ive seen people using 5.7s as 3500's go do some research on youtube there is a few videos of a how a west texas rancher treated his 07 for 100,000 miles i think its under toyota tundra 100000 mile test or something like that. they tear down the truck to see how it did. the part when they get to engine is scary, the thing looks brand new even after that abuse

 

The only issue with that much weight is the springs on the truck. The truck is rated as a 1/2 ton truck so don't expect to be able to go too fast either. Get a weight distribution hitch, a trailer brake controller, and probably some overload springs or air bags.

 

could always go after a new 2011 with the trailor sway add on

 

That is about 15% more than the truck is rated for. That rig will not be safe

 

Exactly. Under no condition should you be towing more than about 9500 lbs with one of these trucks.

 

I have a customer that severely overloads his truck on a regular basis, it sits empty at GVRW and then he loads it and tows with it. He about doubled the rear spring pack. His issue is that he regularly snaps wheel studs, of course he thinks it is Toyota's fault. It should hold up.

 

People like this aren't only taking the risk with their life....My family could be on the roads with them, God forbid he loses control and kills an innocent family.

 

Let's hope he's a troll since this is obviously a dumb f'n question.

 

dang man, how is he supposed to know if he has never been around tundras or half tons? besides the truck has over 400 hp. plenty of power. just mechanically and structurally its not safe for that much weight.

 

The trailer I pull is right at 12,000lb. But the difference is I have fifth-wheel meaning the weight is dead center of the axel. You will be hard pressed with bumper/reciver trailer. If you dead set on a tundra. You do not want the CM you want the 5.7 DC with tow package and TRD off road. Then have the dealer install some helper bags, and you'll need stabilizer hitch. If you have to pull mountains, forget about it. I have to run 3-4lbs boost to effectively pull the steep grades.

To save you time and money. Pick you up chevy HD 3/4 ton.

 

Damn Cater, thats quite a load! What is the weight of the kingpin on that 5er?

 

I'm not sure exactly but its in the 2000 neighborhood, I'll see if I cant find out.

 

The engineers who design and set the specifications for these trucks(and others) do so using a little different approach than how the axle and differential look. What a laugh. Good luck to that guy who said his truck was rated to tow 10,500 BEFORE modifications. Sorry, but you can't increase the payload or towing capacity of a truck by adding aftermarket "helper" parts. Also, there are states and documented cases to go with it where the state cops as well as DOT will pull you over and put you on the scales. Non-compliance is very easy to prove, and if this guy thinks that his insurance company would not reject a claim because of that, he is dillusional. He's also dillusional if he thinks an injured party's lawyer wouldn't have a field day with that in a civil suit and in the case of litigation, don't think for a second that they won't look at all of that. Unfortunately, people like that are not receptive to reason or factual information and it's likely he will continue on his way. I wish him luck and hope that I'm not on the road with him. If he really has the same attitude when he's on the road pulling 12,000lbs with a 1/2 ton truck as he does here, there's no reason to waste much time arguing, just stay clear of him.

 

I am not promoting anything here but my insurance agent from State Farm said the same thing. They cannot deny any claim because you exceeded the payload of your truck. He said I could hook a bulldozer to my truck and drive 90 down the highway and they would still have to pay any claims that resulted from that. Again, I am not promoting going over your rating but I wish people would quit using that as a reason.

 

Yet this internet rumor is brought up every time a thread like this comes up. My agent said the same as yours and I suspect all insurance companies are the same. Otherwise, there would be no point to buying insurance at all.

Cater,
How many miles have you towed with your setup? How does it handle the weight? I'm not so quick to condemn anyone because there is a lot that goes into determining what a vehicle's tow rating will be. The engineers are not the only ones who have a voice in the matter. The legal department has a big say as well. Toyota's own promotional videos show the Tundra towing A LOT more than 12K pounds.

 

A soccer mom towing 3,000lbs is more dangerous that me towing a 10,000lb trailer. A number is simply a reference. It is not the one and only thing that goes into determining what I can or cannot tow. Towing my 6500lb camper is alot more work than towing my trailer with tractor(around 8k lbs). I understand their are limits on all trucks but they are built to take more than what they are rated for. Is it always a good idea to grossly exceed these limits? Probably not but just because I do does not mean that I am putting your life in danger anymore than the unexperienced person towing a pop-up camper.

 

A soccer mom towing 3,000lbs is more dangerous that me towing a 10,000lb trailer....does not mean that I am putting your life in danger anymore than the unexperienced person towing a pop-up camper.

Personally I worry more about those little 8' unlicensed trailers full of junk and swaying all over the road. or Log trucks doing 65 in a 55 with a full load in a 1979 Mack truck

 

Sorry, but you can't increase the payload or towing capacity of a truck by adding aftermarket "helper" parts

The hell you cant. Airbag's, Supercharger, Springs, Tires, shocks, lockers, gears, ETC dramatically increase the load carry capacity.

Never underestimate the resourcefullness of a personal injury attorney.

I agree.

How many miles have you towed with your setup? How does it handle the weight?

I would guess 1100-1500miles. It handles it very well, Being 5th wheel the trailer pull's and rides as well as a trailer can, and turning 32' trailer isn't a problem.

They are only trumped up numbers to make their trucks look good on paper....As far as brakes go, The Toyota Tundra has great brakes, as good as any ¾ ton on the market. Besides, the brakes on the tow truck are not designed to stop the truck and the trailer. The trailers brakes are there to stop the trailer and the truck brakes are there to stop the truck.

Agreed. The ford 1/2 ton 5.4 is rated around 9400lb i believe and it couldn't tow 9400lb's down hill.. It just doesn't have the motor.

I'm glad some one understands about braking systems around here. Not to mention Toyota has the TRD Big brake kit for a reason.

and there are NO laws that state that you need to follow them nor are there any law enforcement.

Thought everyone need's to see that again. ^

 

I met a log truck on a two lane road on my way to Arkansas a few months ago. He was all over the road and his load was swaying. My life flashed before me. Two-wheel trailers are worthless. I had one for about a month. Thought it would be handy but turned out it was more trouble than it was worth.

 

They are particularly bad around here, especially south Arkansas, as there isn't many DOT officers to speak of. I would hate to meet up with one up there in the MTN's. You thought your local UPS driver was bad..

 

i have found with my maybe few years of driving to some, but lots of miles also compared to some that most important thing to towing ANYTHING be it a 4x6 trailer with a washing machine on it to a 28ft tt behind a jeep liberty is experience, just like any other type of driving.

i have towed with my fj a diesel toro dingo with attachments, which pretty much met my trailers 3500 cap, with the trailer weight, and i was near my limit of 5k lbs... with that said, it towed just fine, even without trailer brakes on my single axle trailer, even with 200 lbs of shit in the back.

2 wheel trailers arent necessarily worthless, just they are only as good as they can be for the price.

currently someone i know has purchased a liberty, 2010, 3.7v6.... he said it is rated at over 6k lbs, my gfs liberty is the same drivetrain, and it cant get outta its own way, yet my fj with wayyy more power would run the gfs liberty down and do circles around it...

so ratings are all over the board, some are capable of higher some are not capable of the actual ratings...

but it all comes to experience. how many of us have seen the pickups with a pop up swaying left to right all over the place, or a trailer full of just shit swaying, yet when you see someone who you can tell camps, and tows and knows what they are doing towing a 30ft in wind and doing just fine...

just like when it snows, peeps will bitch all over that whatever they own is useless in the winter, for example my gfs liberty.... she is afraid to go out in snow, she hit a tree once and did 4k worth of damage.... i can drive her liberty all over hell in 2wd, whereas she has it in awd all winter...

is it the vehicles fault, or can she just not drive worth a shit in winter cause she has a lack of experience...

now is she any more unsafe on the road than the 17 yr old daughter of a coworker that bounced off a guardrail into a tree last month with 2 inches on the road in a front wheel drive car...


experience experience experience.

if ever in life you are doing something that you can not handle, do not do it.

if you cant handle doing over the posted speed limit dont do it...

just cause the speed limit is 65, does that mean that others cant handle doing 110...

its a guideline. otherwise our vehicles would all be limited to 75.




one of the guys at my work who doesn't normally do deliveries said the trailer didnt seem like it was braking right....

no one else noticed.

its behind a 3/4 or 1 ton ford 4x4, possibly a dually depending on what truck is there, as it turns out 3/4 brakes had teh wires ripped right out, and the one brake that was connected the actual magnet was toast...

so, the travel trailer that has 1k miles on it, and is regularly checked and in good shape being towed by a truck vs a trailer that may be loaded to 15k lbs of equipment that has defective brakes... hmmm.

you wouldnt know the difference if either hit you as you pull in front of it.

 

just cause the speed limit is 65, does that mean that others cant handle doing 110...

Awesome logic If you want to do 110, go to a damn race track. There are other people to consider besides yourself in a society.

its a guideline. otherwise our vehicles would all be limited to 75.

Random thought???

 

Are you all seriously crying over someone pulling 1500lbs over the "limit"??? I bet every single one of you that are wining over this have driven home after a few beers(or more) while hangin out with your buddies. That is FAR more frightful to me than someone pulling a meezly little 1500 pounds over a trucks limit. And whoever said you can't increase the towing capacity by doing afterarket add-ons...are you f-ing serious??? LOL You are obviously a COMPLETE moron and have no idea what your talking about. So your telling me if you put the exact same rims, tires, shocks, springs, and hitch from a f350 turbo diesel on a tundra you cant pull 12000lbs??? With everything else hes done to it. Not to mention a SUPERCHARGED Tundra!!! Hey CATER, as long as you have trailer brakes(which im assuming you do) i think your perfectly fine to tow 12000lbs. I mean its not gonna do 90 uphill with it. But you should have no problem with it. And also, i think it was rlandry6...you can only get a ticket if your vehicle exceeds the ROADS weight limit chief. But i highly doubt that an officer is gonna bring you in and weigh your Tundra and trailer. Its amazing how people cant just answer a simple question and have to start crying over something that COULD happen. You haver a better chance of a 16 year old girl whos texting crashing into you than someone towing 1500lbs oveer their rating with their truck that is MODIFIED to tow it. But you probably also sit behind a desk all day and consider watching football the most exhilerating thing in your life. No matter what you do people are gonna hate and get all worked up over things that have nothing to do with their life at all. So CATER, go ahead and do it and put a post up after and let us know how it goes. Im sure everything will go fine!!!

 

I am not putting anyone down, and I don't expect to change anyone's mind, but as a trained engineer, with some experience in the design and testing of structural components in vehicles, I will wade in with my opinion. It is never prudent to exceed the manufactures recommended weight or towing capacities on any vehicle. People have said, well, I upgraded this or I changed that, but without a detailed analysis of those upgrades or changes, the vehicle could be even less capable, and less safe then stock. The reason for this is that when one component in upgraded, the stress on others could be increased, and could lead to failure. When towing, dynamic loads can be 5X what static loads are. That means if you are overloaded by 1500 lbs., that load could turn into an additional 7500 lbs. in some situations. You might think the rig handles and drives fine, but you might find out differently if you are going around a slight curve and suddenly have to make a panic stop, or perform an evasive maneuver. Clearly, when you exceed manufactures recommended capacitys, your rig is less safe then if you stayed within the recommendations, whether or not you have upgraded or changed components. Personally, I don't understand why someone would put themselves and their family in a more dangerous situation if they didn't have to. Think of it this way, would you ride in an aircraft if it was overloaded by 15%?

 

For an example of the aircraft crash being blamed on an overload condition, go check out this former singer's story: Aaliyah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I have been driving for 45 years and towed all over. I used to drive 3/4 and 1 ton diesel trucks. That was cool. This Tundra will out pull and is built better than most older 70's and 80's 3/4 ton pickups. Also you are sharing the hiway with a lot of Hot shot drivers in there 1 ton dually's that could be 5-10K lbs over the rated capacity of there truck. 12K on the Tundra is not excessively overloaded. Any time you tow you need to drive like you have a load back there and use good judgement.

 

I think it would be fine to pull a 12000 lbs trailer for a short distance on a counrty road/dirt road at slow speeds. Such as a farmer needing to move equipment from one field to another. But, I think it would be unsafe to pull a trailer that heavy on the highway with more traffic and higher speeds involved. Sure the tundra has the power to do it. But i don't think the chassis, suspension is up to the task to do it safely. .02.

 

Guys, please keep in mind the capacity values aren't necessarily for perfect conditions, but also include the ability to respond to an emergency situation.

 

This is what most people don't realize. They will wish they had kept within safe limits if the overloaded condition cause injuries to themselves or their family.

 

How about everyone whos bitching about him towing 12,000lbs find out what roads hes gonna be driving on and at what time so you can stay off them since your so scared. Everyone just shut the f up and mind your own business. Go back home, lock your doors, and enjoy your sheltered little existence.

 

I have a trailer. I am just stating the fact that what manufacturers claim and real world numbers are different. Everyone should put their trucks on a scale and get a realistic idea of how much they can haul.

 

And the Troll is sitting back laughing because he got all the TundraTalk members pissed off at each other.

 

The only people who should be pissed are the ones who are wrong. I'm not pissed since I know I'm not wrong. I doubt you're pissed either

That's why they're trolls...purposefully causing sh*t

 

There is a good article in the new Popular Mechanics on the new SAE tow rating system. Goes to show that trucks can handle more than they are rated at, they may just not perform to certain standards like holding speed at a grade or accelerating at a certain rate. I am glad they are setting a standard for all manufacturers.

 

Poor Chaparral...

My best advice is: you could probably hook this set-up to a 4 cyl Tacoma and it would tow it. The 4.7L Tundra WILL tow it, the 5.7L WILL tow it but towing it is not the question....

The question is: can this vehicle handle this type of load WHILE towing and the answer is.... probably so but it's not safe to do so.
The tundra's main towing features are it's ability to handle towing loads and handling them in panic situations. The Tundra was the ONLY vehicle in the Toyota ride & drive at FedEx field that handled 3500 lbs in the bed while towing a 5k lb trailer going around a curve with cones and applying the brakes in a panic situation, along with several other similar tests. The Titan, Chevy 1500, Ram 1500, and F150 all were pushed outside the cones by the weight of the trailer causing them the jack- knife. We were only going 40 mph. Put that on a highway at 70 mph and people will definitely get hurt.
We did several tests like this to illustrate how well the Tundra 5.7L handles towing loads and handling them in panic situations.

I would NEVER recommend MAXING the towing capacity of ANY vehicle.... Not even a Mack 18 wheeler..... It's simply a recipe for disaster.. Plus you could run the risk of hurting a BEAUTIFUL Tundra.... and no one HERE wants that! :banghead:

 

The Tundra was the ONLY vehicle in the Toyota ride & drive at FedEx field that handled 3500 lbs in the bed while towing a 5k lb trailer going around a curve with cones and applying the brakes in a panic situation, along with several other similar tests. The Titan, Chevy 1500, Ram 1500, and F150 all were pushed outside the cones by the weight of the trailer causing them the jack- knife.

While I appreciate that info, it really doesn't make sense to me. Not sure about the Dodge or Titan, but the frame/suspension on the GM and Ford trucks are at least as stiff, probably more. A loaded side/side maneuver will be affected by tire roll before anything else comes into play. Unless they had identical tires/pressure... the test couldn't mean much.

 

Haha what a stupid thread

 

Absolutely true

I feel like a dumb dumb for even responding to that other post