The Toyota Tacoma is a beautiful truck. A lot of people find it a true joy to drive around too. Of course, what good is a truck if it cannot tow? This leads to the question; are Toyota Tacomas good for towing? Absolutely! While the Toyota Tacoma may not have the same towing capacity that beastlier trucks may have, the towing capacity is more than enough for most home and business users.
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Toyota Tacoma Towing Capacity
There are two models of the Toyota Tacoma in 2020. Each of them will have slightly different towing capacities.
The base model of the 2020 Toyota Tacoma i.e. the one with the 2.7-liter engine can tow up to 3,500lbs. This means that the base model of the Toyota Tacoma truck should be suitable for most people.
For those that want a little bit more power, the 2020 Toyota Tacoma comes equipped with a hefty 3.6-liter V6 engine. This engine is powerful enough to allow the Toyota Tacoma to haul up to 6,800lbs.
Since the Toyota Tacoma has several years of models out there on the market, there may be small variations in the towing capacity. As mentioned; these are the towing capacities for the 2020 versions of the Toyota Tacoma. Any model purchased within the last few years should be close to these capacities.
Toyota Tacoma Towing Packages
In order for the Toyota Tacoma to be able to tow, it needs to be equipped with a high quality towing hitch. There are a few options on the market.
In order to allow the Toyota Tacoma to tow trailers and the like, there will need to be two components installed. The first will be the receiving bar that is attached to the vehicle. The second will be the mount that can slide into this receiving bar. Luckily, Curt offers these two pieces of equipment, and they are both of high quality. This should make the towing process a lot easier.
Curt 11323 Trailer Hitch Receiving Mount
This will need to be installed onto the Toyota Tacoma. Once the Curt 11323 Trailer Hitch Receiving Mount is in place, it can easily receive any of the many standard hitches on the market, although the Curt ones come highly recommended. This will allow the trailer hitch to hold anything from trailers to bike mounts. It is a brilliant system.
This Curt trailer hitch can cope with up to 5,000lbs of gross trailer weight. More importantly, it can cope with up to 500lbs of tongue weight. This means that it should be ideal for the Toyota Tacoma since most people will never tow beyond 5,000lbs. In fact, this can’t even be done with the base model of the Toyota Tacoma.
Curt 45036 Trailer Hitch Mount
This Curt 45036 hitch mount comes complete with a 2″ ball, which means it should be fine for connecting up to most travel trailers or other types of trailer. It takes just a short while to have everything hooked up into place and connected securely.
This Curt 45036 hitch mount has been rated to tow up to 7,500lbs. Once the Tacoma receiving bar is put into place, the only thing that remains to be done is sliding this ball mount into it. This should take under a minute. Since it is corrosion-resistant, it can be left in place for long periods of time too.
What size travel trailer can a Toyota Tacoma pull?
While the Toyota Tacoma is capable of pulling astonishingly large weights, this does not mean that people should be hitching up huge travel trailers to their truck. There are a few limitations in place.
Remember; all of these weights discussed here will be the weight when the travel trailer is fully loaded with equipment.
For the base model of the Toyota Tacoma, it is recommended that a driver attempts a travel trailer that is 3,000lbs maximum. For the 3.6-liter V6 model, this can be stretched up to 3,500lbs.
This isn’t because the Toyota Tacoma isn’t capable of pulling a travel trailer up to its maximum rated towing capacity. It is. However, the problem is that the heavier the travel trailer is, the harder it will be to tow. After all, travel trailers are rather bulky pieces of equipment. Many will be longer than the actual truck. This can make handling of heavy travel trailers almost impossible. Not to mention the fact that each and every pound is going to be putting more strain on the vehicle, which will deplete that fuel supply rather quickly. This isn’t good on those long haul trips.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. The answer to the question ‘are Toyota Tacomas good for towing?’ is yes. Both of the 2020 models have a decent enough engine inside to pull most loads. However, if somebody is planning to pull a travel trailer, they may want to keep the weight to the minimum. This will ensure that the vehicle remains easy to drive.
