If we were buying today, we'd seriously consider the Highlander instead of the 4R-- it appears to be a very
GOOD match for 2619/2720 under all circumstances. I apologize for "dissing" the Highlander, my writing definitely did that. I didn't mean to! I only
meant to say the the Taco/4R V6 sntadard hitch-on-frame is far, far better than Toyota says it is.
And BTW, I was in such a rush that I mistyped-- there's two bolts into horizontal bottom member of the box frame, PLUS two bolts into the vertical member parallel to the bumper (4 big bolts, not two). Long explanation follows. (Feel free to skip-- concentrate on the APOLOGY, I think TM on a Higlander is good):
Unibody vehicles depend on the actual body panels (welded together in hundreds/thousands of places) for stiffness and strength. They're usually STIFFER than comparable-sized frame-based vehicles, and they weigh less (saving gas).
But, the carefully bent and welded joints of a Unibody are not as
strong as a frame, even though they're more stiff. (In spite of being weaker, they bend LESS). You shouldn't put a lot of stress onto a single point of a Unibody undercarriage, and that's why Toyota uses 6 points of attachment on the Highlander-- less stress on the unibody structure at each individual bolt. But the box frame into which the 4R/Taco "standard" hitch receivers are bolted is built from very strong pieces of steel, and the welded box shape has great strength in all directions, even though it's more flexible does tend to twist (and then recover) in comparison with a Unibody. That superior strength is why "real trucks" are built on frames. From what I see, it can clearly handle way more than the 3500 lbs which they state in the literature.