer. If I remember correctly, from the link that MTNGUY referred to, the rule of thumb for trailer length in relation to wheelbase was: 110" wheelbase will get you 20' of trailer. Every additional 4" of wheelbase will get you another foot of trailer. Another rule that I heard was that the length from the coupler to the rear axle(s) should not exceed twice the wheelbase length.

dimurrrw · 03-01-2009, 06:31 AM

It's hard to be too specific about the size of the bars without actually putting the fully loaded trailer on scales. In my experience the manufacturer's estimated tongue weight tends to end up being considerably on the low side. Just as suggested by Chap, my gut says to go with the 800 lb bars. As far as round or square bars, I've had both and they both work fine.

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