Towing with a 200-series Toyota Land Cruiser

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Artie said:
There is definitely a pro/con discussion to be had with the LRA. If the range isn’t an issue than by all means, keep it simple and carry a jerry can just in case.

There is also the mission creep that comes along with a mod like that… extra weight could require different springs or you spring for the less troublesome larger LRA’s and need a bumper for your spare… it can snowball into a snorkel quickly, ask me how I know haha.
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We carry 2 wavian 20L and 1 wavian 10L on the roof rack. That's 12.5 gal+. We've needed it only once.
 
Artie said:
There is also the mission creep that comes along with a mod like that… extra weight could require different springs or you spring for the less troublesome larger LRA’s and need a bumper for your spare… it can snowball into a snorkel quickly, ask me how I know haha.
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Yup. I have no interest in the inconvenience of a swing out tire carrier and the added rear end weight of a bumper just so I can still stop every 2-3 hours to let someone out to pee while we’re towing on a road trip.

Now, I would rather add a fuel carrier to the tongue of my trailer before I’d add an LRA and save the thou$ands for something else.
 
An aux tank is the one mod you use every time you start your truck.
 
IMG_7398.webp

Ditched the stock 21's and added some Tundra 18's with 275/70R18 Nokian Outpost nAT tires. Realized the extra tire height meant my trailer now sat nose high, had to get an extended drop shank to bring it back level. Thankfully camping world had what I needed in stock and was able to get everything dialed in Wednesday night before leaving Thursday morning for a 500+ mile round trip to Lava Hot Springs in SE Idaho. Love the Nokians so far, very stable, very quiet. Settled on 50psi rear and 42psi front and that felt pretty good while towing and passed the chalk test.
 
Nothinghead said:
I’ll never financially recover from this:

View attachment 4146972
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I was only getting about 120 miles per tank towing our camper this past weekend. It was hilly terrain and crazy windy but I only saw one tank that crested 7MPG, I was in the 6MPG range most of the way... at $4.50 a gallon it was a pricey 500 miles weekend! 😭
 
Nothinghead said:
OBD Fusion on CarPlay and some sort of Bluetooth bd2 dongle off Amazon. I’ve had it for years. It seems to work okay. It’s disconnected on a few recent trips and I’m not sure why.
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Mine does this from time to time, it’s annoying but I chalk it up to Bluetooth being Bluetooth.
 
RyanR said:
View attachment 4153411
Ditched the stock 21's and added some Tundra 18's with 275/70R18 Nokian Outpost nAT tires. Realized the extra tire height meant my trailer now sat nose high, had to get an extended drop shank to bring it back level. Thankfully camping world had what I needed in stock and was able to get everything dialed in Wednesday night before leaving Thursday morning for a 500+ mile round trip to Lava Hot Springs in SE Idaho. Love the Nokians so far, very stable, very quiet. Settled on 50psi rear and 42psi front and that felt pretty good while towing and passed the chalk test.
Click to expand...
This looks similar to our setup(not with an LC yet)!

Whats the tongue weight of that trailer?
 
Completed my big loop from Colorado to California and back, ~ 3300 miles towed, including up the winding 1 from Santa Monica to Bodega Bay and learned a few things. For info, trailer is 16’ all aluminum and fiberglass composites, single axle, timbren/torsion axle, 3k lbs dry, 4400 GVWR and I was 4k or a little over most of the trip
  • need to buy a hitch scale
  • just because it can carry 54 gallons of fresh water doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to fill it up when towing, especially over the passes in Colorado (my old trailer only carried 15 gal fresh, so I’ve been in the habit of just filling it)
  • firestone airbags worked great, too good in some situations and I had to take air out to keep the trailer from being rear-high
  • need to swap my fixed drop hitch for an adjustable so I can adjust the airbags to the load and still keep level on the trailer
  • need to get new tires on the trailer, I don’t like the stock ones provided and want to move to a 10ply with better speed rating, especially when the hwy is flat and long and speed limit is 80 and I’m chugging along at 60-65 pissing everyone off
  • I could have really used the aux gas tank - but really, really don’t want to move the spare. I was averaging 185-190 miles range on a fill-up floating around 9-9.5 mpg for most of the trip - so when I was really out in the middle nowhere, I ended up having to stop and fill with a 1/4 tank when the next stop was beyond or too close to the limit
  • after towing with a 3.5L ecoboost F150 for years, I need to mentally switch from leaning on torque to climb to using the engine RPM more - I’m not a run at high RPM guy normally, so this takes some real mental adjustment for me when climbing
  • 50A DC-DC charging is incredible - I didn’t have time to get solar on the new trailer before we had to leave, DC-DC is the bridge I needed.
  • I think I need to consider running higher pressures in the LC tires when towing - they were 34-35 cold and ran 38-40 on the highway, but have to read up on that. Any suggestions on tire pressure adjustment (or not) when towing?
  • I am thinking it might be a good idea to get the oil changed a little early of the service interval as we did end up running the engine hard for hours and hours in the heat while towing - does anyone else do this? Anything else to check/change? (I had all of the drivetrain fluids changed just about 8 weeks ago, so those should be fine)
I have to say, this forum has been a fantastic resource for me as a new-ish LC owner.
 
alright, I f’d up and the pressures on my 200 were way too low. where is this mythical tire and wheel database that I see everyone posting about but can never find a link?
 
FergieAndJesus said:
Completed my big loop from Colorado to California and back, ~ 3300 miles towed, including up the winding 1 from Santa Monica to Bodega Bay and learned a few things. For info, trailer is 16’ all aluminum and fiberglass composites, single axle, timbren/torsion axle, 3k lbs dry, 4400 GVWR and I was 4k or a little over most of the trip
  • need to buy a hitch scale
  • just because it can carry 54 gallons of fresh water doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to fill it up when towing, especially over the passes in Colorado (my old trailer only carried 15 gal fresh, so I’ve been in the habit of just filling it)
  • firestone airbags worked great, too good in some situations and I had to take air out to keep the trailer from being rear-high
  • need to swap my fixed drop hitch for an adjustable so I can adjust the airbags to the load and still keep level on the trailer
  • need to get new tires on the trailer, I don’t like the stock ones provided and want to move to a 10ply with better speed rating, especially when the hwy is flat and long and speed limit is 80 and I’m chugging along at 60-65 pissing everyone off
  • I could have really used the aux gas tank - but really, really don’t want to move the spare. I was averaging 185-190 miles range on a fill-up floating around 9-9.5 mpg for most of the trip - so when I was really out in the middle nowhere, I ended up having to stop and fill with a 1/4 tank when the next stop was beyond or too close to the limit
  • after towing with a 3.5L ecoboost F150 for years, I need to mentally switch from leaning on torque to climb to using the engine RPM more - I’m not a run at high RPM guy normally, so this takes some real mental adjustment for me when climbing
  • 50A DC-DC charging is incredible - I didn’t have time to get solar on the new trailer before we had to leave, DC-DC is the bridge I needed.
  • I think I need to consider running higher pressures in the LC tires when towing - they were 34-35 cold and ran 38-40 on the highway, but have to read up on that. Any suggestions on tire pressure adjustment (or not) when towing?
  • I am thinking it might be a good idea to get the oil changed a little early of the service interval as we did end up running the engine hard for hours and hours in the heat while towing - does anyone else do this? Anything else to check/change? (I had all of the drivetrain fluids changed just about 8 weeks ago, so those should be fine)
I have to say, this forum has been a fantastic resource for me as a new-ish LC owner.
Click to expand...

Kill two birds with one stone
 
FergieAndJesus said:
  • I could have really used the aux gas tank - but really, really don’t want to move the spare. I was averaging 185-190 miles range on a fill-up floating around 9-9.5 mpg for most of the trip - so when I was really out in the middle nowhere, I ended up having to stop and fill with a 1/4 tank when the next stop was beyond or too close to the limit
Click to expand...
You can get the 12.5-gal LRA tank and it retains the spare in the stock location. It's pushed down...maybe an additional inch? But fully functional.
 
FergieAndJesus said:
Completed my big loop from Colorado to California and back, ~ 3300 miles towed, including up the winding 1 from Santa Monica to Bodega Bay and learned a few things. For info, trailer is 16’ all aluminum and fiberglass composites, single axle, timbren/torsion axle, 3k lbs dry, 4400 GVWR and I was 4k or a little over most of the trip
  • need to buy a hitch scale
  • just because it can carry 54 gallons of fresh water doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to fill it up when towing, especially over the passes in Colorado (my old trailer only carried 15 gal fresh, so I’ve been in the habit of just filling it)
  • firestone airbags worked great, too good in some situations and I had to take air out to keep the trailer from being rear-high
  • need to swap my fixed drop hitch for an adjustable so I can adjust the airbags to the load and still keep level on the trailer
  • need to get new tires on the trailer, I don’t like the stock ones provided and want to move to a 10ply with better speed rating, especially when the hwy is flat and long and speed limit is 80 and I’m chugging along at 60-65 pissing everyone off
  • I could have really used the aux gas tank - but really, really don’t want to move the spare. I was averaging 185-190 miles range on a fill-up floating around 9-9.5 mpg for most of the trip - so when I was really out in the middle nowhere, I ended up having to stop and fill with a 1/4 tank when the next stop was beyond or too close to the limit
  • after towing with a 3.5L ecoboost F150 for years, I need to mentally switch from leaning on torque to climb to using the engine RPM more - I’m not a run at high RPM guy normally, so this takes some real mental adjustment for me when climbing
  • 50A DC-DC charging is incredible - I didn’t have time to get solar on the new trailer before we had to leave, DC-DC is the bridge I needed.
  • I think I need to consider running higher pressures in the LC tires when towing - they were 34-35 cold and ran 38-40 on the highway, but have to read up on that. Any suggestions on tire pressure adjustment (or not) when towing?
  • I am thinking it might be a good idea to get the oil changed a little early of the service interval as we did end up running the engine hard for hours and hours in the heat while towing - does anyone else do this? Anything else to check/change? (I had all of the drivetrain fluids changed just about 8 weeks ago, so those should be fine)
I have to say, this forum has been a fantastic resource for me as a new-ish LC owner.
Click to expand...
To be clear: you're charging your trailer at 50A from the tow vehicle?
 
FrazzledHunter said:
To be clear: you're charging your trailer at 50A from the tow vehicle?
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I had the same reaction. That asking for a lot! The stock alternator will do it, but question is how long.
 
TeCKis300 said:
I had the same reaction. That asking for a lot! The stock alternator will do it, but question is how long.
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There's also the 50A.
I run a REDARC BCDC1250D wired for Lithium charging from my tow vehicle to the trailer.
Here's what I got:
45.66A at 13.24V for 604.5W which is P=IE.

It's possible I could have gotten 50A as the REDARC advertises 50A.
Maybe if the batteries were more discharged and REDARC cooperated it would have drawn more current.
I'm not sure what the voltage would be if the REDARC was drawing 50A but ASSUMING the same 13.24V 50A would be 662W.
I was very happy with 600W so I didn't pursue it further.
EDIT:
20250520_133938-6inlongside - Copy - Copy.webp


20250520_134752-s-6inlongside - Copy - Copy.webp
 
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FrazzledHunter said:
There's also the 50A.
I run a REDARC BCDC1250D wired for Lithium charging from my tow vehicle to the trailer.
Here's what I got:
45.66A at 13.24V for 604.5W which is P=IE.

It's possible I could have gotten 50A as the REDARC advertises 50A.
Maybe if the batteries were more discharged and REDARC cooperated it would have drawn more current.
I'm not sure what the voltage would be if the REDARC was drawing 50A but ASSUMING the same 13.24V 50A would be 662W.
I was very happy with 600W so I didn't pursue it further.
EDIT:
View attachment 4164568

View attachment 4164569
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I don't have any pics, but it's the victron Orion-XS 12v/12v 50amp 700 watt DC to DC charger connected to the trailer via 4AWG and an Anderson connector. I hired a local guy (electrician) that does van builds to install all of the electrical and he confirmed the alternator in the 200 series was more than adequate. It worked great and allowed me to leave for my trip w/out solar.
 
FergieAndJesus said:
I don't have any pics, but it's the victron Orion-XS 12v/12v 50amp 700 watt DC to DC charger connected to the trailer via 4AWG and an Anderson connector. I hired a local guy (electrician) that does van builds to install all of the electrical and he confirmed the alternator in the 200 series was more than adequate. It worked great and allowed me to leave for my trip w/out solar.
Click to expand...
I'm familiar with that Victron unit. It wasn’t available when I did my build. I would have preferred it.
But I'm happy with the REDARC as it also has a solar input which I've used.
Best of luck.
 
Towing my 16' Wells Cargo across America.

Total trailer weight is about 5500 pounds.

I'm averaging 6.7mpg 🤣 and need to stop for gas every 110 miles.

IMG_5670.webp
 
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