Forum Discussion

NorthYYC's avatar
NorthYYC
Explorer
May 06, 2013

Tracking towing distance (tow haul turned on)

Does anyone know of a way to discover the total mileage or hours a truck has been towing (in tow haul mode)? Perhaps accessing the "black box" or via OBDII? This information is useful for trailer maintenance etc.

I have a 1213 GMC 3500.
  • Can't help with your GM, but the Ford brake controller allows you to name your trailers and it tracks total mileage that you've towed them. Pretty nice feature.
  • Your DIC has two different timers that you can activate with just a touch of your finger. Might work if you always leave your tow haul turned on when towing but I use tow haul only about half of the time so I track it in a data base file.
  • I would not take any of the data from tow haul button and use it for anything important. I'd say there are some (like me) who will use it when not towing for different reasons and that could throw the actual data off if you are trying to find how many hours a TV has been used for towing.
  • rightyouareken wrote:
    Can't help with your GM, but the Ford brake controller allows you to name your trailers and it tracks total mileage that you've towed them. Pretty nice feature.


    This is a great feature with the Fords. But I thought it started counting when you plugged in the umbilical. You can add several different trailer names and track each one separately. Fivers, Utility trailers, horse trailers, etc.

    You might want to check your owners manual. Your GMC might have the same feature buried in there somewhere.
  • Since I use T/H all the time when pulling our 5vr, I use the "B" trip odometer to get the total length of our trip. This is not a totally accurate way of T/H mileage because of side trips, etc., but it will give you a rough measure of your T/H mileage.