Towing with a RAV4 is ok per TM!

http://www.trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Ca...owVehicles.htm

I can't believe TM posted a RAV4 on their website as compatible to tow a TM. It has a 2000lb tow capacity! http://www.trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Ca...F/2008-new.pdf

There is a tow option for the V6 RAV4 (at least 2008 models) that allows 3,500 pound trailers.

[Bill]

Despite what we might like to believe, the purpose of the TM web site is to sell TMs. As with any other sales tool, you need to read it with that in mind, and carefully evaluate what you read. In my opinion, the TM site is a great deal more honest than other RV web sites (as well as tow vehicle web sites), and I give them great credit and admiration for this. But caveat emptor, and common sense, still apply.

Bill

[Mr. Adventure]

My first thought, offering an opinion about a vehicle I haven't looked at in 5 years, was that this wouldn't be such a good idea. But I just downloaded the brochure for the 2008 RAV-4, and here's what it says for the 3.5L V6:

Horsepower: 269
Torque:246 ft lbs
Wheelbase:104.7
Track 61.4
Curb weight:3675
GVWR: 5015
MPG: 19/26
Towing capacity: 3500

Assuming Toyota is rating vehicles the same way as in prior years (the owner's manual has the real answer), this would be a GCWR of 8517.

So, other than the wheelbase being a little shorter by a few percent (the 2008 Highlander, 4-Runner, & std Tacoma have 110", for example), these specs aren't all that much worse than the standard 2008 V6 Toyota Tacoma:

Horsepower: 236
Torque:266 ft lbs
Wheelbase:110
Track 63/63.4
Curb weight:3615
GVWR: 5350
GCVR 8100
MPG: 16/20
Towing capacity: 3500 (6500, GCVR 11,100 with towing upgrades)

With Toyota and TrailManor telling people that this should work, and lacking real world experience or knowledge of real world experience to the contrary, I don't think we should be telling people not to tow a TM with a 2008 RAV-4 (Prior year models have lower ratings, of course).

Just my two cents. Our TV is an 07' Toyota FJ Cruiser which has a shorter wheelbase and a 239 HP V6. We do have a WDH and have had it through some pretty hilly areas in western North Carolina and haven't had a lick of problems.

I just find it amusing that the pdf lists the '08 RAV as having a 2000 lb cap on the TM site.

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by Mr. Adventure

....these specs aren't all that much worse than the standard 2008 V6 Toyota Tacoma:

Towing capacity: 3500 (6500, GCVR 11,100 with towing upgrades)

Yeah, Toyota says that they have "the same towing capacity". Don't believe it-- the Taco is a body-on-frame truck, Rav4 is unibody and NOT built for towing. Toyota would love to sell you the "upgraded hitch" with 4 bolts as part of the towing package, but the "standard" hitch bolts to the same frame and the two bolts are BIG. It's good for way more than 3500 lbs.

I've owned 'em both, you know.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by rickst29

Yeah, Toyota says that they have "the same towing capacity". Don't believe it-- the Taco is a body-on-frame truck, Rav4 is unibody and NOT built for towing. Toyota would love to sell you the "upgraded hitch" with 4 bolts as part of the towing package, but the "standard" hitch bolts to the same frame and the two bolts are BIG. It's good for way more than 3500 lbs.

I've owned 'em both, you know.

I have no idea what you're talking about, but my Highlander has a 6 bolt hitch attachment, and all 6 of them installed just fine with a standard Hidden Hitch receiver into the the standard Toyota nuts welded to the frame (and no, I wouldn't think it's a good idea to do this with just a 2 bolt hitch receiver, no matter who makes it).

Look, I agree that the 4-Runner is probably a better tow vehicle, particularly where you live at 6000+ feet, and I'm not knocking the Tacoma. We might visit your elevation once in awhile, but we promise not to be there before your last snowfall in May and we'll be outta there before your first one in September.

The issue is whether most people (living as they do in states with a maximum elevation that's a lot lower than your garage floor) could enjoy towing a TrailManor with a 2008 RAV-4. The 2008 RAV-4 weighs more than my Highlander, has a higher Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, has both a higher horsepower and GCWR, and neither of us probably knows too much about how many bolts it's hitch receiver attaches with.

I'm not getting what a unibody has to do with it unless you're planning to need more mounting holes somewhere. If somebody needs a truck, great, but that doesn't mean the rest of us do. I think we should leave the 2008 RAV-4 people alone unless we know about someone who's actually driven one, or even better, actually towed something with it.

[rickst29]

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.

[rickst29]

Originally Posted by Mr. Adventure

I....The 2008 RAV-4 weighs more than my Highlander, has a higher Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, has both a higher horsepower and GCWR, and neither of us probably knows too much about how many bolts it's hitch receiver attaches with.

Right, I haven't looked. Although the current RAV-4 is bigger than your older 1993 Highlander, the current Hi has significantly more GCWR, PayLoad, wheelbase, and track than the Rav4. (I was focusing on 2008.) The new Highlander has a wider track, and more Payload, than my 4R!