1997 TOYOTA T100 ESP

128
However, if towing with a fifth wheel
trailer, the cargo load must be dis-
tributed so that the tongue load is
19 to 21% of the total trailer weight.
Never load the trailer with more
weight in the back than in the front.
About 60% of the trailer load should
be in the front half of the trailer and
the remaining 40% in the rear.
HITCHES Use only a weight carrying hitch de-
signed for the total trailer weight. Toyo-
ta does not recommend using a weight
distribution (load equalizing) hitch.
The hitch must be bolted securely to
the vehicle frame and installed accord-
ing to the hitch manufacturer's instruc-tions.
If using a fifth wheel hitch, the center
of the king pin must be forward of the
axis of the vehicle's rear wheels, and
installed according to the manufactur-
er's instructions.
The hitch ball and king pin should havea light coat of grease.
Toyota recommends that the trailer
hitch, except fifth wheel hitch, be re- moved when not towing to prevent in-jury and/or damage by the hitch in
event of a rear end collision. After re-moving the hitch, the installation area
should be sealed to prevent entry of exhaust fumes and mud.
Do not use an axle-mounting hitch
as it may cause damage to the axle
housing, wheel bearings, wheelsand/ or tires.
NOTICE
BRAKES AND SAFETY CHAINS Toyota recommends trailers with brakes that conform to any applicable
federal and state/provincial regula- tions.
A safety chain must always be used
between the towing vehicle and the
trailer. Leave sufficient slack in the
chain for turns. The chain should cross
under the trailer tongue to prevent thetongue from dropping to the ground in
case it becomes damaged or sepa-
rated. For correct safety chain proce-
dures, follow the hitch or trailer
manufacturer 's recommendations.
CAUTION
If the total trailer weight exceeds
453 kg (1000 lb.), trailer brakes are required.
Never tap into your vehicle's hy-
draulic system as it would lower its
braking effectiveness.
Never tow a trailer without using a
safety chain securely attached to
both the trailer and the vehicle. If
damage occurs to the coupling
unit or hitch ball, there is danger of
the trailer wandering over into
another lane.!
TIRES Ensure that your vehicle's tires are
properly inflated.
The trailer tires should be inflated to
the pressure recommended by the
trailer manufacturer in respect to the
total trailer weight.

129
TRAILER LIGHTS
Trailer lights must comply with federal,
state/provincial and local regulations. See your local recreational vehicle
dealer or rental agency for the correcttype of wiring and relays for your trail-
er. Check for correct operation of the
turn signals and stop lights each time
you hitch up. Direct splicing may dam-
age your vehicle's electrical system
and cause a malfunction of your lights.
BREAK-IN SCHEDULE Toyota recommends that you do not
tow a trailer with a new vehicle or a ve-
hicle with any new power train compo-
nent (engine, transmission, differen- tial, wheel bearing, etc.) for the first
800 km (500 miles) of driving.
MAINTENANCE If you tow a trailer, your vehicle will re-
quire more frequent maintenance due
to the additional load. For this informa-
tion, please refer to the scheduled
maintenance information in the Own-
er 's Manual Supplement/MaintenanceScheduleº.
Retighten all fixing bolts of the towing
ball and bracket after approximately
1000 km (600 miles) of trailer driving. PRE-T OWING SAFETY CHECK
Check that your vehicle remains level
when a loaded or unloaded trailer is
hitched. Do not drive if the vehicle has
an abnormal nose-up or nose-down
condition, and check for improper
tongue load, overload, worn suspen-
sion or other possible causes.
Make sure the trailer cargo is securely
loaded so that it cannot shift.
Check that your rear view mirrors con-
form to any applicable federal, state/
provincial or local regulation. If not,
install the rear view mirrors required
for towing purpose.
TRAILER TOWING TIPS
When towing a trailer, your vehicle will
handle differently than when not tow-ing. The three main causes of vehicle
trailer accidents are driver error, ex-
cessive speed and improper trailer
loading. Keep these in mind when tow-
ing: Before starting out, check operation of
the lights and all vehicle-trailer con-
nections. After driving a short dis-
tance, stop and recheck the lights and
connections. Before actually towing a
trailer, practice turning, stopping and
backing with a trailer in an area away
from traffic until you learn the feel.
Backing w ith a trailer is difficult and re-
quires practice. Grip the bottom of the steering wheel and move your hand to
the left to move the trailer to the left. Move your hand to the right to move
the trailer to the right. (This procedureis generally opposite to that when
backing without a trailer). Also, just
turn the steering wheel a little at a time,
avoiding sharp or prolonged turning. Have someone guide you when back-
ing to reduce the risk of an accident.
Because stopping distance may be in-
creased, vehicle-to-vehicle distance
should be increased when towing a
trailer. For each 16 km/h (10 mph) of speed, allow at least one vehicle and
trailer length between you and the ve-
hicle ahead. Avoid sudden braking as you may skid, resulting in jackknifing and loss of control This is especially
true on wet or slippery surfaces.
Avoid jerky starts or sudden accelera-tion. If your vehicle has manual trans-
mission, prevent excessive clutch slip-
page by keeping engine rpm low and
not racing the engine. Always start out
in first gear.

Part 5Protecting your Toyota from corrosion
153
CORROSION
PREVENTION ANDAPPEARANCE CARE
Protecting your Toyota from corrosion
Washing and waxing your
Toyota
Cleaning the interior
Toyota, through its diligent research, de-
sign and use of the most advanced
technology available, has done its part to
help prevent corrosion and has provided you with the finest quality vehicle
construction. Now, it is up to you. Proper
care of
your Toyota can help ensure long-
term corrosion prevention.
The most common causes of corro-
sion to your vehicle are: The accumulation of road salt, dirt and
moisture in hard-to-reach areas un- der the vehicle.
Chipping of paint, or undercoating
caused by minor accidents or by
stones and gravel.
Care is especially important if you live
in particular areas or operate your ve-
hicle under certain environmentalconditions: Road salt or dust control chemicals will
accelerate corrosion, as will the pres-
ence of salt in the air near the sea-
coast or in areas of industrial pollution.
High humidity accelerates corrosion
especially when temperatures rangejust above the freezing point.
Wetness or dampness to certain parts
of your vehicle for an extended period
of time, may cause corrosion even
though other parts of the vehicle may
be dry.
High temperatures will cause corro-
sion to those components of the ve-
hicle which are prevented from quick-
drying due to lack of proper ventilation.
The above signifies the necessity to keep
your vehicle, particularly the underside,
as clean as possible and to repair any
damage to paint or protective coatings as
soon as possible.
To help prevent corrosion on your
Toyota, follow these guidelines:
Wash your vehicle frequently. It is, of
course, necessary to keep your vehicle
clean by regular washing, but to prevent corrosion, the following points should beobserved: If you drive on salted roads in the win-
ter or if you live near the ocean, you
should hose off the undercarriage atleast once a month to minimize corro- sion.

Part 6Maintenance requirements
157
VEHICLE
MAINTENANCE ANDCARE
Maintenance requirements
General maintenance
Does your vehicle need repairing?
For scheduled maintenance infor-
mation, please refer to the sep-
arate Owner's Manual Sup-
plement/Maintenance Scheduleº.
Your Toyota vehicle has been designed to
for fewer maintenance requirements with longer service intervals to save both your
time and money. However, each regular
maintenance, as well as day-to-day
care, is more important than ever before
to ensure smooth, trouble-free, safe, and
economical drivings.
It is the owner's responsibility to make sure
the specified maintenance, including
general maintenance service, is per-
formed. Note that both the new vehicle
and emission control system warranties
specify that proper maintenance and care
must be performed. See Owner's Guide,
Owner 's Manual Supplement or W arranty
Booklet for complete warranty informa- tion.
General maintenance General maintenance items are those
day-to-day care practices that are impor-
tant to your vehicle for proper operation.
It is the owner's responsibility to insure that the general maintenance items are
performed regularly.
These checks or inspections can be done
either by yourself or a qualified technician,
or if you prefer, your Toyota dealer will be
pleased to do them at a nominal cost. Scheduled maintenance
The scheduled maintenance items listed
in the Owner's Manual Supplement/
Maintenance Scheduleº are those re-
quired to be serviced at regular intervals.
For details of your maintenance Sched-
ule, read the separate Owner's Manual
Supplement/Maintenance Scheduleº.
It is recommended that any replace-
ment parts used for maintenance or
for the repair of the emission control
system be Toyota supplied.
The owner may elect to use
non- Toyo-
ta supplied parts for replacement pur-
poses without invalidating the emis-
sion control system warranty.
However, use of replacement parts
which are not of equivalent quality
may impair the effectiveness of the
emission control systems.
You may also elect to have mainte-
nance, replacement, or repair of the
emission control devices and system
performed by any automotive repair
establishment or individual without
invalidating this warranty. See Own-
er's Guide, Owner's Manual Supple-
ment or Warranty Booklet for complete
warranty information.

166
If you perform maintenance by your-
self, be sure to follow the correct pro- cedure given in this part.
You should be aware that improper or in- complete servicing may result in operat-
ing problems.
Performing do-it-yourself maintenance
during the warranty period may affect
your warranty coverage. Read the sepa-
rate Toyota Warranty statement for details
and suggestions.
This part gives instructions only for those
items that are relatively easy for an owner
to perform. As explained in Part 6, there
are still a number of items that must be
done by a qualified technician with special
tools.
For information on tools and parts for do-
it-yourself maintenance, see Parts andtoolsº.
Utmost care should be taken when work-
ing on your vehicle to prevent accidental
injury. Here are a few precautions that
you should be especially careful to ob- serve:
Fuse locations
Do-it-yourself service precautions

204Traction A, B, C
ÐThe traction grades,
from highest to lowest, are A, B, and C,
and they represent the tire's ability to stop
on wet pavement as measured under
controlled conditions on specified govern-
ment test surfaces of asphalt and con-
crete. A tire marked C may have poor trac-
tion performance.
Warning: The traction grade assigned to this tire is based on braking (straight
ahead) traction tests and does not include
cornering (turning) traction.
Temperature A, B, C ÐThe temperature
grades are A (the highest), B, and C, rep-
resenting the tire's resistance to the gen-
eration of heat and its ability to dissipate heat when tested under controlled condi- tions on a specific indoor laboratory test
wheel. Sustained high temperature can cause the material of the tire life, and ex- cessive temperature can lead to sudden
tire failure. The grade C corresponds to a level of performance which all passenger
car tires must meet under the Federal Mo-
tor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 109.
Grades B and A represent higher levels of
performance on the laboratory test wheel
than the minimum required by law. Warning: The temperature grades for this tire
are established for a tire that is proper-
ly inflated and not overloaded. Excessive speed, underinflation, or excessive load- ing, wither separately or in combination, can cause heat buildup and possible tirefailure. This information has been prepared in
accordance with regulation issued by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-
tration of the U.S. Department of
Transportation Highway Traffic Safety
Administration of the U.S. Department of
Transportation. It provides the purchas- ers and/or prospective purchasers of
Toyota vehicles with information on
truck-camper
loading. Your Toyota dealer
will help answer any auestions you may
have as you read this information.
Camper informationÐ