Could you please help me with my tow ratings on Tahoe?

Ok,, so let me see if I got this straight?

Say my Tahoe weighs 5500 lbs. The Gvwr is 7100. So I have a 1600 lbs to play with as far as everything/everybody that goes into the tahoe and the hitch weight itself plus the tongue weight (10% of TT) Right?

Gman22 wrote:
Yup, spend some time at a scale and get some "real" numbers to work with. My experience with SUVs having owned and towed with 2 of them, payload (or RAWR) will get'cha first - well before any fantasy tow rating they put on your truck.

Very true statement.

Weigh the Tahoe and subtract it's actual weight from GVWR.

The difference between GVWR and actual weight, is available payload.

Then add up the weight of all passengers you plan to to have in the vehicle, add 100 lbs for a weight distribution hitch, and subtract that total from your available payload.

What's left is what you have to work with as far as loaded trailer tongue weight.

Take that number and divide it by .12. That will be your max loaded trailer weight.

Example:

Say you have 600 lbs available payload
600 divided by .12 = equals 5000 lb loaded trailer

Rv sales people will try to sell you a unit that has a UVW (unloaded weight) that falls within your capacity. Keep in mind, the only folks towing unloaded trailers, are the ones delivering to the dealers.

Average camping load (groceries, pots and pans, dishes, bedding, water, camping chairs, BBQ, etc) is about 1000 lbs. A 4000 lb UVW will be close (if not over) to 5000 lbs, ready to camp.

Note: Using 100 percent of available payload, puts you at max weight on the tow vehicle. An unplanned can of soda pop, will put you over GVWR.

therink wrote:
Weigh your truck as if loaded for camping. Subtract the scale weight from your 7100 payload. The difference will be how much hitch weight you can safely accomodate. Keep in mind that the posted tongue weights posted on Rv manufacturer literature is unloaded weight. Figure tongue weight will equal 10 to 13 percent of the gvwr of what ever trailer you look at. Ignore the dry weight numbers.
My guess is that you should stick with a trailer loaded no more than 6000 lbs and no longer than 24. Anything greater may bring an unpleasant Towing experience. Your 3:42 axle may also limit what the powertrain can muscle on hilly terrain. Don't let rv salesman tell you "you can pull that no problem". Do your own research.
Good luck and have fun shopping.

sheripoms - if you decide to go to a scale, here is a tool that helps you do this math:
http://www.towingplanner.com/Calculators/TowingScaledWeights

However, if you're not quite ready to go to a scale- here's another tool that helps you figure out your available payload by estimating various weights in/on the vehicle:
http://www.towingplanner.com/Calculators/TowingPayloadEstimate

What's nice is that both tools are smart phone friendly and display well on the small screen- making it handy to use on the fly.

Yup, spend some time at a scale and get some "real" numbers to work with. My experience with SUVs having owned and towed with 2 of them, payload (or RAWR) will get'cha first - well before any fantasy tow rating they put on your truck.

As for trailer length some will argue shorter trailers with SUVs or pull out some old formula to calculate TV length to TT length. But no auto maker I am aware of talks to length of trailer towed. In my experience the shorter wheel base softly sprung 1/2 ton SUV don't like big tongue weights or long TTs. My last TT was a 33' Spree. We towed it with a Hensley Arrow and that settled the whole setup nicely. But prior to that with an Equal-i-zer, it was a bit unstable IMHO no matter what we did to tweak things.

therink wrote:
Weigh your truck as if loaded for camping. Subtract the scale weight from your 7100 payload. The difference will be how much hitch weight you can safely accomodate.

Not quite.... should read:

Weigh your truck as if loaded from camping. Subtract the scale weight from your GVWR. The difference will be how much PAYLOAD you can safely accommodate.

For the OP... tow ratings are a sales gimmick. You're main concern with the Tahoe will be it's "payload" rating.....as you will max this out long before you max out the tow rating.

Keep in mind, the "payload limit" will include any and every thing you put in or on the Tahoe....all occupants, equipment, tools, misc gear...AND the tongue weight (including the WD hitch) of the trailer.

Hope this helps..

Ron

Rockhillmanor , What kind of TT where towing with your Tahoe?

Thanks so much for the info Therink,, I was guesstimating about the same . No more than 6000 wet and not more than 23/24 length. Really would like to keep it at 20 in length.

Weigh your truck as if loaded for camping. Subtract the scale weight from your 7100 payload. The difference will be how much hitch weight you can safely accomodate. Keep in mind that the posted tongue weights posted on Rv manufacturer literature is unloaded weight. Figure tongue weight will equal 10 to 13 percent of the gvwr of what ever trailer you look at. Ignore the dry weight numbers.
My guess is that you should stick with a trailer loaded no more than 6000 lbs and no longer than 24. Anything greater may bring an unpleasant Towing experience. Your 3:42 axle may also limit what the powertrain can muscle on hilly terrain. Don't let rv salesman tell you "you can pull that no problem". Do your own research.
Good luck and have fun shopping.

Just remember to add in the factor of the short wheelbase on the Tahoe. Some will say you can tow anything with it others 'like myself' will tell you otherwise. One trip with my Tahoe and new TT and I retired the Tahoe to just going to the store solo. Just saying.