[VAC] Re: Toyota towing

[Sarah Calhoun <srcalhoun@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I will just put in my $.02 here that my brother had a Nissan pickup,
supposed to have had a heavy-duty bumper, had a hitch built into it,
supposed to have been rated heavy enough to tow a loaded u-haul trailer
(he checked all the weights), but halfway down I5 in California, not any
unusual strain on it, he happened to pull into a gas station and saw
that the bumper was twisted and had been about to pull off from the
truck.  The welder who put a new bumper on that afternoon said the old
one didn't have the reinforcing internal struts it was supposed to have
and it was a wonder it had gone as far as it had.  Others have had good
experiences with the lighter weight tow vehicles but I would just
caution, watch out for the phrase "supposed to have" and be skeptical
about weight ratings unless you know that vehicle has in fact towed
those weights without a problem.  The trucks that are being discussed
here are somewhat heavier than his Nissan, but it was supposed to be
capable of doing what he was doing, and it wasn't.

--Sarah