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EnzoColorado's avatar
EnzoColorado
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2016

Total newbie, towing question regarding my TV

We have never owned an RV before, always tent camped but now with twin 3 years old kids, it's time to get a travel trailer.

We have a 2010 Suburban 1500 4wd, single speed transfer case and 5.3L V8 with the 3.08 axle that we bought used last year. The dealer ran my VIN and came back with 5300 lbs towing capacity. I looked up the various towing capacity for this vehicle, and found that the towing capacity will go to 7900 lbs if it has transmission cooler and 3.42 axle.

I plan to install a transmission cooler, that's pretty simple to do. Upgrading the axle to 3.42 is out of question due to cost (I'm assuming it's very costly, don't know for sure). So I'm stuck with the 5300 lbs towing capacity. I figured with the only difference been the axle between the two tow capacities, the 5300 lbs is fairly conservative if I add the tranny cooler, and for going up hills, I can always use the manual gear mode to select the highest gear and not allow the tranny to gear hunting too much.

We've done some research and are down to two options for the travel trailer. Starcraft AR-One Maxx 19BHLE and 20BHLE models. Both are the bunk beds that we need. The interior is essentially the same with the 20BHLE having an extra pantry and separate fridge and freezer. The 20BHLE has tandem axles while the 19BHLE is a single axle. The 20BHLE's dry weight/GVWR is 3822/5000, while the 19BHLE's is 3373/4400.

The dealer said the 20BHLE will tow better, sway less and bounce less due to the tandem axles. I plan to get the Equalizer sway/WD hitch so I figured the swaying is not going to an issue. The question now is whether the 20BHLE when loaded to the GVWR, will be too much for my Suburban. I have weight the Suburban empty on a CAT scale and it's 5850 lbs with a full tank of gas. The GVWR of the Suburban is 7400 lbs. The tongue weight of both trailer models is 400 lbs. So I have about 1150 lbs of cargo capacity in the Suburban to play with including four of us, some gear and a couple kayaks on the roof).

I'm totally new at this so would love to hear feedbacks from people. I worry about what dealers tell me since they're biased to sell the biggest and most expensive trailer to me.

27 Replies

  • EnzoColorado wrote:
    Grit dog wrote:
    You're correct in that those are the only discernible differences.
    Yes replacing BOTH gearsets is expensive and not worth it IMO.
    Trans cooler, limit how hard you push er up the hills and all the other stuff you're planning, a 5klb trailer will be fine. Just won't be the first to the top of the pass with that kind of load at altitude.


    Thanks! Racing to the top of Independent Pass is not a priority even without towing a trailer.

    While reading this forum, I found a link to a VIN decoder and found this particular bit of spec for my VIN:

    Dead Weight Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 5000 lbs 5000.0 min 5000.0 max
    Dead Weight Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 500 lbs 500.0 min 500.0 max
    Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 8000, 5500 lbs 5500.0 min 8000.0 max
    Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 1200, 825 lbs 825.0 min 1200.0 max

    So if I use a WD hitch as I planned to, my max trailer weight will go up to 8000 lbs? So really no issues then.


    No, that's what the hitch is rated for not your vehicle. They use the same hitch on most if not all of the half ton Suburbans. Regardless of the hitch you still don't have the tranny cooler and have 3.08 gears.
  • LadyRVer wrote:
    IMHO, if the tandem axle is within your weights, I would choose that one. My reasoning is better safety if you have a blowout.

    Recently I had two tire failures same trip. One each side. Tandem helped me out.


    Cool, another good reason for the tandem axle. Thanks!
  • IMHO, if the tandem axle is within your weights, I would choose that one. My reasoning is better safety if you have a blowout.

    Recently I had two tire failures same trip. One each side. Tandem helped me out.
  • APT wrote:
    Here are the tow ratings for your year Suburban:

    3.08 - 5300 pounds
    3.42 - 5800 pounds
    3.42 w/ HD trailering Equipment (HD Trans cooler) - ~8000 pounds

    The trans cooler make more of a difference than the gearing. I recommend a high capacity trans cooler if you plan to tow any high walled RV. If you install that, then you should be fine for up to about 5k pounds dry. The 6-spd with 3.08 gearing is actually better than the prior 4-spd trans with 4.10 axle. Use tow/haul mode, limit the trans gear to 4th max (M4), and keep the engine over 2000rpm, 2500rpm better.


    Awesome, thank you. Will make sure I get a high capacity trans cooler.
  • Grit dog wrote:
    You're correct in that those are the only discernible differences.
    Yes replacing BOTH gearsets is expensive and not worth it IMO.
    Trans cooler, limit how hard you push er up the hills and all the other stuff you're planning, a 5klb trailer will be fine. Just won't be the first to the top of the pass with that kind of load at altitude.


    Thanks! Racing to the top of Independent Pass is not a priority even without towing a trailer.

    While reading this forum, I found a link to a VIN decoder and found this particular bit of spec for my VIN:

    Dead Weight Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 5000 lbs 5000.0 min 5000.0 max
    Dead Weight Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 500 lbs 500.0 min 500.0 max
    Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 8000, 5500 lbs 5500.0 min 8000.0 max
    Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 1200, 825 lbs 825.0 min 1200.0 max

    So if I use a WD hitch as I planned to, my max trailer weight will go up to 8000 lbs? So really no issues then.
  • Here are the tow ratings for your year Suburban:

    3.08 - 5300 pounds
    3.42 - 5800 pounds
    3.42 w/ HD trailering Equipment (HD Trans cooler) - ~8000 pounds

    The trans cooler make more of a difference than the gearing. I recommend a high capacity trans cooler if you plan to tow any high walled RV. If you install that, then you should be fine for up to about 5k pounds dry. The 6-spd with 3.08 gearing is actually better than the prior 4-spd trans with 4.10 axle. Use tow/haul mode, limit the trans gear to 4th max (M4), and keep the engine over 2000rpm, 2500rpm better.
  • You're correct in that those are the only discernible differences.
    Yes replacing BOTH gearsets is expensive and not worth it IMO.
    Trans cooler, limit how hard you push er up the hills and all the other stuff you're planning, a 5klb trailer will be fine. Just won't be the first to the top of the pass with that kind of load at altitude.