05 Tundra 2499

[Billin]

Hello, I have been a member for many years, I have had a bunch (6) campers since 2002. Including a T-1950, it was a great camper, but the layout wasn't great for three people (Me, DW and Daughter). We just bought a Sunline T2499. The best layout for us and we love it. I picked it up 400 miles from home. I have a 2005 Toyota Tundra regular cab, V6, 8ft bed. I love the truck. I invested in an EAZ WD hitch. At the dealer they spent a lot of time with me and and getting the hitch set up. The trailer has two full 30 lb tanks and a full water tank. It squatted my truck down about 2 inches in the rear. I know someone is going to comment negatively, but the set up towed GREAT! Aside from the squat, the trailer was level and all was good. I know if you look up the truck's specs, you will see that it has 245 hp and 282 torque. I helped out some guys at a performance shop a few years ago and to thank me they put the truck on a dynamometer. It came in with 305 hp and 295 torque at 4500 rpm. Higher than I'll ever attempt to rev it, but cool all the same. I don't plan on towing it more than a couple hours away. We towed it 7 hours back from the dealer without an issue. We are happy to say the least. My question is, should I let the 2 inches of squat go? Or try to fine tune the WD setup. Thank you,
Billin

[jim44646]

one thing that will help is dump the water. only carry a few gallons for the road then fill at destination. (30gal=240lbs)

[mainah]

I have a Tacoma with the same engine and tow a T1700 it pulls it fine but lacks in the mountains. unless I go out to the coast there is no where I can go with out dealing with hills. Your's is pretty heavy compared to mine I have the upgraded springs that helps and so might air bags. You can try more tension on the bars but it gets to the point of weight shift and you maybe loading the trailer axles too much. I would not worry too much about the revs mine is a 6 spd. and I can not let the revs drop below 2,000 or I'll be down shifting even more. My truck is rated 6500# there is no way I would even want to come close to that.

[Billin]

Mainah,

We had some good sized hills in the pan handle of Florida. I have a 5 speed auto transmission. I did not have it in overdrive. I lived in Newport, Etna and Pittsfield Maine, back in 2002. We had a '72 Lark TT. The hills slowed my '90 F-150 302 down a bit... Where we live in south Florida, most of the "hills" are over passes... I thought I may have been the only person towing a Sunline with a Toyota! It's nice to know there are other Toyota's towing these TT's.
I will definently let some water out of the fresh water tank. I don't want to empty it though, just in case some one might need to "go" while we are traveling... Thank you for your advice.

[mainah]

You might check and see where your tank is I'm guessing it's right near the trailer axles so that probably is not loading your truck it does however weight 8# per gallon. I have friends and relatives in VT and the first thing I come to is Crawford notch in NH it rises 1623' in 30 miles and the last 9 miles 116' per mile! And then I get to Vermont!

[JohnB]

Hi Billin,

Congrats on your new camper. Before the camper I have now, I had a 2004 T2499 and measured the weights inside it a lot. That floor plan will load weight towards the tongue. That makes it a very stable towing camper. But it comes with being able to have the truck hold up the loaded tongue weight.

Your truck rear squatting 2", that by itself is not a major concern, more so may be what did the truck front end change from unhitched height at the tire fenders?

This post may help on your weights
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...499-10143.html

You are going to need to be care full or you can overload your truck rear axle or possibly the truck receiver. It is common for a T2499 to have a loaded tongue weight of 1,000 to 1,200# and no fresh water. Adding fresh water full can raise the TW 150# all by itself as the fresh tank of half way between the ball and the front axle. I started with a 1500 Tahoe and later went to a K2500 Suburban to tow it with the heavy tongue weight. It was either I had to leave gear at home or upgrade the truck. Some folks have been able to not carry so much and do this with 1/2 ton pickup. The 1/2 ton pickup can carry more weight then the 1/2 ton SUV as the PU is made to haul weight and the SUV is more a cushy rider and can carry "some" weight.

Here is a post where I measured actual loaded TW of several campers.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...hts-10765.html

You can see the T2499 and where the loaded TW's come. The 1,200# TW T2499 in the list was mine, with no water. Between the heavy TW and truck bed weight, that can be the cause of the truck rear axle or receiver issues. I'm not saying your are overweight yet, you may not be, just a friendly heads up, that floor plan can hold a lot of gear and much of it ends up as increased tongue weight. The empty T2499 with full propane and battery had a 800# TW with no camping gear inside. It goes up from there.

The T310SR I have now is sort of an all grown up T2499. It has the same rear living area, center kitchen and front bed room. It too loads towards the tongue. Just a lot heavier then the T2499 did. Thus the truck I have to tow it.

Hope this helps and happy camping in your new camper.

John

[Billin]

Thank you John. I have a picture of the truck hooked up in my driveway, but I can't up load it to the site for the life of me. I did install a 1 1/2 inch suspension lift a while back. I have 800# bars, and was thinking about getting a set of 1K bars. It towed well. The fresh water tank was nearly full. I have one set of holes left on the hitch to go lower, but I am reluctant to lower the hitch, for fear of having the tongue on the TT being nose down. I will post a picture soon. I read your super detailed posts on the WD setup, and loved it! Thank you again, Bill

[bunjin]

Actually I believe a little nose down is better then nose high. John will be able to answer that.

I also think 800# bars is rather light with that trailer. 1000-1200 many be more like it. It's not good to go too stiff on the bars either. Scale weights are the best way to determine the right bars. Again John is the expert in this area.

BTW, welcome to the forum. I also have a 2005 Tundra. It is a double cab. I have a 1996 T-2053 which is about as heavy a trailer I care to pull with it. I haven't gotten the weights together on it yet, however with twin 30# tanks, double batteries and with generator and other STUFF in the truck bed it can get heavy fast. The small V-8 with the double cab is only rated at 6700#s. I'm not sure what the gear ratio is. Next time I'm at the dealer will ask as I can't find anything on it. 100000 thousand miles on it. Bought used. I'm rambling.

[Billin]

Bunjin, your Tundra is rated to tow 7,300 lbs. mine is rated for less being a V6. Our rears are 3.9 gear ratio. I found it online at Toyota.com today.
Thank you, Bill

[bunjin]

Ours, as in yours or as in yours and mine? I expected mine to be at least about 3.73.

I believe with the double cab, 4 wheel drive and the tow package it drops to 6700. Each item added to the truck subtracts from the initial weight.

6700 x 75% = 5075 and 7300 x 75% = 5475. That range is about my comfort range. I prefer reserve power. I also prefer the smallest trailer to get the job done. At least for now.

I may be in CT, but I'm in very hilly country.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Billin

Thank you John. I have a picture of the truck hooked up in my driveway, but I can't up load it to the site for the life of me. I did install a 1 1/2 inch suspension lift a while back. I have 800# bars, and was thinking about getting a set of 1K bars. It towed well. The fresh water tank was nearly full. I have one set of holes left on the hitch to go lower, but I am reluctant to lower the hitch, for fear of having the tongue on the TT being nose down. I will post a picture soon. I read your super detailed posts on the WD setup, and loved it! Thank you again, Bill

HI Bill,

There are 2 "How to" post on posting pictures.

See reply 7 here http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f1...ics-11235.html

And here http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f6...club-7650.html

And yes, 800# WD bars on a T2499 can be small unless you micro mange the weight down to only a 800# loaded TW.

On the nose down question. Towing level is best however it does not always work out that way. If you cannot obtain level due to your WD setting being correct on the truck then you shift the shank up or down to be the next best location. You can only adjust within 1 hole on the shank so you have to choose which is next best. (Assuming you have a hitch capable of the being adjusted enough. )

If you are say, 1/4" high, that can be better then being 1" low if you can only adjust the shank by 1 1/4" increments. 1" low is a lot and can end up making the front axle of the camper take more weight. Long term that can create problems even if the camper tows good.

However if you are 1/2" low verses 3/4" high, yes 1/2" low is better as being 3/4" or higher on some trailers can create towing instability with wind currents over the top where being lower does not create the same air current situation.

If you do load the camper to have 1,000# tongue weight, I will give you a friendly heads up on the year camper you have. In 2005 Sunline changed the A frame sizing and the main frame rails. They use to have 5" channel iron A frames and 5" main frame rails. My 2004 was like this. The 2005 redesign created 6" I shape frame rails, (a good thing) but they down sized the A frame to 4" channel.(not a good thing) The 4" channel on higher loaded TW can create excessive flexing in the A frame and in the bad cases, buckle the frame header.

The T2499 due to it's higher loaded TW can aggravate this problem. It can happen on other 2005 to some 2007's other floor plans in the 7,000# GVWR class camper, but they normally do not end up with the higher TW so the issue does not show up so often.

Not to fear this issue but to understand it and better is, to have your header reinforced before damage comes. This post shows the issues and the corrections that many forum members with that vintage A frame has addressed the problem. It is easy to check not if you have the beginnings of a bent header or it is not yet start is to stop the problem before it advances. A not so bad a fix if the problem has not advanced

http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...99-a-9326.html

Hope this helps

John