Need advice on choosing another Tow Vehicle?
Okay, so my mechanic (best mechanic I have found in 30 years) told me today that he thought that my 2007 Silverado with the 5.3 will tow my Kodiak 19FL and about 1000 pounds extra, but that it would s...
Forum Discussion
jungleexplorer wrote:kodiakcanuck wrote:
3:23 does kinda suck for towing. It can be done though. I wouldn't worry about your tranny as much, towing is hard on ALL trannies, as others said, flush it often and dont worry about it. Fix the rear end and you will be fine...I think your size trailer is well suited for your truck, just dont try to upgrade to something bigger.
You would be surprised what I have seen towing up here, gas is expensive so people are using small SUVs and mini vans to tow trailer almost the same size as mine :h
Okay. Responding to you and the last three posters. Let see if I understand what y'all are saying. Stay with my truck but add these things:
1. Change the rear end to a lower ratio.
2. Get a larger or extra tans cooler.
3. Get a trans temp gauge.
4 I have to get a trailer brake controller installed as well, cause my TT has them.
So I am going to call my mechanic to get an estimate on all this. Sounds like I might be in for a huge expense to upgrade this truck.
If you are satisfied with the performance, just start with the temp gauge and the brake controller. If the trans. temps are too high, add the cooler. If you are not satisfied with the acceleration or gearing, then change the gears. You don't have to do it all at once.
I towed my 26' 5600 lb trailer with my wagon with 2.93 gears for 8,000 miles over 6 years of camping. I added the temp gauge and a much larger cooler. I took a couple of trips out east and hit the Adirondacks, went to the smokies and too many trips around MI. No trans issues at all. I was always in 3rd gear and sometimes in 2nd on the highway. No big deal. It probably would survive the Rockies but I upgraded and bought a bigger trailer in the last year so I never was tempted to test it there. Gearing was the only issue as I'd probably end up in 1st gear on the Rockies at times. I still wouldn't be concerned about the transmission durability. I did also add an external trans filter and changed it yearly along with about 4 qts of the trans. fluid (every 12k miles).
