How Long is too long

outdoordb wrote:
I'm not sure what you mean by "but could struggle to stay within payload with a 31' trailer on a Suburban.

A longer trailer means (generally) a heavier trailer...A heavier trailer means a heavier tongue...A heavier tongue eats up payload. That's what I mean. I don't buy into the generic wheelbase argument (as PP said, there are different formulas people spout, but as far as I know none of them are listed in the specs of the vehicles). There are, however, very specific formulas on weight, and my comment is that 31' is going to be hard to do while staying in those numbers.

For example, our 2500 Suburban has 2,200 pounds of payload available. A standard 1500 Suburban will be closer to 1,400 pounds or so (that's a guess - you'd have to look at the sticker in your door jam to know for sure). That 1,400 pounds has to account for tongue weight, passenger weight, hitch weight and cargo weight. Similarly, your 7,400 tow rating doesn't account for passengers, hitch weight, cargo, or even some of the later mods to your vehicle - which means your real capacity for towing is more likely in the 6,500-7,000 trailer weight category. And that's if you are willing to run at 100% of your GCVWR (which some are, but many aren't).

So, a lot of it depends on specifics, but my point is that getting a 31' trailer to fit within the weight specs will be difficult. Whether you choose to care about that or not is another question, but I was simply pointing out that it will be hard to stay within the numbers.