Towing with a 55? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Krahn]

I'm considering an fj55 as a towing rig for my nautique (4500 lb/surge braked/500 lb tongue weight). Am I nuts? Is the 55 too light? I'd post a link to the vehicle in question but I'm just a newbie! I understand a sbc would likely be ideal, but would there be other concerns with this kind of weight? Thanks for any feedback-its appreciated.
Mark Krahn

 

[77cruiser77]

Welcome to mud Mark!

I want to say a 55 can do it. I also obsess about cruisers like most here and if there's a way to make a cruiser do the task I will.

In stock form you're asking too much but you can always upgrade the drivetrain and people always do. A 2F won't be up to the job so a SBC will be needed. Do everything you can to make sure you have good cooling. With that much weight I might also consider air bags in the suspension. Would be interested in what people say would be the best transmission to use. My understanding is you want an auto.

I've never towed with a cruiser so very interested what others have to say.

 

[SteveH]

On flat ground, at sea level, across town, one time - maybe. Any other use, no. I think owner's manual limits FJ55 towing to 2500#.

You'd want your trailer brakes to be 100% perfect. I presume this FJ55 is new enough to have front disk brakes? Does the trailer have tandem axles?

 

[Mark Krahn]

Thanks for the responses! Re the trailer, its a tandem axle, surge brake unit, calling for 5740 gvwr. I figure 5700 has got to be close considering the truck weight comes in at 4000. I have found specs limiting towing with an fj55 to 3750lbs, this would be a little more. Am I nuts?

 

[77cruiser77]

The specs are under the assumption you are towing in stock form.

Beef it up and it can be done. Just a matter of what all needs to be beefed up. I would think axles are fine. A full floater swapped in would be a good upgrade.

 

[subzali]

More than the engine I would be concerned about brakes and suspension. Have to stop and have to keep it from swaying at speed.

 

[Fast Eddy]

"fj55" is way too vague. A stock fj55 with a 1f, 3 speed and drum brakes? I agree with SteveH. Nat's 55 with a v8, disc brakes and an nv4500 would tow a boat just fine under most circumstances.

 

[Living in the Past]

Sorry I won't even think about doing it with surge brakes. That is counting on your tow vehicle stopping hard enough to make them work. Electric brakes with a controllerwould be a much better way. If you get to where the tail is wagging the dog (fish tailing) you want to be able to apply the trailer brakes without the vehicle brakes to straighten it out. Won't want to try a tap the brakes in the middle of the tail wag and hope for the best. If you would lose your vehicle brakes the trailer surge brake won't work until you hit something and stop all of a sudden which is too late to do any good.

 

[Howard705]

Weight distributing hitches do wonders to stabilize the vehicle and load. I've pulled (no weight distribution hitch) a tandem axle trailer with a vw and a 17' tracker boat (no brakes on either) with one of my (stock) 40s and it towed like it wasn't there.

 

[tyama]

I'd also be worried about stopping power & would look into upgrading the brakes & MC.
Cheers, ty

 

[Mark Krahn]

Hey thanks for all the interest! I definitely need to be thinking about suspension/brake mods. A search through the vendors shows lots of availability and options from what I can see. I am near purchasing a 55 and am really trying to itemize what needs to be done this winter to make it a great tow vehicle on weekends and an awesome vehicle the other 5 days of the week

 

[pb4ugo]

I don't know if I've ever seen a boat trailer w/electric brakes.

 

[Howard705]

I've had surge brakes that worked so well (in good condition-rare) that worked so well that you could skid and jerk the tow vehicle by stabbing the tow vehicle brakes. Don't think boats have them because they're submerged.

 

[SteveH]

I posted reply #3 above. This past weekend, I was towing a 4000# tandem axle landscape trailer (loaded with branches) behind my crew cab '01 Ford F350. Some knucklehead backed out directly in front of me across a rural road where I was driving a 45 mph. I nailed the brakes, swerved across the yellow line into the opposite lane (no one was coming) and laid on the horn. He stopped rolling back across the road and the guy missed hitting me by about 1 foot. My Ford weighs nearly 7000# and has ABS and four-wheel disk brakes. Would I have had a different experience in an FJ55? I think so.

A proper tow vehicle is 'too big' for many reasons - acceleration, stopping, emergency avoidance maneuvers, etc. I'm not trying to be 'Mr. Safety' here, but there's not a single Toyota I own that could have pulled this off as well, or at all. I towed a first-gen 4Runner on a dolly behind my FJ55 (towed weight about 4000#) and it was ugly - wouldn't do that again.

I bought this giant Ford after too many cases of the tail wagging the dog, towing heavy things with Toyotas. If you do tow your boat with the '55, give yourself the most generous safety margins you can against other traffic offenders driving near you.

 

[Howard705]

Inspect the surge brakes-shoes/etc. Bleed them. They're usually vented to the outside and fluid picks up humidity and wheel cylinders are submerged. Adjust them. Bleed them. Be sure that all the mechanism for the master cylinder is working smoothly. Bleed them more. Trailer brake problems are often caused by age and neglect-boats don't usually get lots of miles. That goes for electric brakes also. Most people don't understand how they even work-much less work on them. If you can get all the tires on the trailer to lock-it can't get much better. Have the 55 brakes working perfectly-discs on front?-even better add discs to the rear. borrow a weight distributing hitch to test out-world of stability difference. . I hauled my 80 on a trailer (almost 7000#)almost 300 miles behind a 1/2T '96 Chevy (not much over 5000). First time I added big old Reese heavy weight distributing hitch with lots of tongue weight and the bars about as tight as they get to a trailer I've had 15 years for 40s. Actually went most of the way 70-75 mph and was sweating this haul bad. I almost forgot it was back there-super stable-NO SWAY whatsoever. Single rear axle electric brakes that work perfectly with a properly adjusted (level and power) Tekonsh controller that has inertia sensing. Small brakes on 1/2t Chevys and it stopped great. Tires at 60 psi.

 

[Living in the Past]

I don't know if I've ever seen a boat trailer w/electric brakes.

Don't think boats have them because they're submerged.

I agree electric brakes won't be used on a boat trailer. I have a small fishing boat and everyone else I know has the same. Nautique is a type of boat I never heard of so it didn't say boat to me. Guessing it's not to popular in the Southwest. My neighbor has a Ranger bass boat and it has a five pin trailer light plug. Fifth pin is to disable the surge brake while backing up. The FJ55 has the same track as the FJ40 which to me is to narrow to be a good tow vehicle for anything that heavy. Back in 93 I was heading up a head while a 2nd generation 4Runner towing a travel trailer was driving down. It was fishtailing so bad I drive off as far as I could on the shoulder to keep it from hitting me. If the guy have a brake controller he didn't know how to use it. The trailer flipped on it side taking the 4Runner with it. Had something like that happen to be. I was towing single axle travel trailer with my stock 68 FJ40. Towing up hill that the grade level off towards the top and started down. Didn't realize I was heading down with a increasing grade. Before I knew I was fishtailing. Without electric brakes and brake controller I would have lost it and rolled. While a boat is has a lower center of gravity because it won't have electric brakes I just won't do.

 

[BANDICOOTII]

Towing has many issues and consideration to be made. Most the time trailer hitch GVW and tongue weight are only the start. The towing vehicle has just as much to do with the overall safety of the tow. Remember you can endanger everyone on the road by your choices. I tow a FJ60 with a Class A RV with a 22,000lb GVW. It's got all the bells and whistles, brakes you name it. 5000 lbs is it... MAX. I would think twice bout towing anything that weighs anywhere near the towing vehicles weight! 4 or 5k pushing on 18,000lb Vs 4 or 5k pushing on 4500lbs is a big deal!