Buyer's remorse??

2012Coleman wrote:
If you are simply calculating weights, the GVWR is a much better number to use than a guess of what the trailer will weigh once you've loaded it. Since the OP has stated he is going to get it weighed, it's really a moot point, now isn't it?

As already pointed out by others, using the trailer's GVWR as a guide in calculating just how much trailer a given vehicle can safely tow and remain within it's various limits is a bogus method simply because in many cases that GVWR is so far beyond what any reasonable person would load the trailer to. Fact is, these days it's not even necessary to weigh a trailer beforehand as it's actual weight as it left the factory is now required to be shown on a sticker affixed to the trailer. To that one would then mathematically account for anything the dealer may add before delivering the trailer to the customer - i.e. battery, propane in the tanks, or any additional options the customers may request. To that weight most travel trailer owners would want to also allow a couple hundred pounds to account for the weight of water in the water heater tank and some reserve capacity in the fresh water tank so the system can be pressurized, remain that way as long as the owner wants, and be used anywhere, at any time, camping or otherwise. That then leaves the weight of whatever the owner may add to the trailer in terms of his own personal cargo ... and that means everything. Working backwards it's therefore easy to say that if one takes the unloaded vehicle weight of the trailer as it left the factory and as listed on the required weight sticker and adds 1000 lbs to this weight that will at least put them roughly in the range of what this trailer may actually weigh fully loaded. Bottom line, of course it's wise to eventually weigh any trailer fully loaded and ready to camp but these days it's certainly not as necessary as it once was nor is it wise to use it's GVWR as a guide.

Once he comes back with that, statements like "should be doable" will be based more on facts.

If you're referring to my earlier "should be doable" comment it is based on facts as I've been towing for 10 yrs now with GMs ubquitous 5.3L power plant and am quite familiar with what it can and can't do ... and what it can't do, including under widely varying conditions of terrain and weather, is to tow 8000 lbs ... in fact, not even close, which is why I said if the OP sticks to a trailer that weighs no more than about 6000 lbs to perhaps 6500 lbs max fully loaded then towing it with their Sub "should be doable", even though we yet don't know the full specifics of their particular truck. Having towed tens of thousands of miles with the same vehicle platform as the OP does IMO grant me some degree of authority with which to comment on this subject. :S