Tow & Trip Review - Chicago to Moab... Can you wheel a Limited Taco? Yes!

Just got back from a week long trip towing my camper all the way from Chicago to Moab. All in all, loaded with gear including the tongue weight of my 4000lb camper, the truck was sitting just a hair below the GVWR, so this was a really good test of my Limited (non-hybrid) starting from close to sea level and crossing the divide at just over 11,000 MSL over to Utah.

Overall, the trip itself was mostly uneventful - a week before, I installed the Timbren SES kit, which I believe was a great help in providing additional stability to the rear-end under load. The only complaint I had was on some concrete roads, the expansion joints led to a bit of porpoising, in particular, some stretches of I-76 between Denver and the border of CO/NE. I think this was due to a combination of my WDH and the truck "bouncing" on the Timbrens, next time I'll try and see if adding a spacer to the Timbrens would create more constant contact and smooth out the ride a bit. I was using 600lb load bars so I think those are in line with the tongue weight of my camper (approx 535lbs).

There were times where we had a significant amount of crosswind and I felt like my WDH hitch did a good job of keeping things manageable - at no point did things feel sketchy, the truck did great even on steep up and down grades through the I-70 "gauntlet".

Aside from that, the truck performed excellent - the only concern I had during the whole trip was on the way back, as we ended up in a 3 hour delay a few miles west of the Eisenhower tunnel, which led to a combination of standstill and stop-and-go traffic (I guess there was a crash on the other side of the tunnel causing a road closure). Going up the 6-7% grade definitely in stop-and-go traffic elevated the transmission temps to approx 80% of the bar, which seemed quite high and it didn't really have an opportunity to cool down as there wasn't much wind moving past the trans cooler. Nonetheless, the rest of the trip once we got moving went well.

This was a family camping trip and we met up with some of our family from Cali at our campsite in Moab. I wasn't planning on doing anything too crazy, but we had some spare time one day and my brother-in-law kept pushing me to hit up some trails. A bit of a "when in Rome" type moment, but decided to head over to Fins & Things for some off-road fun. Not gonna lie, was a bit nervous doing it without a lift or locker, but the truck did great on some 33" AT4Ws at stock height. The E-LSD did great at getting me up and down some of the steeper more technical parts of the trail. My skid plate and poor exhaust did take a bit of a bashing but that's part of the fun, right?

Settling in at the campsite (Ken's Lake) :




Spme pics from Fins & Things :

A few short clips from Fins & Things

That's awesome man thanks for sharing. I didn't know Timbren had something out for us already. I love their stuff!

The concrete roads are no fun. Lower parts of the USA they are better but the deep freeze and thaw ruins them. It’s a problem with any automobile, towing magnifies it. Definitely not just a “Tacoma” problem.

MT-Taco said:

The concrete roads are no fun. Lower parts of the USA they are better but the deep freeze and thaw ruins them. It’s a problem with any automobile, towing magnifies it. Definitely not a “Tacoma” problem.

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Agreed, seemed a bit exacerbated to say the least, I guess the best way to describe it is it felt like I was "bouncing" on the Timbrens. Hence I was thinking if I add one of the included spacers, it might smooth it out a bit.

I probably should have toyed around with the AVS settings. Wonder if messing with the dampening setting would have made a difference.

Some of the Montana concrete interstates had a reduced speed limit cause they were so bad! Would be cool to find a solution though.

Looked like a fantastic trip! probably headed to Moab in the spring? Any suggestions?

Good Stuff!

MT-Taco said:

Some of the Montana concrete interstates had a reduced speed limit cause they were so bad! Would be cool to find a solution though.

Looked like a fantastic trip! probably headed to Moab in the spring? Any suggestions?

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Man, so much to do. I was with family so we spent a lot of time together and I only had half a day or so to get out and wheel.

Fins & Things is a 5/10 rated trail so it does have some technical aspects and it's recommended to have at least 33s with good grip. It's a lot of slippery standstone but I had no issues getting up and down, aside from some occasional scraping. Hells Revenge is in the same area if you're feeling saucy but you'll need a lift and 35s to get through it, and most likely a locker. I didn't even bother trying.

If I had the time, would have loved to get to Gemini Bridges which is a easier trail with great views that could be done on pretty much any stock 4x4. Chicken Corners is another great trail with similar difficulty to Fins & Things.

If you're getting to the arches, particularly delicate arch, get there early. Another member here gave me that advice and I was shocked to see so many people there! It gets crowded!

Great write up. Did you feel you needed some kind of towing mirrors?

Sagebrush said:

Great write up. Did you feel you needed some kind of towing mirrors?

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They probably would have helped a bit but I didn't have them. Then again my trailer isn't too long (20') or that wide, so seeing around it isn't that bad. Just typically lean in a bit when merging, but the blind spot system also adjusts for your trailer length which is really nice.

Thanks. Happy camping.

Thanks for sharing. Great idea what expect, planning a road trip to Moab next year from Toronto Canada.