Can a Toyota Tacoma Tow a Skid Steer? The Complete Equipment Hauling Guide

The manufacturer's operating weight is the figure to start from. Bobcat's North American spec pages give:

Other makes are in the same bands for similar sizes, but use the spec sheet or the machine's own plate rather than assuming. Attachments beyond the standard bucket (forks, augers, grapples) add weight, and so do a full fuel tank and anything stowed on the machine.

The S70 is narrow, too: Bobcat lists it at 36 in wide with the bucket, so it needs no oversize permit. Most skid steers in the S70-to-S650 range are well under the 8.5-ft legal width.

The trailer adds its own weight. An equipment or tilt trailer's empty weight is on its VIN plate or spec sheet; small single-axle and light tandem units commonly weigh somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 lb empty, which is why the trailer choice matters almost as much as the machine. Its GVWR must also cover the machine plus the trailer.

Using the 6,500-lb best case and a hypothetical 2,000-lb tilt trailer:

• Bobcat S70 class (about 2,900 lb): 2,892 + 2,000 + 100 lb of chains and binders = 4,992 lb, which is 77% of 6,500 lb and inside the 5,200-lb planning figure. Feasible, if payload covers the tongue.
• Bobcat S450 class (about 5,400 lb): 5,370 + 2,000 = 7,370 lb before chains, which is over the rating. Not feasible on any Tacoma.
• Bobcat S650 class (about 7,900 lb): the machine alone exceeds the rating. A three-quarter-ton truck or larger is the realistic tow vehicle.

Which limit binds? For an S70-class load, usually payload. At a 10–15% tongue, a 5,000-lb trailer puts 500–750 lb on the hitch, and that comes out of the same payload that carries the crew and tools. A Tacoma grade with a lower payload than the 1,709-lb maximum can run out of it with two people and a bed full of tools.

Run your own weights through the GCWR calculator, then confirm on a scale.

A skid steer is dense, so a few feet of position on the deck changes tongue weight a lot.

• Position the machine's centre of gravity slightly ahead of the trailer axle(s) so the tongue carries about 10–15% of the loaded trailer. Too far back makes the trailer tail-heavy and prone to sway; too far forward overloads the Tacoma's rear axle and payload.
• Lower the bucket or attachment to the deck for transport.
• Measure, don't guess. A truck-stop scale weighing the truck with and without the trailer gives tongue weight by subtraction. See how to calculate tongue weight.

Securement. Federal cargo securement rules require tie-downs whose combined working load limit is at least half the cargo's weight (49 CFR 393, Subpart I). These apply to commercial vehicles, but they are a sensible minimum for anyone: use rated chain and binders at each corner of the machine's tie-down points.

An equipment trailer carrying a skid steer is heavy enough that nearly every state requires brakes on it, and many require a breakaway system. Thresholds differ: compare them for every state on the job's route in the brake threshold chart, with statute links in towing laws by state. A Tacoma towing a braked trailer needs a brake controller; Toyota lists one as available.

If you are hauling for work, federal and state commercial rules may apply even to a pickup, depending on the combined weight rating and whether you cross state lines. Ask your state DOT or the FMCSA before you start billing for jobs that involve the truck.

Axle weights. A dense load can overload the Tacoma's rear axle (GAWR on the door label) even when the trailer is under the tow rating. A scale ticket with separate axle weights answers this directly. See how to read your towing sticker.

The machine weight is Bobcat's published figure; the truck, trailer and crew are a made-up illustration.

A 2024 Tacoma grade rated at 6,500 lb with a hypothetical door-label payload of 1,500 lb, a Bobcat S70 (2,892 lb) and a single-axle tilt trailer with a hypothetical empty weight of 1,900 lb and a GVWR of 7,000 lb.

• Trailer weight: 2,892 + 1,900 + 90 lb of chains and binders = 4,882 lb. That is 75% of the rating and under the trailer's own GVWR.
• Tongue: measured at 12%, about 586 lb.
• Payload: driver (200 lb), helper (180 lb), tools (150 lb), ball mount (25 lb) = 555 lb, plus 586 lb tongue = 1,141 lb, inside 1,500 lb with 359 lb spare.
• Brakes: at this weight the trailer has brakes and the truck needs a brake controller.

Swap the S70 for an S450 and the trailer alone is about 7,360 lb: over the tow rating and over this trailer's GVWR. That is the dividing line for a Tacoma.