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We want to purchase the 400, but have a few questions

borkieborkie Member Posts: 7
in Looking to purchase a trailer?
My husband, myself and two big dogs are taking sabbatical this year, and plan to travel around western US and Canada from June to October. We are very interested in buying the 400. We've never owned a trailer before. 
We want to trail it with a 2014 Toyota Highlander AWD with towing capacity of 5,000 lbs. We are trying to figure out if this is enough.
If you have the 400, what are you towing it with? What is your vehicle's towing capacity? How does it handle? 

Also, we want to be able to camp in remote sites. For example, some of the dispersed camping sites we used last summer in national forests in the Bob Marshall wilderness involve pretty rough terrain. What can the Tab 400 handle? 
If you own a 400, what kind of terrain have you explored so far? How did it handle?


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Comments

  • knoxville1915knoxville1915 Member Posts: 60
    You will want a vehicle that controls the T@B 400 regardless of hills, wind, and terrain. We tow ours with a Toyota Tundra, which is rated at 10K lbs. and has a 5.7 liter V8. I wanted to ensure we had plenty of power to control this trailer, which has a much larger surface area than people realize; it's a teardrop shape, but not a teardrop trailer. I have been very pleased with our decision to get a larger vehicle (it has the CrewMax cab, which our 90 lb. boxer loves). I really would not want to tow this trailer with anything smaller.

    As far as terrain, if you want to go over rough-ish terrain, go EXTREMELY slowly. This trailer is not built to go too rough. Again, you will want a tow vehicle that can control this trailer AND a sway bar.

    The trailer is fantastic in and of itself. It is very well made, has lots of lighting, decent size tanks, a great battery, and is very comfortable.

    2018 T@B 400 (Rol@nd) towed by 2012 Toyota Tundra CrewMax (C@lgon)
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  • jkjennjkjenn Member Posts: 6,394
    Follow your manufacturer's instructions regarding a sway bar. My manufacturer (Jeep) has specific guidelines for when you should use a sway bar. 

    2021 T@b 320 Boondock "Mattie Ross" | 2021 T@b Nights: 239 | Total nights in a T@b 455 | 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Overland | T@b owner since 2014

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  • borkieborkie Member Posts: 7
    Thanks for your advice. Oops, we traded in our Toyota Tundra for the Highlander this past summer.
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  • Travels_with_delaneyTravels_with_delaney Member Posts: 15
    We tow our T@B 400 with a 2014 Toyota 4Runner which is also rated for 5000#.  It has plenty of power with the V6 and we had no issues towing it from Florida where to purchased it back to Indiana where we live.  We used a friction sway bar and had no sway even with some pretty good winds.  The Highlander is built on a car chassis where the 4Runner is a truck chassis so there may be some differences there.  
    2018 T@B 400
    2014 Toyota 4Runner
    youtube.com/c/travelswithdelaney
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  • robptrobpt Member Posts: 90
    Travels_with_delaney said:
    We tow our T@B 400 with a 2014 Toyota 4Runner which is also rated for 5000#.  It has plenty of power with the V6 and we had no issues towing it from Florida where to purchased it back to Indiana where we live.  We used a friction sway bar and had no sway even with some pretty good winds.  The Highlander is built on a car chassis where the 4Runner is a truck chassis so there may be some differences there.  
    I'm glad I read your post, as it has been nagging me just how well my 2008 4Runner (106K miles) with the V6 will do with the 400. You confirmed what I felt, and I may invest in a friction sway bar like you have done. You also confirmed what I felt about it having a truck chassis as being a benefit for towing. 

    You brought your T@B in Florida and towed it back to Indiana? Lol, I'm doing the opposite as mine is coming down from North Carolina and I will be picking it up in Jacksonville, FL next weekend to drive it back the 2.5 hours to my home, also in Florida. 
    North Florida T@B 400 towed by a 2014 Nissan Frontier
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  • gooddogs74gooddogs74 Member Posts: 76
    We bought ours last month.  We live in Jacksonville.  Towing with a 2017 Honda Pilot rated to 5K (has the AWD and transmission cooler added).  I was a complete novice to towing and I have no trouble at all with it.  I feel very comfortable hooking it up and towing it by myself and we just have the regular set up for it (no sway bar, etc).  It handles very well behind the Pilot.  
    2018 T@b 400
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  • Travels_with_delaneyTravels_with_delaney Member Posts: 15
    robpt said:
    Travels_with_delaney said:
    We tow our T@B 400 with a 2014 Toyota 4Runner which is also rated for 5000#.  It has plenty of power with the V6 and we had no issues towing it from Florida where to purchased it back to Indiana where we live.  We used a friction sway bar and had no sway even with some pretty good winds.  The Highlander is built on a car chassis where the 4Runner is a truck chassis so there may be some differences there.  
    I'm glad I read your post, as it has been nagging me just how well my 2008 4Runner (106K miles) with the V6 will do with the 400. You confirmed what I felt, and I may invest in a friction sway bar like you have done. You also confirmed what I felt about it having a truck chassis as being a benefit for towing. 

    You brought your T@B in Florida and towed it back to Indiana? Lol, I'm doing the opposite as mine is coming down from North Carolina and I will be picking it up in Jacksonville, FL next weekend to drive it back the 2.5 hours to my home, also in Florida. 
    We were actually on vacation with our 2017 Jayco Hummingbird and ended up trading it in on the T@B 400....needless to say that was an expensive vacation!   LOL
    2018 T@B 400
    2014 Toyota 4Runner
    youtube.com/c/travelswithdelaney
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  • marknjudymarknjudy Member Posts: 378
    That’s funny! Hope to see it more in uour videos. We need more teardrop style videos. 
    Mark - 2016 T@b Max S (Silver/Red), 2012 F-150
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  • robptrobpt Member Posts: 90
    @Travels_with_delaney, I watched your  very detailed Youtube video on the 400 and found it to be one of the most informative ones I have seen to date. You answered a lot of questions regarding storage, and I feel that I got a better understanding of the trailer. I would recommend it to anyone who has not set foot in the 400, but was strongly interested in it. Yes, that sounded like a very expensive vacation, but an undoubtedly fun one!
    @gooddogs74, if you live in Jacksonville (where I will be picking up my 400 next weekend) hopefully we will see you at one of the state parks in this area. I'm sure we'll not miss each other as I doubt there are many 400s around here, much less the 320S!
    @borkie , Depending on how rough your terrain, I think you might want to consider the 320 Outback. I kind of wish I had given it more thought after I took the 320S back to my land and to other remote spots that made me nervous about damaging the trailer. It wasn't that "rugged" terrain so to speak as it was North Florida sand, but rocky  terrain, would have been a different story. Good luck on your trip!
     


    North Florida T@B 400 towed by a 2014 Nissan Frontier
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