Tow vehicle concernns

[sandshark]

Greetings to the forum. I am a new airstream owner I recently purchased a 2017 23 FB and I am concerned about my Tow vehicle. I have a 2011 Toyota Tacoma four door four-wheel-drive pickup truck with toe package with a tow rating of 6000 LBS. Can anyone tell me if they know of anyone that is using a similar toe vehicle? Mostly I travel on the East Coast and for the most part on fairly level ground. All that I have read here on the forum leads me to believe that most people are using full-size pickup trucks with larger engine. I would greatly appreciate any feedback that may be out there concerning my worries. Note this is the first time I am posting to this forum hopefully I am doing this correctly.

[asianmack]

There's an Airstream dealer near Toronto called Can Am RV. They specialize on towing and making sure your vehicle can tow your trailer.

Perhaps you can give them a call? http://www.canamrv.ca/

[SCOTTinNJ]

Originally Posted by sandshark

Greetings to the forum. I am a new airstream owner I recently purchased a 2017 23 FB and I am concerned about my Tow vehicle. I have a 2011 Toyota Tacoma four door four-wheel-drive pickup truck with toe package with a tow rating of 6000 LBS. Can anyone tell me if they know of anyone that is using a similar toe vehicle? Mostly I travel on the East Coast and for the most part on fairly level ground. All that I have read here on the forum leads me to believe that most people are using full-size pickup trucks with larger engine. I would greatly appreciate any feedback that may be out there concerning my worries. Note this is the first time I am posting to this forum hopefully I am doing this correctly.

Your trailer should have a dry weight of around 4,800 lbs and a GVWR of 6,000 lbs.



If you have the tow package, I believe your GCWR is 11,100 lbs and the curb weight of your truck is around 4,175 lbs.



https://cdn.dealereprocess.net/cdn/b...011-tacoma.pdf (see page 16).


So you are at 10,175 lbs gross before you put anything in the truck (use 6,000 lbs as the trailer weight) or use an actual weight of the vehicle, which is likely above 4,175 lbs.



My personal belief is that you are well into marginal territory. If you are towing minimally and traveling slow you are probably fine. But for anything else I'd consider a more capable tow vehicle.


Don't be fooled by the "east coast" thing. I find that the east coast has very challenging roads. While they are usually short, you can easily hit 10-14% grades up and down on some of the back roads. That can be just as taxing on a tow vehicle as a 7 mile 6% grade you might find out west.



Sorry, I assume this is not what you wanted to read. Just my opinion.

[ShullsinUtah]

Originally Posted by SCOTTinNJ

Don't be fooled by the "east coast" thing. I find that the east coast has very challenging roads. While they are usually short, you can easily hit 10-14% grades up and down on some of the back roads. That can be just as taxing on a tow vehicle as a 7 mile 6% grade you might find out west.

I'll agree with this. I often times find towing in the east much more challenging than towing out west.

[uraljohn]

Your going to need a bigger truck if you do any towing in the hills. I live in western North Carolina and have a 2017 Int. Serenity 23D. Same weight as your 23FB (mine has higher tongue weight) and I tow with a 2013 Ford E150 XLT van with a 5.4 engine and factory max tow package. Any direction I go from my home requires climbs and downhills. I would not want anything smaller or less powerful than what I have. Main concern is stopping power and sudden emergency maneuvers with your Tacoma. Yes, you can probably go down the road with trailer in tow and there will likely be a bunch of folks chime in that they tow a 23 or larger trailer with there Tacoma. Not me. I like a degree of safety margin. You have a very expensive RV. Why risk towing with undersized truck? When you are all hooked up, loaded and ready to go, head to the closest CAT Scale and weight all.