Can I tow this and how will it feel?

“without a tank full of fresh water.“

You’ll be unable to stay at bunches of beautiful dry campgrounds if you don’t have any fresh water. Why cut it so close? Barely within weight maximums? That’s not fun.

I have 2015 one ton 15 passenger van also and no problem with 9,000 pound trailer.

agwill wrote:
I have 2015 one ton 15 passenger van also and no problem with 9,000 pound trailer.

Any trouble on steep hills/mountains by chance?

crasster wrote:
Okay here are the specs. I "think" I'm figuring this right.

2017 Chevy Express 15 passenger van. 1LT. 6.0L engine.
GCWR 16,000
GVWR 9,600
Van Weight 6,129

Passengers total weight: 920 Pounds
RV weight: 6,660 Pounds
Battery + Propane: 125 pounds

…. Thanks!!

Are you planning to tow this with the RV in your signature??

The crucial spec you didn't mention is- what does the Van's owners manual say Re: towing capacity.

I think your numbers are correct IF you want to stay below your GCWR of 16,000. But, that is not the first number you should focus on.
Your stated GVWR is 9600 while your van only weighs 6129. Subracting these leaves you with 3471 which is a very healthy payload capacity. Payload capacity is where most of us get into trouble. Large trailers connected to half ton trucks usually violate the payload numbers before they violate the GCWR.

Ok, with 3471 to play with start subracting things that will go in the van, not things that go in the trailer. 920 for the family, 100 lbs for the hitch itself and you are down to 2451 which is still a large number. You can add back the 80 pounds for taking out the seat and now you have 2531. What you failed to account for is the hitch weight of the trailer. Think about that. Drop the hitch on the ball and you are adding weight to the van. Even if you had a HW of 1200 lbs you would still be good to go. So, as someone earlier posted, you should not have any trouble with your set up.

One last thing. With today's TVs, engines have improved vastly. Some think that as long as you can go fast and make it over the hills you are good to go. When and if you go over your payload capacities, you are pushing the GVRW numbers. These are there based on the ability of the axles to carry the weight safely and the ability of the TV to stop safely. Stay within the ratings and you will minimize the wear and tear of the components on your TV.

aftermath wrote:
I think your numbers are correct IF you want to stay below your GCWR of 16,000. But, that is not the first number you should focus on.
Your stated GVWR is 9600 while your van only weighs 6129. Subracting these leaves you with 3471 which is a very healthy payload capacity. Payload capacity is where most of us get into trouble. Large trailers connected to half ton trucks usually violate the payload numbers before they violate the GCWR.

Ok, with 3471 to play with start subracting things that will go in the van, not things that go in the trailer. 920 for the family, 100 lbs for the hitch itself and you are down to 2451 which is still a large number. You can add back the 80 pounds for taking out the seat and now you have 2531. What you failed to account for is the hitch weight of the trailer. Think about that. Drop the hitch on the ball and you are adding weight to the van. Even if you had a HW of 1200 lbs you would still be good to go. So, as someone earlier posted, you should not have any trouble with your set up.

One last thing. With today's TVs, engines have improved vastly. Some think that as long as you can go fast and make it over the hills you are good to go. When and if you go over your payload capacities, you are pushing the GVRW numbers. These are there based on the ability of the axles to carry the weight safely and the ability of the TV to stop safely. Stay within the ratings and you will minimize the wear and tear of the components on your TV.

Thanks a bunch for this informative answer!! :)

100 pounds of fluff seems low for 920 lbs worth of people.

Next question, would I be pushing it if I bought a 7200 pound trailer rather than the 6660 pound one as I mentioned earlier?

So this would be 821 pounds left for GCWR Max.

I think I have plenty of payload for Tongue weight.

What my main concern is will I be struggling greatly up grades/down grades? I don't mind if I feel it for sure, I just mind if I'm gonna have doubts if I can make it over a 6% grade.

I do have the M5 / M4 option on my van to keep it out of high gear.

Plus I have a tow button which does.... umm... what it does. :)

If it would struggle on mountain grades, how would it do on flats and "basic" hills?


Thanks!

Hopefully agwill will chime in and let you know how his van performs.

When towing it is generally best to disengage the overdrive unless you are on the flats. Towing in "select" is better. When in drive most TVs will "search" for the proper gear. This changing up and down isn't the best for most transmissions. The tow haul option in my Tundra simply changes the shift points. You will hold in a lower gear longer before it shifts. When accelerating it helps you get up to speed faster. More importantly, as far as I am concerned, when you are going down hill it will hold in the lower gear before it up shifts which helps braking a bit. It is a nice feature but not a panacea by any means. I also believe that it cuts down your mileage a tad as well. I use mine in the mountains and that is about the only place I engage it.

When things get a bit steep I use the select option and hold the Tundra's transmission in 4th, or 3rd and even sometimes in 2nd. I watch the tac and tap the brakes now and then to keep things manageable.