Tahoe vs Suburban

You will be much happier with a longer wheelbase tow vehicle than a Tahoe. The Tahoe with it's short wheelbase is more prone to towing issues.

Ken

Personal experience on this wheelbase issue..

I had a 31.5 ft TT That I had a terrible experience pulling with a 2001 5.4 ford expedition. The SUV just felt pushed around and I had a true white knuckled experience. Wheelbase was 119 inches. Power was not a problem.

* full disclosure... The WD hitch was not set ideally on the expedition.

I then bought my 97 F150 5.4 SuperCab short bed... 139 inch wheelbase and immediately, the towing experience was so much better. If with the terribly set WD hitch.

I dialed in the WD and added sway control and the tow was great.

Tahoe Vs Suburban 1500? Overhang or not I will take the Suburban.

Suburban 2500 would be ideal and give up that squishy soft coil spring rear suspension on the Suburban 1500.

Thanks! Just my .02

Jeremiah

I use a Tahoe to pull a 7500# toy hauler in the Rockies. It does the job and actually gets decent mileage. I've averaged about 9.7 mpg. I do lock it into second and use the rpms going up the hill but it doesn't mind. The problems I have is the Toy hauler has a heavy tongue because our toys are light. We're easily over 1k so even the 2500 Suburban couldn't tow it with it's girly hitch. The real problem is they aren't made to tow that much. It may be rated to but they are essentially beefed up grocery getters. I think GM knows this and makes them as cheap as possible to get that job done for a certain number of miles. A HD pickup or van is made to work all day every day and I believe they are built accordingly.

Just an observation based on all the plastic******that is falling off my Tahoe every time i turn around. For $45K it should last longer than 10 years.

mkirsch wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
no need to beef up to GvWR unless you plan on actually loading it up to that. see what loaded/wet weight is and allow for some extra stuff.

Where do you get the wet weight from?

I suppose you will say, "Take it to a scale."

the most common figures thrown around here for "stuff" is 1,000-1,500 lbs. but it would be easy to figure out how many gallons of water could be held and know the weight of gas, etc. to come up with a guess. but I would be more concerned with the dry weight of each unit, assuming that you would be loading them similarly and you could figure out what type of load you would need to tow. if you need a little less weight, just don't carry a full tank of fresh water.
my point is, if two units weigh about the same dry, say 3,500 lbs., and one is rated for a total weight of 5,000 lbs. and the other is rated for 6,000 lbs., and you fall under that 1,500 lbs. of stuff estimate, I would not hesitate to get a TV rated for 5,000 lbs. if that is the vehicle desired. yes, you could get a F-550 to tow it if you so wanted.
bumpy

rockhillmanor wrote:
It is not 'perceived'.

That extra few inches of wheelbase DOES make a difference

I guess that is my point. Everyone states it is the wheelbase that improves the handling. In the case of the Suburban, it must be some other function of the vehicle that makes it a better tow vehicle as the ratio of the rear overhang to the wheelbase is nearly identical to a Tahoe. Therefore based on physics both vehicles should tow very similar.

Just out of curiosity, did you tow with a Tahoe and then move to a 1/2 ton Suburban? I know the post from Crabbypatty lead me to believe they went from a Tahoe to a 3/4 Suburban and saw a difference. But I can tell you that towing with a 1/2 ton Suburban and moving to a 3/4 ton Suburban is night and day as well.

In the end, this probably is a moot point as the OP really needs to be looking at payload capacity if they are truly looking at a trailer with a dry weight of 6300#. Unless it is a family of two, they will most likely be exceeding some ratings in a half ton Suburban/Tahoe.

Bumpyroad wrote:
no need to beef up to GvWR unless you plan on actually loading it up to that. see what loaded/wet weight is and allow for some extra stuff.

Where do you get the wet weight from?

I suppose you will say, "Take it to a scale."

How many times does this have to be repeated before the "weight police" get it:

You can't know what something weighs BEFORE you buy it! RV dealers won't let you take trailers on "test tows" to have them weighed. Truck dealers will not let you take trucks to test tow trailers to the scale.

All the manufacturers provide is dry weight and GVWR. Dry weight is a joke. Anything you come up with on your own is a blind guess.

The only real weight value you have is GVWR, which is the "worst case" scenario.

You might overbuy on the truck but at least you didn't make a "$65,000 mistake."

Now, I understand that there are people that claim they have moved from a Tahoe to a 1/2 ton Suburban and there was a night and day improvement in towing. This was either perceived because they thought the longer wheelbase would help and just thought it did or there is some other function going on between the two vehicles. If someone has a enough $$$ laying around for me to buy a couple different versions of Tahoes and Suburbans I would love to do a controlled study with scientific data to answer the question

It is not 'perceived'.

That extra few inches of wheelbase DOES make a difference. Can it tow anything yes is it exhausting having to be 'on' all the time driving it x2 yes.

I see you tow with a van. I towed my horse trailers with a van. IMHO it is one of THE best tow vehicles and do wonder why more RV'ers don't use them.

Because you've been spoiled with the long wheelbase and handling of the van, you would pull off the road in 5 miles if you were to use a Tahoe!!!!

Since you have never tried it yet feel you know it doesn't make a difference....I will ship my Tahoe out to you and let you hook up a TT to it and take a trip with it. You don't even need high winds to be disappointed with it's ability. You will be exhausted within minutes being 'on' all the time driving towing with it. :W:W

rockhillmanor wrote:
Been there did that ONCE on I70 in Tulsa with the Tahoe.

And if you had a Suburban the same thing was likely to happen. With the GMT400 and GMT800 based Suburban/Tahoes the ratio of the wheelbase to the rear overhang is darn near the same if it isn't the same. Therefore, all other things being equal (and they pretty much are on the 1/2 tons) they will tow the same. I haven't checked the ratio of the GMT900's, but I assume it hasn't changed.

Now, I understand that there are people that claim they have moved from a Tahoe to a 1/2 ton Suburban and there was a night and day improvement in towing. This was either perceived because they thought the longer wheelbase would help and just thought it did or there is some other function going on between the two vehicles. If someone has a enough $$$ laying around for me to buy a couple different versions of Tahoes and Suburbans I would love to do a controlled study with scientific data to answer the question.

To the OP, with that said, get the vehicle that you like best and fulfills the needs you have. We had two Suburbans and having the extra room behind the third row is really nice.

I owned both and our Tahoe could only tow so much. Also the shorter wheelbase will subject you to more road bounce. The Tahoe also was a 1500 or half ton. Our burb is a k2500 3/4 ton is a beast. First it has a longer wheelbase and second a bigger suspension. With our burb we upgraded our TT and didn't have to go out and buy another TV. The Tahoe limits you so it depends on what you want to tow. Love both. Its the burb for towing hands down.

X2

You can tow anything in a straight line on a flat road with no traffic possibilities.

Since that doesn't exist in the real world. You need to buy a TV that can 'handle' all what can happen and does while on the road traveling. Not just driving in a straight line.

I want something with a substantial wheelbase so when the winds pick up 'and' a semi passes you doing 80 you don't end up end over end upside down when the TT starts swinging pushing the TV all over and it's not capable of getting it under control.

Been there did that ONCE on I70 in Tulsa with the Tahoe. :(

johntank wrote:

I agree with this, the longer wheelbase a vehicle has the better TV it makes and for a bumper pull trailer the shorter distance from rear axle to bumper the better too.

on boat and utility trailers, those with the shortest distance axle to hitch ball were the squirreliest in trying to back up, etc.
bumpy