I'm looking to sell my home and simplify my life so RV'ing is a natural fit. I've owned RV's in the past, the largest being a 23' long 1987 Fleetwood Wilderness 5th wheel that was towed with a 1986 Chevy K20 pickup with a 350 motor. It had a 410 gear, was a carbureted motor and there were a few times in southern Missouri Ozarks where I had trouble puling it up steep inclines, sometimes making the entire grade in low gear and not getting much over 10 or 15 mph. I was told the truck, which I bought brand new, would pull anything. If I remember correctly, the trailer weighed about 4300 pounds plus cargo.Now I'm looking to get back into RV'ing and will be searching for something in the 25' to 30' range to live out of on the road. My truck now is a 2005 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE, SBRC (short bed, regular cab) with a 5.3L engine that's a little over 300 HP and has about 355 pounds of torque.I believe the towing capacity is around 10,000 pounds but I haven't really found out for sure. I'm prepared to add a tranny cooler on the 4 speed auto transmission (4L60e) and make necessary adjustments to the suspension. The truck has a factory installed and wired receiver hitch and the Trailer Tow button on the steering wheel so I'm assuming it has the trailer towing package.Looking back on the issues with the 3/4 ton Chevy with the gutless motor, is my set up going to be doable? Upgrading to a larger HD pickup isn't an option.PS.... isn't it possible to upload an image from my PC rather think to linked photos only?

Your photos need to be uploaded to a photo hosting site, like Photobucket.com.Go to the web site and copy the URL of the photo. You cannot use it if its on your home computer, as your home computer is not a server or connected to the internet 24x7. After copying the URL, use the "Advanced Post Forum". If you are the Original Poster, you won't use this, only if responding. If you "edit" or original post, you will automatically go the Advanced features.Once you are on the Advanced post window, there's a set of icons at the top of the text edit box. Click on the one that looks like a blue mountain with a yellow background. When the box opens, paste the URL of your photo in the dialogue box and select "Finished". Your URL with the correct HTML "Tags" will be added to your URL. You do not need to do anything else. Don't edit it, you may mess it up.If the image is large, then before hitting "Finished", set the height to 480 and the width to 640. This will automatically resize your image to the forum standard. "They" don't want you posting a larger photo as it makes reading the text very difficult if the image runs off the browser window. So use this if your original files is like.... 5 MB big or something. Finish typing and submit the post.You can go back and "edit" once you made a post or a comment by simply using the "Edit" link above your own post. You can add photos in a pre-existing post this way, or make spelling or text changes. You have about 3 minutes to edit a post before a note will appear at the bottom (Post was edited by ....). No problem is you do though.Good luck. And No comment on the truck. I'll let someone respond to that.

You'll run out of payload capacity long before you have 10K lbs on the hitch. Check that driver's side door jamb for the weight sticker. Subtract cargo, passengers, tongue weight of trailer, and the weight of a WDH to comply with the payload capacity.

Although many choose not to believe, there ARE 5ers that are truly 1/2 ton towable. One model is the KZ Sportsmen 235 RKS. The new model is S241 RKS. KZ lists it at 4575# dry, 6000# GVWR, hitch weight only 500 lb.! We had the 235 RKS model which was heavier but still within our F150 ratings. Check it out.What say the naysayers?

http://rvbonus.com/towing/2005/gmc/http://www.gmc.com/trailering-towing/towing-charts.html

New Member and towing question | Good Sam Community

Grit_dog
Navigator
Feb 22, 2016
While your 05 1500 will arguably tow better than a 90s big block, it won't be by much. Plus the towing and cargo cap of the half ton.
I'd try to figure out newer vs bigger if bigger isn't an option. Getting into the 350hp+ 6 speed newer half tons helps a bunch but keep the trailer light. I'd reccomend. 7klb loaded ready to go as the upper limit if you'll be putting on a lot of miles. Factor that down a bit more with your 05 for a pleasant experience if there will be a lot of windshield time.
wbwood
Explorer
Feb 20, 2016
2005 towing guide...
BarneyS
Explorer III
Feb 20, 2016
roadjunkie wrote:
Snip... Most forums now have galleries that will allow you to upload images to as well as the option to upload an image from your PC into a post so you don't have to hot-link images. I've got my own website so it's not an issue but many don't allow linking of photos that are on their sites.

Thanks again!

Go here to post your pictures.
It makes it very simple.
1. Upload picture
2. Copy resulting URL
3. Paste URL into your post with no modifications.
Your picture will appear and be properly sized for our forum.
Barney
dave17352
Explorer
Feb 20, 2016
roadjunkie wrote:
I said that the towing capacity was around 10,000 pounds. I didn't say anything about towing a 10,000 pound trailer. I'll be looking at trailers less than half the towing capacity.

Oh, well that should work. JMHO
roadjunkie
Explorer
Feb 20, 2016
I said that the towing capacity was around 10,000 pounds. I didn't say anything about towing a 10,000 pound trailer. I'll be looking at trailers less than half the towing capacity.
dave17352
Explorer
Feb 20, 2016
I agree with those that say 10k is way to much for that truck and tranny. I know that my 01 chevy with a 5.3 would die quickly with 10k. It struggled big time with a 5k 25 foot 5th wheel.
roadjunkie
Explorer
Feb 19, 2016
smkettner wrote:
roadjunkie wrote:
My truck now is a 2005 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE, SBRC (short bed, regular cab) with a 5.3L engine that's a little over 300 HP and has about 355 pounds of torque.
Plenty of motor for any trailer that fits in your weight ratings. Watch the payload very close.
May need to swap in 4.10 or 4.56 ratio if the transmission feels a bit awkward shifting down too much.

If I remember right, my rear end is a .323 and something that I'd change before towing with it. I hate to go .410 because of gas mileage. What do you think about a .373 ratio? I've also considered swapping out the stock cam for a torquier hydraulic roller.

My last truck was a GMC 2500HD 4x4 with .410 gears and it only got about 10 to 12mpg.
time2roll
Nomad
Feb 19, 2016
roadjunkie wrote:
My truck now is a 2005 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE, SBRC (short bed, regular cab) with a 5.3L engine that's a little over 300 HP and has about 355 pounds of torque.
Plenty of motor for any trailer that fits in your weight ratings. Watch the payload very close.
May need to swap in 4.10 or 4.56 ratio if the transmission feels a bit awkward shifting down too much.
roadjunkie
Explorer
Feb 19, 2016
APT wrote:
I cannot see any 2005 half ton pickup towing even a 6k dry RV with "full time" loading staying under most of its rating. Long weekenders add 1000 pounds of stuff and maybe 200 pounds to the bed. Full time will likely be more like 2500 pounds and 500-1500 pounds of belongings in the bed. Anyway, if ratings don't matter...

Your truck has value. A similar vintage 3/4 or 1-ton with a lot more payload should only cost $1-2k more than the value of your current truck.

That's probably true but I know what my truck has had done to it. It's got a fresh motor, new dual exhaust, new brakes, new tie-rod ends, new rack and pinion steering, new tires...... and on and on. I've done all the work myself so I know what I have. Trading for another used 'older' truck with more payload would probably need a lot of things I've already replaced.

Being a single guy, I'd really have to work hard to add 1000-2500 pounds to the load. I'm downsizing.
roadjunkie
Explorer
Feb 19, 2016
Trackrig wrote:
***Link Removed***

Bill

I'm aware of all of that but appreciate your response. I was just surprised there wasn't another option. Most forums now have galleries that will allow you to upload images to as well as the option to upload an image from your PC into a post so you don't have to hot-link images. I've got my own website so it's not an issue but many don't allow linking of photos that are on their sites.

Thanks again!