Towing a 21' Escape

[Surfdog]

Hi Escape folks, I am new to pulling a trailer. I have been using popup campers for years and I am finally done with them. I am thinking of purchasing a 21' Escape trailer, my tow vehicle is a 2015 double cab long bed 4x4 Tacoma. It specs out that it can pull that weight with my stuff. Can anyone give me some input on how realistic it is to pull a 21' or is it pushing the limits and should step down to a 19'. thx Surfdog

[jennykatz]

We towed the E21 with a 07 Sequoia Toyota with a 4.7 V-8 Towed fine no WDH got 11-13 mpg Towing
We finally upgraded to a Ford Expedition 2018 with a3.5 eco boost Tows even better we get 13-14 mpg towing and 25 mpg hwy not towing
Your Toyota will do just fine

[steve dunham]

Get the trailer you really want , the Escape 21 and step up to a Ford F-150 .
The escape will last far longer than your current tow vehicle

[Bobbito]

I second Steve on this. Get the trailer you want. I have a 2005 Tundra, and it probably has towing and carrying limitssimilar to your Tacoma. We find it is fine towing our 2015 Escape 21. It does have a couple hundred pounds more load limit than the Tacoma, but we seriously load our TV with canopy, roof rack, boat loader, boat, outboard motor, electric motor, etc. Our truck's 4.7L V8 has to work hard up steep inclines in the mountain passes, but with 285 hp we manage to maintain a minimum of 45 mph on the steep grades.
I wouldn't base the trailer on your current TV. You might want to upgrade it in future, or you might be perfectly happy with it. It depends a lot of how you use the truck around town, your parking space at home (our smaller Tundra fits in our garage; a newer Tundra or other pickup would not), whether you plan to travel continuously a lot or go to destination where you drop the trailer and explore (or in our case fish).

If we did mainly long trips with only brief stops I would opt for a bigger truck with better fuel economy towing.

Hope that helps.

Bob K

[gbaglo]

And, don't forget a decent size fuel tank.

[Fun&Sun]

We have towed our 21’ with a 2014 Tacoma with extra cab and canopy for 2 years with a WD hitch. We have traveled 40,000 Km with no problems. Weight is close to the trucks max with all out goodies but if you drive smart you will be fine.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I towed our E21 home from Texas to central california coast by way of Reno with our 2008 Tacoma TRD 4x4 Offroad, 4.0V6, 6 speed stick, equipped with airbags.


plus side, it towed it just fine, adequate power, felt sufficiently safe.

downside: horrible gas mileage and small gas tank meant gas stops way too often crossing Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada. 500 lbs tongue weight took a big bite out of our Tacoma's 1200 lb total payload. fiberglass topper took another bite. 500 lbs of wife+me, another bite. wooops, wasn't anything left for cargo, eeeeeek

so we got a big truck.


now we can go 500+ miles on a tank of diesel with no cares, and carry 1000 lbs of gear in the truck.

[PM15283]

Consider going to the Escape 5.0TA because it gives similar living space, better fuel economy, and towing safety. Don't know the pricing difference, but our '18 5.0 has been a dream come true.

[Surfdog]

Thx everyone for your info and quick response. I will suck up the low gas mileage for awhile and update the TV down the road. Looking forward to the spring and picking up the trailer.

[John in Santa Cruz]

downside of the 5.0TA (and any 5th wheel) from my perspective... its an uphill climb to the bed, and you lose most of your cargo capacity of your truck

(our payload for our last big road trip, which included a music festival, a star party, and a bunch of national parks..... 2 5G water bottles and 2 propane bottles not yet loaded)

[Iowa Dave]

I do not mind stopping for gasoline every three hours or so. I like to make sure my circulation is stimulated, safely check my phone, let my dog out, assure myself that I have plenty of fuel to cross a desolate area. Get a pop out of my refrigerator, eat lunch, wash the bugs off the windshield and lights. And generally look the tow and trailer rig over. The difference at the end of the day between what I drove and what I could have driven doesn’t add up to anything significant in the grand retirement scheme of things.
Iowa Dave

[John in Santa Cruz]

crossing the south west you can go a couple hours without even seeing a gas station.

[Iowa Dave]

In time, after multiple trips across the same country I’ve developed my standard stops,
Usually where I have had good experiences in the past, where there’s easy off and on interchanges, or where there is a signature food treat to be procured. I usually gas at these places even if I only need 8 or
10 gallons. Sometimes it seems foolish to the passengers in our vehicle but they usually enjoy the ice cream bar I bring back to the Highlander or the cold drink out of refrigeration. YMMV
Iowa Dave

[cpaharley2008]

another option is getting the Escape 19, the Taco should handle that fine without a big gas penalty.........my gas dropped going to a E21 from an E19 about 1-2 mpg due to the weight and size difference.

[Hollybee]

AFter talking w several E21 owners at CGs..who were towing w various V8 Fords, V6 rontiers/ Tacomas and a Toyota V6 SUV..we decided to keep our Frontier DBL cab long bed 2wd truck for awhile..it towed the Casita fine and if it tows the E-21 ok we'll keep it. I just like a mid size truck. IF OTOH it does not tow fine, we will replace it.
Our local Nissan Dlr is a family buddy and probably can "find" us a deal, like he did when we bought the Fronty.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

downside of the 5.0TA (and any 5th wheel) from my perspective... its an uphill climb to the bed, and you lose most of your cargo capacity of your truck

(our payload for our last big road trip, which included a music festival, a star party, and a bunch of national parks..... 2 5G water bottles and 2 propane bottles not yet loaded)

If that's all the stuff you had in the back, our F150 with the 5.0 could have easily hauled your stuff. People think you lose the whole bed in back, but in reality you don't lose much. You'd be surprised how much stuff we've had in the back pulling our 5.0.

Enjoy,

Perry

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

If that's all the stuff you had in the back, our F150 with the 5.0 could have easily hauled your stuff. People think you lose the whole bed in back, but in reality you don't lose much. You'd be surprised how much stuff we've had in the back pulling our 5.0.

Enjoy,

Perry

you can't exactly see it because its behind other stuff but in the front of that 8' long bed, is a 20" telescope thats a big wooden box with a mirror worth $1000s inside, and not something I want exposed to the elements. it weighs over 100 lbs, and is loaded/unloaded on wheels.

here's the astronomy equipment without all the other camping gear loaded in behind it...



thats a 7 ft. step ladder, a couple motorcycle ramps for loading/unloading, the yellow case has my eyepieces (its now a bigger case), the plastic bin has miscellaneous stuff I need, the silver bag on the right has the poles for assembling the scope.

the SuperDuty longbed truck has a very tall bed, the sides are 54" off the ground, and 20" above the bed floor. its 100" long front to rear inside, 8'4". I suspect I'd need to lift a 5.0TA quite a bit to reach over the sides and use an elevated hitch point.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

you can't exactly see it because its behind other stuff but in the front of that 8' long bed, is a 20" telescope thats a big wooden box with a mirror worth $1000s inside, and not something I want exposed to the elements. it weighs over 100 lbs, and is loaded/unloaded on wheels.

here's the astronomy equipment without all the other camping gear loaded in behind it...



thats a 7 ft. step ladder, a couple motorcycle ramps for loading/unloading, the yellow case has my eyepieces (its now a bigger case), the plastic bin has miscellaneous stuff I need, the silver bag on the right has the poles for assembling the scope.

the SuperDuty longbed truck has a very tall bed, the sides are 54" off the ground, and 20" above the bed floor. its 100" long front to rear inside, 8'4". I suspect I'd need to lift a 5.0TA quite a bit to reach over the sides and use an elevated hitch point.

Still that gear could be hauled with a 5.0. with a long bed PU. We cover the stuff we don't want wet and you could do that too. You chose to have a high, old, diesel pickup. If it only pertains to your truck, you're correct. Do we lose a cubic foot or so, yes we do, but it's not like what you imply. We're leaving next week and will be restacking the gear in the back to take what we need for the SW.

Enjoy,

Perry

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

Still that gear could be hauled with a 5.0. with a long bed PU. We cover the stuff we don't want wet and you could do that too. You chose to have a high, old, diesel pickup. If it only pertains to your truck, you're correct. Do we lose a cubic foot or so, yes we do, but it's not like what you imply. We're leaving next week and will be restacking the gear in the back to take what we need for the SW.

Enjoy,

Perry

with the fifth wheel hitch in the middle of the bed, how would I roll that 100 lb+ scope into the front of the bed? those two square golden metal things sticking out are the 'wheelbarrow' handles to move it.

[Doug2000]

I had a 2008 Tacoma 4.0L, a 2017 4Runner 4.0L and I can tell you they are great trucks. I only sold the Tacoma because my boys outgrew the back seat. I traded the 4Runner because I wanted a truck.

My experience. Get the trailer you want, later if the truck isn't up to it, get a full size.

The Tacoma will do fine 90% of the time. The gas mileage isn't that great. You'll find you'll have to push hard on the mountain passes and you'll want to pack light. But the Tacoma is up to the job. Pack light if your heading up in elevation.

What you'll need. You'll need a Weight Distribustion Hitch. The Tacoma has a soft suspension. Worth every penny in comfort while towing. Brake controller, you might need to stop. I also highly suggest using something to monitor transmission temperature. I used Scangauge2. Plugs into the OBD computer port under the dash.

Pulling my Escape 17B we had to pull over 3 times as the temperature got over 222 F.

Here is a write up I did

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f1...nce-13422.html