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Towing with the Highlander

41 messages,  Last post on Oct 11, 2009 at 10:56 AM

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#36 of 41 Re: Max. Speed when towing a trailer? [TowRookie] by webgood Jan 18, 2009 (12:52 pm)
Replying to: TowRookie (Jan 16, 2009 11:01 pm) I'll second everything that grahampeters says...all good advice. Just my personal experience with our '04 AWD V6, we tow a pop-up w/dry weight 1,245 lbs & 135 lb tongue-weight, plus about 300 lbs of 'stuff' and 2 adults...never a problem at 65, even 70 MPH, but I usually keep it about 60-62. If I had to do it all over again, I'd put on a weight-distributing hitch as there's a fair amount a sag as it is, but if you're not carrying all the extra stuff like us, you should be fine. There's plenty of power and, yes the gas mileage is really good, we average 22+ on our roadtrips. Regards, BGood
#37 of 41 Towing a Pop-Up by schieftain Jul 27, 2009 (11:22 am)
Hi All, new to this forum. We have an 04 Highlander V6, 4WD, with no tow package. I installed a U-Haul hitch and standard trailer wiring connector to pull my 4x8 utility trailer (which it does well). We are thinking about getting a pop-up camper and wondering what else we need to pull a a camper of about 1500lbs + 600 lbs in people and gear. I know power-wise it is rated for 3500 lbs. But am wondering if we need the larger radiator or tranny oil cooler that were part of the tow package? Toyota wants $520 for the cooler and mounting parts, $350 (approx.) for the radiator. My mechanic is telling me I should be fine without all this for a pop-up, but I'd like a Highlander-expert opinion. Our local Toyota Service rep. tells me I should be ok without, if we keep the weight to around 2000 lbs, but I think we're going to be slightly over that. I also have seen a lot of mention of electric trailer brakes on this forum. How essential are those? None of the campers I've seen so far have these, are they an add-on to the camper? Replies to this message: webgood (Jul 27, 2009 7:11 pm)
#38 of 41 Re: Towing a Pop-Up [schieftain] by webgood Jul 27, 2009 (7:11 pm)
Replying to: schieftain (Jul 27, 2009 11:22 am) We used to tow a Fleetwood Cobalt pop-up, it's a relative light-weight (1,440 dry/2,300 GVWR) and it came with electric brakes. We had the hitch (DrawTite) and controller installed on our '04 4x4 and it worked great! The HL had the "tow package" with the upgraded cooling, tranny cooling and charging system, but it never taxed it. I'd recommend it only if you're doing a fair amount of mountain driving or consistent really hot ambient temps (eg. Phoenix area, Death Valley and the like) on a regular basis. We're in the midwest and used it in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I do recommend a model with electric brakes and most state laws have them as a requirement for trailers over a certain GVWR, in the range of many pop-ups. It makes for much more controllable stops particularly on wet/slippery pavement...the trailer essentially brakes or helps "drag" your tow vehicle down rather than it continuing to shove you along as your HL slows. Hope this helps. Reagrds, BGood
#40 of 41 2008Toyota Highlander towing capability by pencils Oct 11, 2009 (10:56 am)
Iam looking at a 2008 US base model. I want to be able to tow a 6X12 Vnose cargo trailer that weighs about 2500 lbs loaded. Will the Highlander tow this? The trailer does have brakes which we would hook up to the Highlander. Distance being towed could be substantial - Ontario Canada to Florida.

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