How much weight can my truck pull

[Russell D]

I have a 5spd V6 pickup and I am going to be racing my Mr2 next year. I weighed it a few months ago with a full tank of gas it weighed 2780lbs; I don't have a trailer yet, but I will need to get a flat bed and will search for the lightest possible, I'm not sure how much the average weight of a flat bed trailer is.

The track that I will be going to the most is about 50 miles away from my house and is 95% interstate. If necessary I can take side roads.

So do you think my truck will be able to pull it?

I've hauled both my jet skis and popup camper and I hardly notice that anything is there, but the car weighs 3X as much as the jet skis

[rivethed]

sales brochure, depends on your setup, 2wd, or 4wd, long bed, short bed, with or without towing package. Most common limit mentioned, is 3500 lbs. total, cargo and trailer weight. 350 lbs. tongue load, Class II hitch recommended with sway control device. this is for 112" and 121" wheelbase 2wd, v6, 5spd trucks.

[sb5walker]

Towing with a 22re
http://www.sherline.com/lmbook.htm

[Russell D]

Originally Posted by rivethed

sales brochure, depends on your setup, 2wd, or 4wd, long bed, short bed, with or without towing package. Most common limit mentioned, is 3500 lbs. total, cargo and trailer weight. 350 lbs. tongue load, Class II hitch recommended with sway control device. this is for 112" and 121" wheelbase 2wd, v6, 5spd trucks.

I have a 4wd extended cab V6 5spd; I don't know the wheelbase of my truck. I don't have a factory tow package, but my truck has a class 3 trailer hitch installed.

[1994 Toyota Truck]

What exactly came equipped on our trucks with the tow package? Was it just a transmission oil cooler or was there more?

[rivethed]

Originally Posted by Russell D

I have a 4wd extended cab V6 5spd; I don't know the wheelbase of my truck.

121/122" wheellbase, 99% positive on that

[Ajones1165]

Originally Posted by 1994 Toyota Truck

What exactly came equipped on our trucks with the tow package? Was it just a transmission oil cooler or was there more?

My guess would be probably a class II hitch, wiring, and maybe a different leaf pack, kind of like the new Dodge trucks with the "Camper Special" come with little shims on top of the axle, under the leafs, to lift it up about an inch

[Krusty]

i commonly tow my off-road truck -- 4,500# on a trailer---- with my 92 4 cylinder

and 'flat tow' most every weekend with a tow bar on the off-road truck

i tow 170 miles each way--
no problems

[sb5walker]

The possible danger with towing a vehicle is the lack of weight/traction in the back of the towing truck. When braking, there's an awful lot of weight behind you, that can tear loose the ass end of the front vehicle. The solution, I think, aside from driving slowly and cautiously, is to make sure you have a few hundred pounds of tongue weight to help improve the traction of the rear tires. The following posts are from here:

Originally Posted by LeftCoast

Pay attention to this post...it is dead-on.

The 22-RE can pull much more than it can stop safely, as I learned the hard way. I was towing a 93 4Runner (with 2-wheel dolly) on the highway, and just tapped the brakes for half a second (animal in road), but that was all it took to jackknife me and put me head-on into a guard rail (which saved my life). The worst part was I remember thinking, "That wasn't too bad." after the initial hit into the rail, but then I quickly remembered I had 4500 pounds swinging like a pendulum off my ass end. That was a very long 3 seconds, waiting for the second impact. Nothing worse than a two-car accident when both the cars are owned by you.

[kamesama980]

+1 tow what you can control, especially stopping. 2 wheel dollies are fun too because it's an extra pivot (usually) so it's like a tandem...which will amplify small motions as they travel back like cracking a whip.

I towed about 5k lbs of trailer and stuff with 4-500lbs of stuff in the bed with 2wd 22re. BUT I've got air-assist shocks in back (or it would have been on the bump stops before loading the trailer), the trailer had really good surge brakes, and I had to stop 1/4 mile down the freeway to repack the trailer because it was swaying at 40.

I'm not an expert but I'd guess flat bed car hauler to be 1k-2k lbs for a smaller one. no it isn't that bit, but its supposed to be beefy

[Zembonez]

I'll have to agree with some of the above statements. Your truck will pull a lot more than it will stop! Excellent trailer brakes would really help your ability to tow safely.

[IronNam]

yup. drive smooth, drive slow, be patient, be careful.

[Krusty]

if you are planning to traier tow----- hook up the trailer brakes !! a no-brainer !

[Russell D]

Originally Posted by Krusty

if you are planning to traier tow----- hook up the trailer brakes !! a no-brainer !

How hard is it to install a trailer brake controller on a truck? I would like this but I don't know how long I will have my truck and if I cannot remove it I don't know if I would bother

Originally Posted by kamesama980

2 wheel dollies are fun too because it's an extra pivot (usually) so it's like a tandem...which will amplify small motions as they travel back like cracking a whip.

I've use these many times when I raced civic's and I always left the tongue locked so it wouldn't sway as much, but I cannot put my Mr2 on one of these becuase I'm not going to put the front tires on it and leave the car in neutral, and the front is too low to the ground to put the rear tires on...