New 2016 179 HR owner in Austin

Hello Austintaco,

The Tacoma should do quite nicely in the meantime. I had a Nissan Frontier before we got the F-150. It did okay in the lower elevations, but struggled a bit at the higher ones. I did do a SumoSprings rear suspension upgrade on it and that helped a lot.

If you are going to plug it into an existing outlet, it should be at least 20A if you are going to run the AC. If you can (or have an electrician friend), install a 30A RV outlet (110V, not 220V). It isn't too hard to do. Then you will be able to run more than just the AC and lights.

Welcome to the forum.  Seeing that your 179 is now 7 years old are there repairs/mods/upgrades you need to do before camping or is it good to go?  Glad to have you aboard and have fun not only with your 179 but also with your 24/7 owners manual right here!

One thing you need to know is the weight of your 179 when it is fully loaded as though you are going on a trip.  At that point go to your local county garage and have it weighed, they will do it for free.  Example: our fully loaded 177 with 36 gallons of water weighed in at 2940 lbs.  You need 11% or more of that weight on the tongue to reduce/eliminate trailer sway.  In our case 2940 x .11 = 323.4 lbs.  I carry a Shurline weight scale with me.  On our a-frame there are 2 batteries and 2  20# propane tanks - weighed the tongue and it was 340 lbs. so I am good to go.  On our setup as fresh water is used the tongue weight will increase because the FW tank is behind the axle.  We only utilize a $40 Curt friction bar and have had zero issues with sway over all sorts of weather conditions (snow, sleet, hail, rain and cross winds in excess of 25 mph) over 45,000 miles.  Over the years we towed 8 years with an '08 and '13 Explorer and the last 4 years with a couple different F-150's.