2000suburbanjeff

does anyone know the towing cap on this 2000 suburban 1500 4x4.it has the 3.73 rearend 4l60e transmission tow/haul thing.the bumper deal say 8800?is this right?

Walter Schaff

The owners manuel I have says 6000 pounds for my 1999. A good reese hitch with sway bars and electric brake control will increase the tow weight limit. You Haul has a good information base for yours and mine vehicles. They are specialists in the towing field.

intheburbs

According to the Trailer Life towing guide, it's 7,800. It would be 8,800 if you had the 4.10 axles.

However, please learn from me and my experience with a 2001 Burb 1500 4X4 with the 4.10 axles. I blew out the rear end twice on that truck. It is definitely the weak point in the power train.

You'll be over your rear axle weight rating long before you ever come close to 7,800 lbs. My first travel trailer was ~5000 lbs. Towed it from Michigan to Florida several times with no issues. We upgraded to a heavier TT (one with triple bunks) that was ~7,000 lbs, and the fun began. Blew out the pinion gear on the way to Washington DC. The following year I overheated/seized the rear on a long drive from MN to WY, and got to spend three lovely days in Mitchell, SD while the truck was repaired. I wasn't able to properly break in the new rear, so it started to fail less than a year later. Fortunately, the rear was replaced under warranty.

You're also not going to win any races. The engine didn't have enough torque to maintain speed in OD, so everywhere we went we were in third gear with the engine around 3100-3200 RPM. Going over the continental divide in Wyoming (9600 ft), the best she could do was 25 MPH in first gear. It'll be worse for you with the 3.73s.

Bottom line - the number to watch is that 4000-lb RAWR. Before we ever hitched up, just loaded with the family and our stuff, we were already at 3300-3400. Not a lot of weight for the trailer tongue.

nate_053

A trailer sway control system may help you tow more - look up your year, make & model at ReeseHitches.com to find the right one and that should help.

intheburbs

A sway control system does nothing to address the issue of too much weight on the wheels of the tow vehicle. A half-ton Suburban has a payload rating of about 1500 lbs. Add in the driver, passengers, and some miscellaneous crap, and that doesn't leave a lot of room for trailer tongue weight.

I have a family of five - me, wife, three teenagers - and combined we weigh a little over 800 lbs. Proper setup for a trailer is to have 10-15% of the weight of the trailer on the tongue. 15% of a 5,000-lb trailer is 750 lbs. Weight distribution or sway control doesn't change the fact that I am now overweight on the GVWR of the Suburban, which is 7200 lbs. Moving cargo around the trailer to take weight off the tongue would just make the trailer less stable when towing.

I've logged 15-20,000 miles pulling a large travel trailer around the country. I researched the hell out of it before I ever started, and I still broke stuff. That's why I have a 2500.