Again, nothing against the law to tow an 11k lb trailer with a proper rated hitch. And again, the 10k rating is based on a 10k hitch.
An excursion originally was rated at 10k lbs tow rating. In 02 the rating went to 12,500lbs, the only difference was the attaching hardware. So with the proper hardware on an early Excursion you could tow 12k lbs.
same goes for my Excursion. It was rated from the factory at 17k lbs GCWR with 3.73 gears. With 4.30 gears it went up to 20k lbs GCWR. So yes you can tow a heavier trailer if you do it safely.
You can tow a heavier trailer and stay within the factory weight specs.
