5th wheel hitch installation Toyota Tacoma

[Donkona]

Can a 5th wheel hitch be installed on 2012 toyota tacoma TRD 4x4 with towing package.

[Donkona]

Huh ....?

[J Mac]

It might be best to ask Toyota Canada. I tow a 17' Escape with a Tacoma.

[fudge_brownie]

I guess part of the answer would be, it depends. Tell us more what you are planning to tow. I expect not one of these?

[Donkona]

No, not one of those for sure. Lol
We're looking at the Escape 5.0 TA 21ft
The weight rating for my Tacoma is 6500 lbs so I think this trailer rating is well below specs.
Not sure about the 5th wheel hitch installation though. Many comments that it can't be done or its not recommended.

[Bruce H]

For my 2011 Tacoma doublecab five foot bed I had Trademasters just up the street from ETI install a B&W Patriot slider hitch for my 2017 5.0TA. It works very well. I have the 7700 lbs package but your package should work as well.They are the only installer I know who does Tacomas.

[arniesea]

Originally Posted by Bruce H

I have the 7700 lbs package but your package should work as well.They are the only installer I know who does Tacomas.

Bruce, not to doubt you but I have never heard of a Tacoma with a 7700 lbs package. Max tow package I have seen for Gen 2 Tacoma's (2005-2015) was 6500 lbs. I would be very curious where you got such a beast!

Toyota recommends against using a Tacoma for 5th wheel towing. But I suspect that is because there are not many 5th wheels within the Tacoma tow rating. Also because of the composite bed. That being said, if one were to cut through the bed and mount directly to the frame, the Taco with tow package ought to be able to handle it. I would check with Trademasters to get a detailed description of how they go about it.

[Bruce H]

7700 lbs is in the paperwork that came with the truck. I know that Trademasters mounted the rails to members under the bed as the bed is next to useless. They said that they have done it many times. I looked at an Escape 5.0 east of the SF Bay Area where the owner had welded in his hitch under the bed. I try to keep within the Taco's back axle restriction by having only a little weight added to the bed area of the 5.0 and 2 light people in the back seat. The hitch is also heavy. No problem so far but if needed I could add to the suspension.

[NCBill]

Typically there is a sticker on the driver's door jam, which will list a lot of details, including payload capacity. Many trucks run out of payload capacity long before they run out of towing capacity. My truck is rated to tow 9,000 pounds (an F150). But the payload capacity is only 1450 pounds. The more options you have on your truck, the lower the payload. For example, mine is a Lariat, leather heated and cooled seats, side bed steps, pretty much every option you can think of. If I had a more basic version, my payload capacity would be close to 2000 pounds.

By the time you add a fifth wheel hitch, driver, passenger(s), dog, some gear, and the tongue weight of the fifth wheel, its pretty easy to run out of payload capacity. And do you want to tow with a safety margin? I am looking at an Andersen hitch for example, just to save payload (their hitch is very light weight).

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by arniesea

Bruce, not to doubt you but I have never heard of a Tacoma with a 7700 lbs package. Max tow package I have seen for Gen 2 Tacoma's (2005-2015) was 6500 lbs. I would be very curious where you got such a beast!

Toyota recommends against using a Tacoma for 5th wheel towing. But I suspect that is because there are not many 5th wheels within the Tacoma tow rating. Also because of the composite bed. That being said, if one were to cut through the bed and mount directly to the frame, the Taco with tow package ought to be able to handle it. I would check with Trademasters to get a detailed description of how they go about it.

Recently installed Andersen Ultimate in my 2016 F150. The weight of trailer is carried by the frame irregardless of what your bed is made of.


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[War Eagle]

Last year at the Green Eggs & Ham rally near Montgomery, AL, we were camped next to a Tacoma (don't know the year) pulling a 5th-wheel Scamp (lighter, I know) from Florida. He said he had a local trailer shop in Florida mount two steel rails (I'm guessing 6" wide, pretty thick, but not sure of actual thickness) lengthwise in his bed anchored by the bed's original bolts plus spacers so as to not affect the composite bed, then mounted a 5th wheel hitch to those rails. The only problem was sideways flex in the hitch's vertical plates (something to do with the location of the wheel wells), so the shop welded some diagonal steel plates to stop the side-to-side flex. He indicated it was was performing great for him.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

...
He said he had a local trailer shop in Florida mount two steel rails (I'm guessing 6" wide, pretty thick, but not sure of actual thickness) lengthwise in his bed anchored by the bed's original bolts plus spacers so as to not affect the composite bed, then mounted a 5th wheel hitch to those rails. The only problem was sideways flex in the hitch's vertical plates (something to do with the location of the wheel wells), so the shop welded some diagonal steel plates to stop the side-to-side flex.
...

This could be done with a steel (or aluminum) box, too... but it's not, by any hitch manufacturer. I don't see any need to do custom fabrication leaving a pile of structure in the box (even when the hitch is not in use), regardless of the box material.

While I do see the logic of using the OEM-designed structure of the box mounting points, I also note that commercially produced fifth-wheel and ball-in-bed hitches typically have considerably more substantial mounting points than the box mounts... presumably due to the potential for high loads concentrated at one of the four mounts.