Thomas Engle

Hello, first post here. My wife and I have decided to downsize our current RV class. We have a 39 foot Fiver we tow with a 2008 Ford F-350 CC Diesel Dualie. We have been talking about going into a travel trailer and one of our sons has offered up his 2005 4X4 Suburban to us as he has sold his ski boat. It is in immaculate condition. 2500 with auto ride, tow package, 8.1 Vortec motor and 4:10 rear end. 133K on the clock. He claims it would probably pull our fifth wheel if we could find a way to hitch it up!

We are going out to look at trailers soon and was looking for advice on max length and weight. I know my F350 would be a better choice but I don’t have much use for it anymore once the fifth wheel is sold and it is too big for my wife to drive. It is just shy of 4 feet longer than the Suburban!

We thank you for any advice!

Tom

intheburbs

Well, I pull this with my 2008 2500. 35 feet, 8600 lbs when fully loaded and empty tanks.

The 2005 would have even better capability, due primarily to the receiver. According to the owners manual, a 2005 with the 8.1 and 4.10 is rated to pull up to 12,000 lbs. Though personally, based on my experience with my rig, I'd be nervous going much above 10k lbs on the trailer weight. The shorter wheelbase of the Suburban is the main issue.

Thomas Engle

Thanks for the info! The more I research on the Suburban the more I like it. I hope I can get mine to tow as straight as yours is in that pic you posted. What kind of hitch are you usin?

thanks again.

Tom

02Sub

I have a 2002 Suburban 2500 with 4x4 and 8.1L engine. I have the 3.73 axles, which has a 10,400 lb tow rating.

I have owned it since it was 1 year old and it now has 212K miles.

We have towed a 33' 8K lb Rockwood travel trailer, and it has performed flawlessly.

Our hitch is a Hensley Arrow anti-sway which has resulted in no sway, even if a semi blows past you.

Steve

intheburbs

Well, I'm using a Curt hitch/ball, and that's about it. No sway control, no weight distribution. It tends to make folks' heads explode. I'm breaking quite a few rules.

For the first time, it did get a little squirrelly driving up I-25 in Wyoming back in June. I'd estimate 30-35 MPH cross-wind gusts. If I hadn't been only a few dozen miles from my destination, I probably would have pulled over. First time that's happened, and I've logged about 10,000 miles of towing that trailer, including the Eisenhower Tunnel (11,000') and Powder River Pass (9,666'). Still wasn't that bad, about a 4 out of 10 on the white-knuckle meter.

Thomas Engle

I have been looking on line at the Rockwood trailers. They look really nice in photos, haven’t had a chance to stick my nose in one yet, but I will. It’s just me and the DW now so we aren’t going to look at bunkhouse models unless we find a BH we really like and then can convert the bunks area into storage.