Towing with Silverado

It's not about what you can PULL....

It's about what you can CARRY .. Your payload .. for rough math , figure 20% of the trailers GVW in your truck bed.

with a 1500 , you payload will be very limited

Can your truck handle 2,000# in the bed ? is it rated for that ?

Welcome to the Forum...

ford truck guy above is correct - EXCEPT that the trailer you are considering is not a 5th wheel so use 13% instead of 20% in doing your calculations for payload.

The max payload of my vehicle is 1,700.

So based on 13%, I'm looking at 1300 lbs??

Yes, if your trailer is fully loaded to the gvwr. So you have 400 lbs of payload (people/pets/firewood/etc plus your hitch itself) before you go over your manufacturers reccomended payload. Is that 1700 from the brochure or your door sticker? Quite often, most trucks do NOT have the payload capacity listed in the brochure due to options added onto the truck.

polishdon wrote:
The max payload of my vehicle is 1,700.

So based on 13%, I'm looking at 1300 lbs??

Anythink mentioned here on what you can tow is nil.. All trucks are different and the brochure is useless per say..

The only way to be sure exactly what you can tow is to get the truck weighed..

Fill the tank, put all passengers in the truck when you do this. And through some gear in the truck or bed that you will go camping with.

Youll be very suprised at what payload is left.

Get weights at a cat scale of both axles seperate on the truck. Then take the axle weights off the door tag on the truck. Subtract scale weights from door tag ..

This will tell you the trucks true payload capacity..

Then you can shop. Please post those #.s when you get them..

2012 Chevrolet/GMC Silverado/Sierra 1500 CC Short Box 2WD 5.3L V-8
9600 lbs
3.42 axle ratio
Cooling or other accessory package required


Do you have the cooling package?

lawrosa wrote:

2012 Chevrolet/GMC Silverado/Sierra 1500 CC Short Box 2WD 5.3L V-8
9600 lbs
3.42 axle ratio
Cooling or other accessory package required


Do you have the cooling package?

Yes I have the cooling package and mine is 4WD.

What do you plan to haul in it?

You'll be fine pulling that thing empty but as soon as you start loading it up it becomes questionable IMO. At or over GVWR is more than I would ever try to tow with ANY 1/2 ton and feel my family was anywhere near safe.

WHen talking TH and 1/2 tons 23ft is about the limit you can go and still tow safely IMO. TT you can go a bit longer.

polishdon wrote:

Yes I have the cooling package and mine is 4WD.

While 4WD is a good thing...it does reduce payload somewhat. The running components of 4WD add to the weight of the basic truck...thus less payload for other stuff like trailers.

As suggested..best to weigh your truck w/full tank of gas, passengers and some basic gear in the bed.

N-Trouble wrote:
What do you plan to haul in it?

You'll be fine pulling that thing empty but as soon as you start loading it up it becomes questionable IMO. At or over GVWR is more than I would ever try to tow with ANY 1/2 ton and feel my family was anywhere near safe.

WHen talking TH and 1/2 tons 23ft is about the limit you can go and still tow safely IMO. TT you can go a bit longer.

Most of the time it will be just me, wife and daughter going camping. Occasionally I'll use it for competition BBQ so we'd be carrying our smokers and gear in it. And I had hoped I could use it to take my neighbors 2 quads with us sometimes, but I guess I better look into a bigger truck first. lol