Tacoma towing a Caravel 22fb

[dpreston]

We purchased a new 2025 Caravel 22fb with a Blue Ox hitch to pull behind our 2024 Toyota Tacoma. We had the dealer install a 2" receiver and 3" lift kit before picking it up. On our first trip we attached the bike rack and two bikes for a total weight of 120 lbs.
The trailer weight was about 4600lbs with over 1/2 tank of fresh water in the tank in front of the axle.

The trailer sway was terrible, scaring us and other drivers on the interstate. We had to stay below 60mph. Changing settings on the Blue Ox hitch did not make much difference. That night I put the bikes and rack in the back of the truck. After that I could get up to 65mph but had to use the manual button on the brake controller frequently. An uncomfortable drive. The dealer has not come up with useful suggestions.

I will remove the lift kit and test drive with no bikes. Then I will remove the 2" receiver and test drive.

Is the Tacoma an unsuitable tow vehicle? Its towing capacity is 6500lbs. I do not wish to replace it.

I have read posts about other more expensive hitches but I dont want to go down that road if the Tacoma is unsuitable.

I would love to hear from other Tacoma owners but anyone experienced in these issues would help.

[Andy543]

Originally Posted by dpreston

We purchased a new 2025 Caravel 22fb with a Blue Ox hitch to pull behind our 2024 Toyota Tacoma. We had the dealer install a 2" receiver and 3" lift kit before picking it up. On our first trip we attached the bike rack and two bikes for a total weight of 120 lbs.
The trailer weight was about 4600lbs with over 1/2 tank of fresh water in the tank in front of the axle.

The trailer sway was terrible, scaring us and other drivers on the interstate. We had to stay below 60mph. Changing settings on the Blue Ox hitch did not make much difference. That night I put the bikes and rack in the back of the truck. After that I could get up to 65mph but had to use the manual button on the brake controller frequently. An uncomfortable drive. The dealer has not come up with useful suggestions.

I will remove the lift kit and test drive with no bikes. Then I will remove the 2" receiver and test drive.

Is the Tacoma an unsuitable tow vehicle? Its towing capacity is 6500lbs. I do not wish to replace it.

I have read posts about other more expensive hitches but I dont want to go down that road if the Tacoma is unsuitable.

I would love to hear from other Tacoma owners but anyone experienced in these issues would help.

Is the Tundra by any chance an off-road model? If so, it won't handle as well as a road model because of the softer suspension and tires.

[PB_NB]

We have a lift in our 22FB and it hasn't made any issue with sway.

It is important to keep the tongue weight higher. We move a lot of stuff into the front storage under the bed. I would take the bike rack off and carry the bikes in the truck. We have our tongue weight at 12% and the trailer is very stable with or without the WDH.

You should be shooting for about 600 lbs on the tongue. That will smooth things out. You will need a way to measure that, and there are a few different ways. A Sherline scale or blocking and a bathroom scale.

We have pulled our Airstream with a Honda Ridgeline, Toyota Tundra and now a Chevy HD. (The Chevy happened because of our work)

The Tacoma is a smaller platform truck but should be able to handle the Caravel but you will certainly notice the trailer back there.

[AldeanFan]

I’ve towed my Safari with my 2022 4Runner and had no issues. I normally tow with my first gen tundra which has very similar suspension to a Tacoma and have towed 40,000km without trouble.
Sway as you described is most likely a weight distribution issue and too little tongue weight.

https://youtu.be/N-5_Wk6MM6A?si=BMEiqGbCkhErwv7p

[AlbertF]

Do you have photos? It would be good, in particular, to see how the hitch is set up.

[waninae39]

you need sway and wd to tow properly

give andy at canamrv.ca a call. he can walk you through this

[AlbertF]

Originally Posted by waninae39

you need sway and wd to tow properly

give andy at canamrv.ca a call. he can walk you through this

He does; Blue Ox.

[jeffmc306]

Originally Posted by dpreston

We purchased a new 2025 Caravel 22fb with a Blue Ox hitch to pull behind our 2024 Toyota Tacoma. We had the dealer install a 2" receiver and 3" lift kit before picking it up. On our first trip we attached the bike rack and two bikes for a total weight of 120 lbs.
The trailer weight was about 4600lbs with over 1/2 tank of fresh water in the tank in front of the axle.

The trailer sway was terrible, scaring us and other drivers on the interstate. We had to stay below 60mph. Changing settings on the Blue Ox hitch did not make much difference. That night I put the bikes and rack in the back of the truck. After that I could get up to 65mph but had to use the manual button on the brake controller frequently. An uncomfortable drive. The dealer has not come up with useful suggestions.

I will remove the lift kit and test drive with no bikes. Then I will remove the 2" receiver and test drive.

Is the Tacoma an unsuitable tow vehicle? Its towing capacity is 6500lbs. I do not wish to replace it.

I have read posts about other more expensive hitches but I dont want to go down that road if the Tacoma is unsuitable.

I would love to hear from other Tacoma owners but anyone experienced in these issues would help.

We had a similar experience towing our first 23’ Airstream with terrible sway. It turned out we had the wrong size bars and I wasn’t applying enough tension on the bars. I didn’t know I should raise the tongue with the jack to make it easier to hook up and disconnect.

What size bars do you have? For your trailer, you should have at least 750 lbs. bars. We moved up to 1000 lbs. bars after consulting with Blue Ox engineers. When properly connected, you should have 3 1/2” links showing to apply enough sway control and weight transfer and the bars will have a noticeable bend.

Also, make sure the tongue of your trailer is level or slightly down when attached to the tow vehicle.

All these points are things I learned along the way. We moved up to a 27’ Airstream and still using the same Blue Ox SwayPro with 1000 lbs. bars.

Good luck with your troubleshooting!

[CharlesinGA]

Count your chain links, from the free end. It needs the nineth, or tenth or 11th link to be in the slot in the rotating latch. Most likely the only way you will get that is to hitch the trailer to the truck and use the tongue jack to raise the trailer AND truck up, which will bring the bars up enough to get the 9th or better chain link in the slot. Count from the free end of the chain, that is how BO tells you to do it.

The pics Jeff posted above are a good example of how it should be. The bars should have a noticable bow in them.

Go to Harbor freight and buy a 24 inch long 1/2 inch square drive breaker bar, and a one inch socket. It will make the rotating latch much easier to latch and easier to control when unlatching.

Charles

[JJTX]

Originally Posted by dpreston

We purchased a new 2025 Caravel 22fb with a Blue Ox hitch to pull behind our 2024 Toyota Tacoma. We had the dealer install a 2" receiver and 3" lift kit before picking it up. On our first trip we attached the bike rack and two bikes for a total weight of 120 lbs.
The trailer weight was about 4600lbs with over 1/2 tank of fresh water in the tank in front of the axle.

The trailer sway was terrible, scaring us and other drivers on the interstate. We had to stay below 60mph. Changing settings on the Blue Ox hitch did not make much difference. That night I put the bikes and rack in the back of the truck. After that I could get up to 65mph but had to use the manual button on the brake controller frequently. An uncomfortable drive. The dealer has not come up with useful suggestions.


Is the Tacoma an unsuitable tow vehicle? Its towing capacity is 6500lbs. I do not wish to replace it.

Without seeing the hitch and how its configured its impossible to say much about it, or what version of the blue ox you have.

What concerns me is your statement about lift kits and 2 inch receiver install, and why the receiver was not there already. It makes me believe there was no tow package on this truck to start with. And thats not good. These are factory installed and usually not done after the fact.


I dont think your truck is a good tow vehicle for a 22 footer. You are too close to the maximum rating of this mid range truck.

You should have went with the Tundra

Will the Tacoma do it? Sure. But I think whatever 'Lift kit " was installed contributed to the real bad sway, and the possibility of the hitch not providing any sway control was the issue here.


What is on the PAYLOAD sticker on the door frame?


I'm not sure you should give up on what you have, but someone needs to put their hands on it that knows what they're doing.

[Peter417]

You can make this truck pull this trailer safely. Dealers don't know how to setup a hitch correctly. They pay the guy minimum wage and he will only last a year or 2 before the next guy comes to replace him. You'll have to take responsibility and learn to do the setup. Watch some of the canam videos with Andy.



Once the hitch and correct bars Are setup you'll most likely be fine. But, Toyota's come with notorious weak springs in the rear. Most people are using Tacoma's for taking a kid to school not for doing truck things. I have upgraded 2 of my Toyotas with HD springs. Emergency maneuvers are much more stable. Post a photo of your setup.

[jccoder]

check and make sure you truck / camper weights are good. Not sure where the bikes are mounted but we have a 2021 F150 2.7 pulling a 23' bambi. we have the lift kit installed on the bambi. That said, we are heading out to NY later this year and did some checks to make sure things look correct. Just doing a sanity check here. Have a 2021 F150 XLT with 2.7 eco-boost. Pulling a 2019 22' Bambi Sport. Truck 6600 lbs GVWR and GAWR is 3450 lbs front / 3400 lbs rear. Camper is 4500 lbs GVWR and has GAWR of 4300 lbs. Checked in at weigh station and truck front axel is 3140, rear 3280 and camper at 3820. Truck with me, wife, dog and gear loaded - full fuel and Anderson wdh attached. Camper fully loaded with fresh water (24 gallon). Camper / truck are level, tows great. I think I have it dialed in right. Getting 13.1 mpg 60 mph and 12.3 mpg when running about around 68 mph. All I can say is do your homework, make sure you are not overloading the truck. Also, with your WDH - measure your front and rear fenders before you hook up the camper and then afterwards. make sure you WDH is balancing your load to the truck. good luck.

[Lee Brisk]

you are light on tongue weight

[suncoasteng]

Why did you install a lift kit on the Tacoma? What size tyres are on the Tacoma. As others suggest take photos,,,and one photo should be a side view of the trailer level - unhitched- 12 inches away from the Tacoma ball

[FYS]

I concurred with others. Have you tried adding more tongue weight, at least 10% of your trailer's gross weight?

[Rolind]

I would recommend loading up your truck and trailer as you normally would for a trip and head to the nearest truck scales. Lots of online info for how to do this. Your Taco is a great truck but payload is limited and you may be overweight. The scales will help with correct weight distribution and payload.

[Andy543]

Yes. Weigh the truck and trailer at a truck stop. Also, it's a good idea to get the base axle weights of the truck without anything in it. If you have that data (plus the wheelbase and the rear overhang), you will be able to calculate the effect of any given trailer tongue weight on the truck's axle loading.

[dpreston]

To clarify:

The lift kit and 2” receiver were installed on the trailer, not the truck.

The Tacoma is a Limited - not an off road model.

750lb bars on the Blue Ox hitch.

[Andy543]

Originally Posted by dpreston

To clarify:

The lift kit and 2” receiver were installed on the trailer, not the truck.

The Tacoma is a Limited - not an off road model.

750lb bars on the Blue Ox hitch.

The Tacoma should be able to handle the trailer without swaying at 60 mph. I would check the tire pressures first. The trailer should have ST tires and they should be at the maximum allowable pressure as stamped on the tire sidewall. The rear truck tires should also be at the maximum allowable pressure. The fronts should be about 15% less than the rears.

The trailer tongue weight should be around 10% of the trailer weight. You can easily change the tongue weight on a single axle trailer by the way you load it. The heaviest items should be close to and a little bit forward of the axle.

Single axle trailers may sway easily, but the sway is not dangerous if, after an external disturbance, the sway diminishes with each swing until it's gone. It may take some time to get used to it.

[Dandyburger]

2013 Tacoma LMT and a 22' Bambi. Equalizer hitch with WD. Truck is stock, no lift kit, and has factory tow package and Tekonsha brake controller. No problems at all pulling the Bambi, which is the narrowest and lightest of all Airstreams, I believe. Many tell me the truck is too light but I've had no issues crisscrossing NM, AZ, CO, SD and Utah. So far. But I keep it at 65 max. I've heard several times not to add a bike rack to the back of the trailer- too much weight hanging off the back could be the issue.