Installing a hitch and towing a trailer... thoughts?

[dogsridewith]

Originally Posted by CrankyOldMan

The official weight I've seen around here is 700 lbs but that's only specified for Canada. The US doesn't offer any rating for tow capacity, probably due to some liability or FMVSS issues.

I've towed a Harbor Freight 4' trailer with tires and racecar stuff for years with no issues. Probably isn't more than 250 lbs loaded. That said, I've pulled close to 1k before and it's not something you should do often. This was with the Corolla engine though and I have a manual trans as well with a higher force pressure plate, theoretically giving my drive train more capacity. Any way you slice it, you shouldn't ever exceed the gross vehicle weight rating (GWVR) which is a combination of the vehicle, fuel, passengers, cargo, etc.

The real weak point is the fact that the hitches all mount to the unibody, so you're mechanically limited to what the threaded inserts or weld points can hold.

You had a Corolla engine in a Yaris?