Towing camper with 1500 or 2500
 

Good evening folks. Been reading through the forums for the past couple hours on towing threads. Found some very useful information. Thanks for all those that contribute! I'd like to get opinions on my current situation.

Purchased a Travel Trailer for the family a couple weeks ago (we're upgrading from tent camping :) ) Anyway, we're now looking at used vehicles for towing this new toy (28ft travel trailer, last weighed at 5500 lbs loaded with previous owners camping gear). Well we've looked at and test drove quite a few vehicles. 2 Suburban 2500's, 3 Suburban 1500's, a Yukon XL 1500, and 2 excursions (V10 monsters). I like the Suburbans personally, but am unsure if I need to be concerned of the 1500's. I've read on here that they have weaker tranny's, smaller drum brakes in the back, etc.. from the 2500's. Should I stay away from the 1500's?

Guess I should also mention all above vehicles were in the 1999 - 2003 model year range.

towing
 

with that size trailer i would stick with the 2500 the excursion v-10 would be a real pig on fuel ,the 3/4 chevy would be bad enough .

well I guess it would depend on how often you plan on pulling with it... if it's 3-4 times a year I wouldn't be scared of going with the 1/2ton er I mean 1500. Mine ('01) has disc's in the rear, so I guess it would depend on which year you end up with. my buddy has a 99 4x4 with the 5.7 and I figure those would do nicely too. I know he hauls a steel car trailer frequently with no problems (other than it sinking the hind end empty, worse loaded I'm betting he's due for new springs.) and I'm betting it's got considerably more tounge weight than the travel trailer you got. I do not think that if you go with the 1500 the 5.3 motor would be a good fit, unless like I said your only going a few times a year and not too terrible far. I've pulled the above mentioned steel car trailer and while I was pleased with it's overall performance it's not something I'd like to put that little motor thru frequently. and it didn't sag the hind end of my suburban, but I never got to put a car on it... I'm not sure what all motors were offered with the 1500's but if they got the 6.0 l80 combo that might do the trick. depending on the year of the trailer you prolly got trailer brakes to help with woahing it up. or look for the 8.1 motor, but you know it's gonna eat gas loaded or empty... as bad as the evil ford v-10 lol

that being said, if you plan to go frequently I would definately lean towards the 3/4tons er I mean 2500's, but even then you will want to pay attention to the motor/tranny combos. depending on the usage again and see if you can justify the change in the gas consumption (if any).

either way you can't go wrong with the good old 350, so if you come across a 99 with the 5.7 I'd give it a good hard look.

I reckon if your wanting to just go on the safe side of things go with the 2500. (now that I've rambled all that out)


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Thanks for the replies. I figure we might use it 12 weekends out of the year tops. Longest trip I can figure would be up north (Michigan), 3.5 hour drive, mostly flat road, minus the monster Zilwalkee Bridge we'd have to cross over. Other than that most other trips are withing 1 to 2 hrs drive. Tongue weight with the WD hitch would be around 620lb's I'm guessing. And trailer does have double axles with their own breaks.

towing
 

I tow a 5,500 lb 26' boat with electric brakes with my '09 Tahoe (1500) and it has NO problems or do I ever feel like a bigger truck would help... i've towed up to 2.5 hrs without issue (Never had to go further).

yes but your 09 is a big improvement with the autoride and 6 speed vs the early 2000 models...
to the OP that is quite a bit of pulling honestly. I would focus on the engine/transmission/rear end combo to give the best pulling. you can always get air bags to help with any possible sag in the rear suspension and a weight distribution hitch would help.
any of those trucks "would" pull the trailer but you are talking about an every month deal with some long distance so you don't want to be uncomfortable

I would get the 2500. I would also install an aftermarket tranny cooler and a tranny temp guage.

then I'd stand by what I said. you'd do fine with a 1/2 ton cept like others have mentioned I'd make sure it's got a tranny cooler. my 01 has one, but no guage.

but like I also said, if you want to go on the safe side go with the 3/4 ton.


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