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Towing a 5 series with a Tundra

8K views 27 replies 13 participants last post by  Robnik 
#1 ·
We have had lots of wind here in NC. I have 2 trees down from this (1 was one the house). My 5045 4wd is 35 minutes away from my home at my farm. I need it at my house and my truck is a 2014 tundra 5.7L 4wd. I would use a tandem trailer with brakes. The tractor with 553 loader weighs in the neighborhood of 7K. I figure the trailer will be close to 3K. I realize that I am at or near the limits for this truck and that cautious driving would be required more than ever. The road used never has a speed limit above 45mph. Would you guys use the tundra or not?
 
#2 ·
I wouldn't see an issue as long as the load is balanced right. I see some tundras pulling some pretty big 5'rs out here.


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#3 ·
I think the bigger question is what is the rated GWR of the trailer. You are hitting 10,000 lbs and I suspect your trailer is only rated at 7000 lbs as is common. Even at 45 MPH, if you break an axle or blow a tire, that is a real problem and can put you in the ditch or into a head on collision with another vehicle. Otherwise, I say do it if the load is properly balanced.

Dave
 
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#4 ·
If you can balance it right, and you're not over weight on the combo or trailer, then go for it. 45mph is enough to kill you if the tail wags the dog at a bad time.

I'd drive the tractor before I risked an at-fault accident with an overloaded rig.

Hiring a tow truck might be cheaper? The 20' flatbed rigs around here are all rated for 20Klbs on the bed. Talk to the company and see if they'll do it as a back haul for cheap when in the area?
 
#7 · (Edited)
Think you would be fine with the Tundra as long as you have a brake controller and good brakes on the trailer, and your hitch is rated for the trailer and load weight.
However in NC you need to make sure you have a weighted tag and your registration reflects the GVWR of your whole rig including the load. (Truck, Trailer, Load, contents of truck).
Which is an additional fee when you register.
If you get pulled over this is big $$$ like 1000$
But you may know this.
 
#8 ·
Good poont about the Brake controller. You can't stop quick enough without a Brake controller with 10000# behind you.

Dave
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#9 ·
If you've got the tow package on that Tundra, it will handle a 10,000 lb pretty easily. If you don't, I'd add a set of Timbrens to the back end. The Timbren bump stops won't increase your load capacity but the factory rear stops on the Tundra are too small IMO. The Timbrens do a much better job at keeping the truck level.

And you might find that a weight distributing hitch with a sway controller will keep things a little steadier when towing.

I haul a 9,000 lb RV with my 2012 Tundra and have no problems at 65 MPH.

And yeah, ALWAYS use a brake controller with any trailer over 3,000 lbs. Just like balancing your load properly, that one should be a no-brainer.
 
#10 ·
Tundra is not rated to tow that much weight. There was a big controversy a few years back because Toyota dropped the tow ratings because they were completely overblown in their marketing materials. Don't get me wrong - I owned a Tundra and towed with it and I was always impressed with how much torque it had to pull very heavy weights. At the end of the day, however, the truck isn't rated for 10k.
 
#12 ·
All of their post-2010 models have tow ratings established using the SAE J-2807 standard.

For the 2008-2010 models they originally claimed a max towing capacity of 10,100 lbs. When the SAE standard was updated in 2010, Toyota re-evaluated all of their trucks using the standard and dropped the towing max capacity for the 2008-2011 models down to 9,000 lbs.

Toyota changed the design slightly for the 2012 model year and increased the rated towing capacity back up to a max of 10,050 lbs if you have the 5.7L + Auto trans + Tow package.

And Toyota wasn't alone in this. Every company making pickups had over-blown claims about towing capacity. Ford, GM, Dodge, Nissan and Toyota have all been using this standard from Model year 2013 on.
 
#11 ·
The Tundra Is Powerful

Trust me, you won't have a problem. I have a 2008 Tundra and I have abused it pretty bad. I put 3 tons of gravel in the bed once because I couldn't borrow a friends dump trailer and needed it. Many other times I've loaded that 5K dump trailer with 4 tons of gravel, around 13K lbs...granted I was only going about 5 miles on relatively level surface, I wouldn't tow that trailer cross country. However, I have towed my 10K 37ft trailer from the top of Michigan down to Florida, roughly 40K miles towing this beast. Pulls like a champ, doesn't need to slow down on big mountains in TN or the WV turnpike. I do use a weight distribution hitch and airbags.

Anyway, when we moved from Ohio to NC the movers couldn't fit all of our stuff into the moving truck and those guys had that thing packed 100 times better than I could have done, they were pros and used every inch of space. I flew back to get my camper and truck and I was determined to not have to make another trip back and rent another small truck or drive my truck and bring back a small trailer. So I packed my truck and camper like it was a utility moving trailer. I had probably 600lbs of tools in the bed including 3 compressors, an oak table in the back seat. In the camper I moved the slides out and packed in everything we had left, moved the slides in, and then packed that space so nothing would move. I've never felt the camper so heavy, it had to be 12-13K or more, but it didn't seem like it was struggling vs the 10K normal load. In fact, after a couple hundred miles I didn't even notice a difference.

I believe the Tundra is underrated as a towing machine and probably the best 1/2 ton towing truck there is, in fact, I think towing is the main design consideration with the Tundra. I've towed with many other trucks, F150s, Chevy C/K, Ram trucks....this is the best half ton for towing in my experience. So I don't think you'll have any trouble towing your tractor that far. It may sag a bit without a WD hitch or airbags, but it will be fine going that short of a distance. Just take it slow and easy and make sure your trailer brakes work before you take off ;-)

For me, I use mine to the limit or over the limit too much and I definitely need a bigger truck, not kidding myself there. I stay within the limits if I can or at the limit, but sometimes you have to go over especially if you don't have $60K to spend on a new truck. So when that time comes I plan on getting an F350 Diesel SRW, but don't fear using the Tundra as a towing machine if that's all you have, you'll be fine.

Unloading the camper used as a moving trailer
Motor vehicle Vehicle Transport RV Sky
 
#13 ·
I had a 2007 Tundra that I put 220,000 miles on towing enclosed trailers that were around 7000# loaded and my boat with trailer that weighed about 9500# and I never once had a problem. I wish I had never traded it for the 2016 Ford F250 super duty I have right now. That tundra was 10 times the towing vehicle this truck is. Tow away!
 
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#19 ·
I would love to hear more about your reasoning because when it comes time to trade in the Tundra I was planning on a big Ford to replace it. Do you have the diesel? One of the bigger things as well is I want an 8ft bed double cab and a front bench seat, things you can't get in the Tundra. The biggest reason I would upgrade would be for capacity.
 
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#15 · (Edited)
Are you sure on the 3,000 lbs trailer weight? Seems heavy for the bumper pull trailers that most often is questioned in forums I read. If I was looking to tow this tractor semi often then the truck/trailer combination would be a bit more concerning to me. Not at all because I wouldn't think the truck is capable, would be more of a wear and tear issue on the truck. I would hate to kill a nice dependable truck using it as that kind of workhorse often. Your asking about hauling the tractor from point A to B then back to A. For a couple of short transports like this I wouldn't be concerned about the truck at all assuming it's got the hitch to support it. If the truck is at capacity, trailer at capacity, or even if both are slightly over loaded doesn't matter near as much as the ability of the driver. If you are confident in YOUR ability, go for it. It's nice and all to have a truck and trailer that is so overkill the driver just has to hop behind the wheel and steer it down the road but sometimes that's an option others just don't have for the rare occasions they need to hit the max capacity of their equipment. The fact your even questioning the truck and trailer may mean your not comfortable with the towing situation, if that's the case don't even load the tractor up. Personally I don't give a rip about the specs of my trucks or trailers, I have used them all enough to feel certain of their true abilities and the roads I'm using to travel on. I am not speaking for the trailer you will be using because I haven't seen or I overlooked the axle ratings of it, but for the truck and tractor part of it, seems doable to me if you are feeling cool with driving it.
 
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#16 ·
The 3k trailer weight seems about right to me. I have a 20' 10k car/equipment trailer. Its load capacity is just over 7k , so the trailer it self is just shy of 3k.

I think the op will be fine with his tundra. However,I have to call bs the tundra being 10x the tow vehicle of a 2016 F250.
 
#20 ·
Just my opinion on my experience with the 2 that I've towed with recently. Both being gas engines. I did have a 1999 f250 super duty deisel that would pull a house off the foundation.
 
#17 ·
Most of the 10K trailers I've seen / owned have had a GTWR of right around 2500 lbs with a cargo capacity of roughly 7500 lbs. While a 3k trailer seems a -little- heavy, it isn't unreasonable.
 
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#24 ·
IMH opinion if your truck has a Cummings badge on it, the resale value over long periods of time is phenomenal :thumbup1gif:
 
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