Not getting a bigger truck. Not in the cards. I've decided against the original travel trailer and am now trying to find a 26 ft trailer that weighs 4700 lbs or less to suit my needs.
Your truck with your family in it won't have any issues towing that size trailer.
As I mentioned in my reply above my wife has a '16 1500 crew cab chevy 5.3 4x4 short bed 3.42 gears.
Front axle weight is 3120 lbs.
Rear axle weight is 2320 lbs
Her truck has a 4000 RAWR which leaves it with 1680 lb payload in the bed. The yellow tire placard gvwr based payload sticker says 1640 lbs. Your truck will have similar rear axle weights.
Depending on tranny gear selected the 6L80E tranny/3.42 axle/17" tires is the same as a 3.9/4.10 gears in her truck.
I tow mostly with my 2500 Dodge/Cummins or a 3500 DRW chev 4x4 454 engine.
The ET3 5.3 has very impressive low rpm torque and mid range power Her old '06 1500 same truck with a 5.3 4L60E tranny and 3.73 gears Simply doesn't compare.
