Towing 10k+ with a 'Burb.......Duraburb or ??

Bryan is right. It's large, and it's heavy, but it's not a park-model, it's a self contained TT.....There are plenty of travel-trailers (both bumper pull and tons of larger 5th wheels) that are WAY heavier (Forest River shows several 5ers that are ~~12k dry), and LOTS of toy haulers that are thousands of pounds in excess of what I've got.

The honest truth is that most of those are being tugged around by 1 ton dually diesel-powered pickups.

I'm not going to sell the trailer, it's exactly what my wife and I want, it's a perfect size, and was a smokin' good price.

I just need to figure out a way to safely tow it, while fitting the family.

CKNSLS wrote:

LarryJM wrote:

Jettix2 wrote:
Hey guys;

My wife and I recently bought a Sierra 321BHT. 900# TW and 9400# dry.

I have a ProPride 3P sitting in the garage, waiting to be installed.

Currently towing with a 2011 F250 Crew Cab, 6.2L 4WD with 3.73 axle. I'm not super impressed with how the current truck tows the trailer (previous thread on that), and my wife and I have been bouncing ideas around of other possible tow vehicles.......considered buying a new diesel P/U, etc. Well, we just found out we're pregnant with Baby #3, so this changes everything.

My new towing setup is going to be Wife, Me, with 3 kids across in the rear seat.....6 year old in a booster, 2 year old in a forward facing carseat, and infant in a rear-facing. And the small dog. I think we're gonna go insane towing with this setup:(

We'd looked up Suburban 2500s (extra interior space makes everyone happy!) and saw that they only were rated for 9600#, so we crossed 'em off the list. (later found out that this was due to the lousy factory bumper-integrated hitch) But, I stumbled upon the DURABURB on Google and see that they do Duramax conversions to Suburbans. I spoke with them yesterday, and they said that with a Curt XHD 15324 hitch bolted to the rear frame as part of their Duramax swap, a 2500HD Suburban could safely tow 17,000 lbs. PERFECT!! With this setup, it also appears as though I would be under-axle limit weight-wise according to the door placard in case the DOT ever stopped me. (from what I can tell, 4180ft and 5500rr).

I figure I'm probably 12,000# loaded with kids, gear, food, and such, so this would be well within the vehicle's limits as built by them.

I'm assuming (without asking) that even with the new hitch, the 6.0 motor would be a complete dog with this much weight behind it, and that the Duramax conversion is really the only proper way to tow this much weight, right? If I'm unhappy with my current 6.2L F250 towing, I'm not going to like the 6.0L, I'm guessing....?

Any other thoughts on the Duraburb, please post em up. For about $40k, I can get a well-sorted & gone through, 75,000-ish mile (both drivetrain and body) Duramax equipped Suburban 2500 4WD. This sounds pretty tempting. ~~~ 18k for the 'burb, 14 for the Duramax, and 8ish for the install.

FWIW I considered an Excursion diesel, but it's a huge step back to the past compared with what I'm currently driving, and I don't think I'll be happy with it.

Thanks, Ben

What you bought was not a normal towable TT, but a destination type trailer that is made to be taken somewhere and parked and not normally moved frequently. Thus trying to match it up with a normal tow vehicle is a lose-lose proposition. My recommendation is to sell it and get something made for what you intend to use it for.

Larry

Larry is right +1 ! Another case of-"The RV salesman said I could tow it!"