Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

I have 18.5 foot Nitro and I was hoping to get a smaller
truck to tow it on short trips around the Bay Area. My
normal tow vehicle has a camper on it and is sort of a
pain to prep the truck for quick boating trips.

I was hoping a 4.0 liter Toyota Tacoma might be sturdy
enough to get me from San Jose to the Delta? Anyone
have any experience with this or suggestions of a smaller
truck that could be used as a commuter/tow vehicle?

Thanks,
mike

i had a ford ranger 4.0 and it towed a 19 champion no problem and was able to pull it out of the water. stopping was another thing. it stopped, but not on a dime. added air bags helped the sag. other wise no complaints made tows to shasta and oregon too

I used to tow a 18 ft. skeeter with that same truck. no problems except on big hills, Brakes were the only issue i had. Around the bay should be no problem.

Its the stopping, just like the others have said.
You will be fine with 19'er and smaller.

I hav a V6 Taco w 200K on it..... about half of those miles were towing my 19' Ranger...... it's a solid choice, you'll be fine.... it will slow a bit if you drive thru mountains up to CL though....

Thanks everyone! This is really good news and
I appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Mike

I've towed boats with a couple of new Tacoma's over the past 8-10 years. No problem, except give yourself extra braking room. I had a Tundra for a while also, and the Tacoma with the TRD package is equivalent.

You will be a lot better off with the five speed!!!

R U sure you want to buy a new Tacoma at this time. I use to work at Fremont when it was GM when they were closing down. There may be quality issues with the Tacomas from the NUMMI plant. There is also a rusting issue on the Tacoma frames at this time

Towing with a V6 is OK, except for hills (up or down). Braking issues on hill down grades. Slow and easy when climbing hills and there will be no issues.

Smileee

I have a 1996 2/4 4 runner v6 220,000 miles and tow my 18 champ no problems coming out ot the ramp. Even the steep one at Russo's. Going to CL you'll need to know where the steep hills are to get your rpm up and speed will be 45-50 mph going up.
Getting 16 mpg towing at 60 mph.

i tow a 19 foot skeeter with a 2006 frontier, if i recall it was a 4.0L v6 as well.. i had no problems towing the boat up or down hill.
i dont think the tocoma has 4 wheel disk brakes like the frontier.
I would recommend a bigger truck. But the tacoma will have enough power for a 18 foot bass boat..

only problem, poor gas mileage while towing vs a tundra or a v8

Toyota eh. Might be more concerned with the random acceloration than the breaking lol, kidding of course.

used to have a nitro and the toyota didn't like the launch at king island

backseatfishergirl wrote:used to have a nitro and the toyota didn't like the launch at king island

who does....

I used a 90 Toyota, standard cab with V6 to bring my 86 Ranger 395 up from Palm Springs to Sac. It was a struggle to get over the Grape Vine but I made it. I have also used it to launch at Paradise which is a pretty steep ramp without any problems.