New Member and towing question

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.

All the Tow-Haul (button) does is change the point where shifting between gears occurs. The shift will occur at a higher RPM. Also, Tow-Haul will hold a gear from up-shifting if going down hill, keeping the vehicle from going faster and faster and faster, and upshifting going even faster. As stated above, it really has nothing to do with actual towing, weights, and stuff. It is a nice feature WHEN towing, as it shifts at a higher RPM, especially in slower town, stop and go traffic, or down a long grade when, especially when the trailer us pushing.

kellertx5er wrote:
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?

There are also many 25-30 ft "Lite" travel trailers out there with a GVWR of 5000-7000 lbs and a tongue weight of 500-800 lbs. Well within the 1/2 ton specs.

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.

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.

Having towed for four years with a 2006 Silverado and another six years with a 2005 Avalanche, both with the same 5.3L engine and older wide ratio 4 speed transmission coupled to GM's ubiquitous 3.42 (non tow friendly) axle I'd say you're dreaming if you believe your truck has anywhere near a 10,000 lb tow rating. Both my Silvy and AV were rated at 7300 lbs and in practical terms I wouldn't tow anything weighing any more than 6000 lbs fully loaded and ready to camp with a vehicle like this. My current trailer weighs a mere 4500 lbs fully loaded and believe me, with that 3.42 axle I always know the trailer is back there. 10,000 lbs is a fantasy. :R

BTW, that Tow / Haul button has nothing at all to do with whether the truck has any sort of towing package, they all have it - even dragging around just 4500 lbs I always run the transmission in 3rd, with Tow / Haul engaged.

http://rvbonus.com/towing/2005/gmc/

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

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?

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.

Here to post picture.

Bill

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.