Can a Highlander tow a 3124? - Page 2

Gwenne & Len · 09-02-2016, 04:48 PM

thank you all!

roned2 · 10-30-2016, 12:39 PM

We towed with a 2008 Highlander with the 5000 pound rating for 6 years. Travelled across the USA to Washington State with no problems, including the mountains. We were driving slowly but so were many 5th wheelers with bigger vehicles. Our Trailer was a 3124KS. We towed with minimal weight aboard and no water. No problems at all on that trip. Still have the Highlander and it is running great.

Gwenne & Len · 10-30-2016, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roned2

We towed with a 2008 Highlander with the 5000 pound rating for 6 years. Travelled across the USA to Washington State with no problems, including the mountains. We were driving slowly but so were many 5th wheelers with bigger vehicles. Our Trailer was a 3124KS. We towed with minimal weight aboard and no water. No problems at all on that trip. Still have the Highlander and it is running great.

Thanks for that vote of confidence! We asked the question in july, I think, and took the plunge. We'll be towing our 3124 with out Highlander on our 7 week trip across country, this spring......

Campers r us · 04-12-2017, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwenne & Len

Thanks for that vote of confidence! We asked the question in july, I think, and took the plunge. We'll be towing our 3124 with out Highlander on our 7 week trip across country, this spring......

This post really caught my attention! We have a 2012 awd Highlander and just bought a new to us 3124. We are debating the towing capability of our Highlander too.
Any new information?

**Bill** · 04-12-2017, 05:01 PM

If there is any question (and the posts above show that there is), it is really important and really easy to weigh your trailer for camping. Next time you are packed up for camping, and both the tow vehicle and TM are loaded with everything you are going to take, including people, swing through a Cat Scale (catscale.com). The scales are everywhere, and they cost only $10. Drive on / drive off, and they print out what your tow vehicle weighs (front and rear axle), and - more important - your TM. Don't keep wondering and worrying about weight. This is easy!

Bill

Gwenne & Len · 04-12-2017, 05:36 PM

We have pulled our 3124 with our Highlander for 2 trips now......no problems. We haven't done mountains yet.....Bill's suggestions are good. My husband has been very careful with loading - to put the heaviest weight over the axle of the TM.....and he checked the tongue weight carefully.

tentcamper · 04-12-2017, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwenne & Len

We have pulled our 3124 with our Highlander for 2 trips now......no problems. We haven't done mountains yet.....Bill's suggestions are good. My husband has been very careful with loading - to put the heaviest weight over the axle of the TM.....and he checked the tongue weight carefully.

I would be very interested in your feedback after your trip. We have been toying with the thoughts of going bigger.

gonzo628 · 04-12-2017, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tentcamper

Would be very interested in your feedback after your trip. We have been toying with the thoughts of going bigger.

Are you still pulling with a first-gen sienna? We started towing our TM with a 2nd Gen Sienna and it did quite well (for the lands that we towed it on). Still, I wanted something bigger (because I was not confident in the Sienna's mountain prowess, and we have minor transmission issues in that van (weird 3rd to 4th shifts under power...kind of slips out of third ...bit of a stutter, high rpms... then slips into fourth). I used that on the "we should not be towing this much weight with the Sienna" as the arguments to convince my wife that we "needed" something bigger..

tentcamper · 04-13-2017, 08:20 AM

No we switched to 2012 highlander a few years ago. 1st gen Sienna was when coming close to 200K miles started having small issues. Our sienna would work hard on 10% grades on back roads of WV.

I don't think you can ever have to much power in the mountains. But when camping, we are never in a hurry. So we were okay with the 3.0L sienna. It has more HP then my Large ford V8 van had when I pulled a 31' TT.

Gwenne & Len · 04-15-2017, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tentcamper

I would be very interested in your feedback after your trip. We have been toying with the thoughts of going bigger.

Will do - so far, so good. We are not doing serious mountains until 80 on the way home, though. We are in Santa Fe right now, at 7000 ft......the car pulled just fine, though we noticed a couple of skips - I think it was the air conditioning......we're in 'noticing mode'......