Family of 6 tow vehicle ?? What works?

Oreonut wrote:
Hi all,

I have been happily camping after all the great advice I got on her back in 2006. Sadly our 2006 Chevrolet 2500HD is needing to be replaced and we are having a hard time coming up with a replacement that works for our much larger family. We have been taking a mini van and towing with the truck on all our vacations for some time now and would like to put us all in one vehicle.

I am looking for options for 6 people to ride comfortably and tow a 2007 Sunnybrook Sunset Creek - dry weight 6615 - length 33' and we always drive with no water on board.

I searched for a used 2500 Suburban but no luck in finding anything with lower mileage that was in the budget.

We are considering a 2016 Chevy Express 2500 and converting the second row of seats to bucket seats. Will this still pull the trailer adequately? While the tow rating is 10,000 I know that is usually super misleading.

I am open to any and all suggestions.

Thanks!

What mileage are you looking for? My wife and I have a 2004 Suburban (see my signature) pulling a <10K toy hauler, and I've finally convinced her (since we no longer have any kids at home) to let me sell the Sub & look for a diesel truck that has way more tow capacity than I need, but the key benefit for me = the truck bed to put a diesel transfer tank for extended range.

The Sub tows like a champ, but going up 9% grades into Death Valley a couple weeks ago with a trailer that's debatably loaded to its GVWR makes for slower (25-35MPH) towing. The engine never even breaks a sweat, and the transmission warms up, but not much over flat towing.

I've got about 97K on the Sub, going to do the 100K service, then apply a BlackBear tune to get another bump in HP & torque to see how that affects towing up hills while fully loaded.

I know the 8.1L engines in the 2500 Subs are getting harder to find, but I check Craigslist every so often to see what's out there. Ours has the 2 bucket seats in the 2nd row, so it makes it a little easier to get into the 3rd row, as well as the 2nd row seats tumbling forward for access to the rear.

If you decide to focus on a Sub & can't find what you're looking for locally, let me know. I'm searching for a truck, kinda leaning toward a 7.3L F350 (2003 or earlier) if I can find the right one for the right price. Once I've got a solid truck to replace the Sub, it will be up for sale.

PS - Hope no one takes this as a "for sale" ad - mine's not up for sale just yet.

Good luck in your search for the right vehicle for your family. I'll be leaning on the wisdom of the people on this forum to help me find the next tow vehicle for my needs.