Hi, all.

I'm looking at buying a local Suburban, and I'm wondering about its tow capacity. The listing specifies 5400# using a WDH, and 810# tongue weight with a WDH. However, the VIN decoder here shows:

Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 7900, 5400 lbs 5400.0 min 7900.0 max
Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 1185, 810 lbs 810.0 min 1185.0 max

How do I know whether it's really the 7900/1185 or 5400/810? This unit is a 2009 Chevrolet Suburban 4WD 4dr 1500 LT w/2LT.

This vehicle has 181k miles on it, and interestingly the Carfax shows a "last reported 173k," 9 months ago. I wonder what happened in the last 9 months.

Anyway, I don't mind putting my wife & kids into a 2009 (my other candidate is a 2008), but 181k miles concerns me a little bit, as this will be her daily driver, and we will be towing with it (that's the whole point of this purchase). I know that Suburbans can run 250k+, and I'm going to have it checked out before I buy it... but I'd really rather have the 7900# towing capacity instead of the 5400#.

Any thoughts on the age/mileage also appreciated.

Thanks, all.

 

Yes, these things can easily go over 200k miles, but once you're over 150k, you're starting to get into "money pit" territory. Fuel pump, wheel hubs/bearings, costly repairs in general can become more frequent. It all depends on the maintenance history. I'd rather buy a truck with lower mileage and take good care of it, than buy a higher-mileage truck and "hope" that the previous owner did the proper maintenance. I bought my Suburban at 100k, and it's now at 192k six years later and is flawlessly reliable and has only cost me about $300 in repairs during those six years.

Regards to towing rating - according to page 4-53 of the 2009 Suburban owners manual, the specs are:

1500 Series 4WD Long Wheel Base
5.3L V8 3.42 5,400 lbs (2 449 kg)
5.3L V8 K5L HD Cooling Pkg 3.42 7,900 lbs (3 583 kg)

So look in the glove box for the RPO sticker (labeled "Service Parts Identification"), and see if it has code K5L on it.

Here's what it will look like - this is the sticker for my truck...

 

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed.

And, thanks for the other thoughts -- yeah, my wife and I are still debating it. I doubt we'll go for the 2009 $10k option w/ 181k on the clock -- we're much more likely to go for the 2008 option with 140k on it ($14k). The 08 unit is a 1-owner vehicle from Florida with a good carfax -- unfortunately it's the 6.0L and RWD. We want 5.3L and 4WD, because of our annual (Thanksgiving or Christmas) trips to Wisconsin. The 2009 $10k model is both 5.3L and 4WD but unfortunately it is a 3-owner vehicle and spent its life in Colorado, Idaho, and Illinois. Carfax on the 09 isn't as complete, and it shows a minor rear-end collision in 2015.

Thanks again.