Towing Issues: What is the difference in towing classes, adult sheep, gross vehicle weight

Question
My toyota tacoma has a class two hitch. Is it safe to tow a light trailor approx 5' x 8' with a aluminum popper on top which weighs about 200lbs? The poper will provide shelter on the road for up to 6 adult sheep weighing about 100 lbs each. Sometimes I'll haul hay instead of the popper. Thanks for your support.

Answer
Thank you for your question.

With the numbers you have given me, it looks like your hitch is proper and safe for the trailer and cargo you intend to haul.

The Toyota Tacoma specifications say that the vehicle can tow a trailer with a maximum of 3500 pounds and tongue weight of 350 pounds. An online trailer hitch site I looked up gives the same exact weights for the hitch.
However, remember your vehicles Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (that's total weight of truck and payload) is only about 4500 lbs.  This only gives you about 1500 lbs of payload.  So as long as the total weight of the sheep and trailer don't exceed these recommendations, you should be okay.


Hopefully this has helped you with question.

Vern