Hello All,
We are going to upgrade from our Sienna van. What do you find good about your tow vehicle?
We have a 16 foot Scamp now and up sizing to a 19 footer or maybe a 19 footer of some other type. But we need to change vehicles.
Your thoughts please.
Regards paul
I towed S-19's with a Frontier and was very pleased, I had friends who towed S-19's with Tacoma's and were just as happy. Recently people have been having difficulty getting 5th wheel hitches installed in mid sized trucks including the mid size GM models. There are no specific factory hitches for the mid size trucks and a lot of hitch installers only want to install factory specific hitches. There are also notes in the truck towing manuals that say the trucks are not suppose to tow 5th wheel trailers. In general with a Scamp S-19 the mid size trucks (V-6) do very good job towing. If you go this route make sure you have a hitch installer before buying the truck.
Most all newer full size trucks have issues with bed rail height especially the 4x4's towing the S-19. I had decided about two years ago to go with a larger tow behind fiberglass trailer 19 or 21 ft. trailer. The first thing I did was trade for a full size truck. I hate towing trailers wider than the truck, also you get a better ride with the full size trucks. The newer FS trucks have 8-10 speed automatic transmissions which is really good for towing and provides a smooth pull and ride. There are a lot of good You Tube videos comparing 1/2 trucks towing trailers. There are really no hitch issue with the full size trucks other than bed rail height.
Asking about tires and truck brands usually gets a lot of responses.
Eddie
I had a 19 Scamp and pulled with a Tacoma. It was good however if you are going to be pulling in mountainous areas it works harder. The hitch weight of the deluxe was pushing 500#, add the generator and campfire wood on the stock leaf springs, it was heavier than expected. I prefer a more powerful engine but am limited with garage space so I sold the 19' and bought a 16 standard and it pulls really nice and is easier to hook up. Don't need a weight distribution hitch but I still added Suma springs in place of the stock bump stops on the frame of the truck. Every one I have talked to with the Tundra complains of the gas mileage I would look close at the F-150 or wait till next year for the return of the Ranger and see what engines they offer and what the rail height will be. As you can see by the picture below, the rail height of the 4X4 Tacoma worked well with the Scamp.
In 2016 we bought a 16' Scamp. I'm towing it with a 2000 Tacoma 4x4 V-6, which I already had. I'm in this discussion because I'm just back from a trip from western Colorado to the west coast, down the coast a ways, and back. There were a lot of roads that are curvey and have a lot of up and down. The slowdown of the Tacoma, on the uphills especially, got to be a limiter. Either we couldn't go as far as we would have liked some days, or we did go the distance but it made for some long, brutal driving days. If we kept our target travel for the day below 250 miles, we could poke along, and it wasn't stressful travel. But that's not always enough miles.
So I'm interested in TVs that are giving good performance without giving up too much gas mileage in terrain with a lot of grade changes. As a data point, my mileage on this trip went from a low of 16.75 to a high of 19.3, usually around 17.5.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Randy in Paonia
I am one of those happy with the Tacoma (4-door, short bed, V6) and I installed the Reese hitch myself. It worked out well, the front rail is attached to the bed bolts directly, the rear one needed a steel plate to make the connection. So some bolts are the bed mounting bolts, some go just through the bed. Towed 50k miles so far, including the Chaco Canyon road and Trans-Labrador Highway, no problems with the hitch or the bed. I posted details on the other forum.
-Paul
2004 Scamp 19 Deluxe,
2021 Tacoma, Double Cab, 6 cyl. 4WD
Colorado
It doesn’t matter as long as it is rated to tow your load. I like my F-150, but new vehicles have everything. You will like any new vehicle, but what about the dealer? When I bought mine, it came from my home dealer that had helped me out when I broke down out of state with an older vehicle. Support the dealer that has been there for you.
Randy,
Your first generation Tacoma 4X4 probably has the 190 HP engine. Mine has the 4X4 236 HP V-6 and I still wish it had more for pulling. I live in flat to moderate rolling hills and on freeways I roll at 60 mph in fourth gear so as not to have the transmission keep searching for gears. I have the 5 speed AT, but it rolls good in fourth. That is why I said if your driving though mountains I would recommend having more power. I get 16-17 mpg in fourth and not towing I average 21.
K.V.J.
Thanks, K.V.J., I had been wondering about that.
I looked it up, and you're right. Mine is rated at 190 HP. It's a 5-spd manual trans, and I do run in 5th gear when the road allows. On level interstate, I'll run up to about 65 mph, and it handles that OK, until the road angles up, then it's down to 4th pretty quickly. I try to keep the engine speed between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm.
I will be looking at upgrading my TV, it depends on what I can find at a reasonable price.
Randy in Paonia