Towing with U-Haul car hauler

Boost_Crazy wrote: Did you already reserve the trailer? I'm a bit suprised that they would let you tow the BMW with the 4runner. In my experience, the tow vehicle/ towed vehicle matchup that they will allow is very conservative, and if their computer says no, they say no. My brother tried to rent a trailer to a full size regular cab late '80's Chevy truck with his '03 Quad Cab Dodge Ram Hemi. They said no, but said yes to my '04 Quad Cab Nissan Titan. For that load, either truck was well within it's factory rating. Do check the tires. On almost all of the many Uhaul trailers I've rented, there was at least one tire that was real low. I also say you should load it as the trailer was designed. Just make sure you have the proper height tow bar. If the trailer sits too far nose down, that adds a lot to the tongue weight.

why wouldn't they? The total weight of the trailer + e21 is about 4500lbs, and the 4Runner is rated to 5000 (or 6500 with the load-distributing hitch, and UHaul doesn't ask what hitch).

Tires on the trailer were virtually brand new and though the trailer paint was kind of dingy, all the mechanical/electrical stuff looked to be in excellent condition. The staff there was helpful though it was slammed on the saturday before a long weekend....probably 20 customers there and I was in and out in about 15 minutes no problemo.

Just as a follow-up the tow went fine with normal loading. Frankly I kind of forgot the trailer was even there except when going up hills. The 4Runner (v6) pulled it fine in 4th all the way, braking was easy (SportEdition 4Runner has the big 4-pots up front :) ), surge brakes worked well, and tongue weight didn't seem to be an issue.

I didn't know the 4 runner was rated to tow that much. I may need to look into them or their pickup cousins

mad_machine wrote: I didn't know the 4 runner was rated to tow that much. I may need to look into them or their pickup cousins

The 4th gen 4Runner V6 stock is good for 5000lbs, and the manual states that if the "weight carrying hitch" is replaced with the "weight distributing hitch" it goes up to 6500 (or 6200, I can't remember).

The V8 can tow 7300 I think, but would have to double-check.

The Tacomas I think are in-between.

I'll note that the Sport Edition is the only model that gets the bigger brakes stock (the SR5 doesn't, and the Limited they were optional). Plus the XREAS suspension on the Sport Edition felt really good for towing as it kind of self-levels the vehicle front to back and left to right.

I kind of wish I had gotten the V8, but then again it's full-time 4WD while the V6 can go 2WD+4WD....

fasted58 wrote: None (and I called a E36 M3load) of the U-Haul sites would rent their car trailer to me not because of my truck's capacity (Silverado 1500) but because the MG Midget wasn't listed to fit on the trailer properly (track width too narrow). If the computer says no it means no, dammit. Damn trailer Nazis.

That's strange. When I went to rent a U-haul trailer to pull my Spitfire home with a 4runner, it would not recognize Spitfire. So I put in Midget and it took it. I guess they took it out of the computer.