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Toyota Truck Towing Capacities

Updated on May 5, 2025

White pickup truck towing a teardrop camper on a mountain road with desert landscape and yellow flowers.

Before hitching your Toyota Tacoma or Tundra to a trailer this season, there are a few variables you should know, like its towing capacity. Unsure of your particular year, model, and configuration's capacity? Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’re providing a comprehensive overview of Toyota pickup towing capacities, by model and generation, to ensure a safe and predictable experience while towing your boat, travel trailer, or utility trailer. To kick things off, let’s dive into the semantics of towing capacity, including what this value means and who/what determines it.

What is Towing Capacity?

Towing capacity refers to the maximum weight your Toyota pickup can legally and safely tow. It’s important to note that a vehicle’s towing capacity isn’t the maximum weight that your pickup can physically move but rather the maximum weight that your Tacoma or Tundra can pull while accelerating, stopping, and maneuvering in a controlled fashion. After all, even a Toyota Corolla could hypothetically move 10,000 pounds on flat ground–though that weight would drop the car on its bump stops and push right through the dinky factory brakes.

Knowing your pickup’s towing capacity is vital for several reasons, namely, to ensure your pickup can legally and safely tow a particular trailer. Not only is overloading your Tacoma or Tundra illegal, but also a significant risk to its mechanical components, your safety, and the safety of your passengers and other drivers on the road.

For example, if your pickup’s rear suspension lacks the stability to tow a heavy load, the trailer is more likely to fishtail at highway speeds. If your brakes are insufficient, you’ve essentially created a multi-thousand-pound battering ram on wheels!

What Variables Determine a Vehicle’s Towing Capacity?

Your Tundra and Tacoma’s towing capacities are defined by the engineers at Toyota, taking into consideration several specifications and variables. These include your vehicle’s:

Engine configuration
Power output
Axle gear ratio
Cab configuration (regular, double, crew)
Bed configuration (short box or long box)
Drive configuration (2WD or 4WD)
Transmission type (automatic or manual)
Hitch class

Toyota Tundra Towing Capacities

White pickup truck with "TASHAAZIE" graffiti parked on pavement near trees and a fence.

Now that we’ve thoroughly defined towing capacity let’s get into some numbers. In the following section, we outline Toyota Tundra towing capacities, utilizing a separate chart for each of the model’s generations, including facelifts.

1st Generation / XK30 (2000–2002)

Blue Toyota Tundra pickup truck in a desert setting.

1st Generation Facelift / XK40 (2003–2006)

Silver Toyota Tacoma pickup truck parked on cracked desert ground under a partly cloudy sky.

2nd Generation / XK50 (2007–2009)

Silver Toyota Tundra pickup truck parked on the street.

2nd Generation Facelift 1 / XK50 (2010–2013)

Mud-covered off-road pickup truck parked on grass under a blue sky.

2nd Generation Facelift 2 / XK50 (2014–2018)

Black Toyota Tundra pickup truck with off-road tires parked on the street.

2nd Generation Facelift 3 / XK50 (2019–2021)

Red Toyota Tundra pickup truck with large black off-road tires and custom wheels.

3rd Generation / XK70 (2022–Now)

Toyota Tundra pickup truck in a desert with a "Twisted Trails" flag.

Toyota Tacoma Towing Capacities

White pickup truck towing a U-Haul trailer in a parking lot under a clear blue sky.

In the following section, we outline Toyota Tacoma towing capacities, utilizing a separate chart for each of the model’s generation, including facelifts.