Suburbans..

falconbrother wrote:
The physics of it makes sense for the stopping. Trailer brakes "ought" to cover a lot of the stopping issue. The engine and transmission in the 1500 series Tahoes and Suburbans are the same, right? So, the actual pulling should be the same, right? I have seen Tahoes pulling travel trailers and it looks like they sag in the rear a lot more than suburbans.

There's a lot more that happens going down the road other than pulling and stopping. The physics I am referring to are similar to using a lever to move a heavy object turned sideways.

Pretend the front of the truck is the object, the rear wheels the pivot, and the hitch is the handle. In these systems the closer the pivot is to the object the easier it is to move the whole system around. If the pivot is closer to the handle it takes a lot more to move things around. When you drive down the road there are a lot of forces working on the hitch, and most of the ones that strike fear into TV drivers relate to sway from improperly loaded trailers, suck/push from passing vehicles, and side winds. So while a shorter wheelbase Tahoe may be acceptable to one person it would be hard to argue that the Suburban wouldn't be better because it is moving that pivot closer to the handle with the longer wheelbase.

Sag in the rear can be resolved a number of ways, but too much sag could be an indicator that the rear axle might be overloaded. Some vehicles just have soft springs though (like my old Pathfinder did). A properly setup Tahoe & WDH that's not overloaded probably shouldn't sag that much though.

A lot of people also go by the mantra that the trailer brakes stop the trailer, but sometimes the trailer brakes don't work. Being overloaded with non-functioning trailer breaks could make for a fun drive. That's up to whoever's driving to determine what they feel is OK I guess.