Towing with Chevy Avalanche will it be safe?

Any downward force behind the vehicles rear axle increases weight on the rear axle and decreases weight on the front axle. Rear suspension aids such ar air bags, overload springs, and Timbrens do not change that. A WDH is designed to restore a percentage of weight lost on the front axle and decrease the weight on the rear axle. For example:

1000 pound trailer TW just dropped on a ball mount might:
Add 1400 pounds to the rear axle weight
Remove 400 pounds from the front axle weight

Increasing truck rear spring rate does not change the above, but will affect truck stance/rake.

Using and adjusting a WDH such that 100% of front axle weight is restored would end up:
Add 800 pounds to truck rear axle
Front axle same as no trailer
Add 200 pounds to trailer axles

You decide which is preferred.

BurbMan wrote:
The WD hitch uses spring bars to level the sag at the hitch, allowing the truck and trailer to sit level. It does nothing to increase the capacity that the truck can carry.

A quick digression if I may....what's better, a WD hitch or allowing the stock Avalanche air shocks to level it? I'm curious because some vehicles say to disable the air suspension when towing but the Avalanche does not. I sometimes tow car haulers or my brother's TT (with a WDH) and wonder which is best.

Back on topic, sort of, I've towed 6,000 lb. loads with my Avalanche without any problems. It feels fine, most recently on a 600-mile round-trip trek to Boston to fetch a Jeep Wrangler with U-Haul's 2,100 lb. auto transport trailer. I know, not a TT, but a heavy (and toungue-heavy) load nonetheless.

First off, welcome to the forum! That's a nice trailer and you shouldn't have trouble pulling with your Avalanche. You have discovered the "hidden" limitation of towing an RV....it's not the truck's tow rating, it what it's rated to carry.

Typical trailers have a tongue weight between 10% and 15% of the trailer weight, ideally around 13%. Any less than that and the trailer can get unstable and start to sway. BUT, how the trailer is loaded will affect its final weight and balance. The garage space in a toy hauler is behind the axles, so that any weight that you load in there will effectively lighten the tongue. To compensate for that, manufacturers build THs intentionally tongue heavy so that when you load toys in the garage, the resulting final tongue weight will still be heavy enough to keep it from swaying.

Your tongue weight empty is about 21%. The minimum you would want would be 10% of 3100 = 310 lbs. Let's say you loaded 2 Harleys or quads or whatever...this unit has a net carry capacity (NCC) of almost 4000 lbs...looking at the picture of the trailer on the website, some of that weight wopuld be over the axles, but the further back the weight goes, the more it offsets (lightens) the tongue.

If you load the rig right to its 7000 lb GVWR, you may have to add some water to the fresh tank (ahead of the axles) to bring the tongue weight back up.

So don't look at the tongue weight as it sits, you need to think about how you will load and use the trailer. If you do load it to say 6400 lbs, then 10% of that would be the same 640 lbs of tongue weight. If you never plan on adding toys but carrying fresh water for boondocking, that will make your tongue weight very heavy. If you add in full propane and 2 batteries, you could be at 800+ lbs with no toys in the back to offset the load.

Regarding the Avalanche, 7000 lbs is about the max you want to tow with the 1500 series platform. The 5.3 is a strong engine, but the transmission and rear axle won't hold up over the long haul if towing too heavy. Better to focus on managing trailer wight to stay under or close to GVWR rather than adding airbags or helper springs to carry more weight.

As was stated, the job of a weight distributing (WD) hitch is to level the truck and trailer. If you hitch that trailer to your truck, the truck will sag in the back, and with the nose pointed in the air, you will have reduced steering traction and blinding people with your headlights.

The WD hitch uses spring bars to level the sag at the hitch, allowing the truck and trailer to sit level. It does nothing to increase the capacity that the truck can carry.

So what is the vehicle rated to tow????? The numbers you have dont tell you the tow ratings. Ask the dealer if you have to.

Should be a good match. Get a WDH with integrated sway control like Equal-z-er 4-pt, Reese Strait Line. A WDH when adjusted such that 100% front axle weight is restored does put about 20% on TW back onto the trailer axles. You may want to consider replacing the receiver on your truck. It is was failure prone well under the ratings when new, let alone 10 years old.

Your TH has a GVWR of 7000#. Load capacity is 3900# Dry weight of 3100#

Tongue weight is 640# w/no toys, once your load is adjusted further back of the axles, the tongue weight will become less as stated in the specs.

Maintain a minimum of 10% of total trailer weight "loaded" should be your goal for tongue weight.

Have you researched whether you can add more payload capacity to your vehicle? That would be my first thought.

JFit23 wrote:
From my reading, all this does is transfer off the rear axle and distribute it to rear/front, not really helping my payload issue.

Correct. A Weight Distributing Hitch (abbreviated as WD Hitch) only helps transfer weight to the front axle.

I've use a variety of WD hitches and never drilled in to the trailer frame.