Trailer Length/Weight Recommendations

Thank you everyone for the input! Lots of good real examples.

Would you recommend any modifications to the truck? I mean obviously something like going to 4.10 gears would help with towing a bit, but I am thinking more minor upgrades that would be worth putting into a 2002 truck.

Thank you again!

6k dry is pushing capability when that truck was new, not 15 years old.

No idea what an "Uber body" is.

Autocorrect strikes again...

jrhanbar98 wrote:
Av has same or very similar wheel base as a 1/2 tin truck, or suburban. Also it is not a Uber body.

Not true ... my Av has a 130" wheelbase with a much tighter turning radius than my crew cab Silverado which had a 143.5" wheelbase and due to a wider turning radius made it much more difficult to back up my trailer when access to the campsite was really tight. Our 5500 lb KZ Spree measured 26' 9" coupler to bumper and towed equally well with either the Silverado or shorter wheelbase Avalanche.

No idea what an "Uber body" is. :R

The Avalanche shares its frame with the Suburban, as well as its suspension. Basically a 'Burb with the back roof removed.

Av has same or very similar wheel base as a 1/2 tin truck, or suburban. Also it is not a Uber body.

The focus on weight for the OP with a short wheelbase truck is mostly wrong. Sure the 5-6000lb range is spot on, but length is WAY more critical for this truck.

Tow a empty 30' enclosed trailer that weighs 1500lbs on a windy day then tow a 8000lb flat bed. You'll die for the flat bed tow at max weight all day, any day.

Towing with short wheelbase SUV's myself I can tell the OP that he'd be fine at 6,000lbs and around 26' max length.

Getting over 26', you will beg for a Hensley or Propride for absolutle stability.

I could not tow my 32' with a Sequoia without one of these ridiculous contraptions by Hensley and Propride. The OP will find the same applies to him.

To the OP I'm a few days late to the conversation but thought you might want a different perspective. I own a 2003 Avalanche 4x4, had 3.73 gears but I put I. 4.10's to help out. I have pull a 25ft Innsbruck that weight about 7k ready to camp. I have the Equalizer hitch and driven this combo all over MN, taken it out to Yellowstone and South Dakota. Never once felt out of control or have any trailer sway and I never felt like the truck was over matched. The 5.3 is a good engine like small block gassers it likes to rev to get its power. I put the trans in 3, (not OD), click the tow haul button and let it go. The engine is happy anywhere between 3k and 4K rpm. Some say that's too loud and for them it may be, but it does not hurt the engine, I'm currently at just about ver 150k on the odometer!!

A few points to consider, as a few have mentioned payload is your limiting factor, as a rule I don't like to load anything I the bed of the truck except wheel chocks and some hand tools, maybe 50lbs. Everything goes int the trailer as with 4.10's my combo weight is good up to 14k. So I have capacity in the trailer if loaded correctly. I try to load everything over the axels. Coolers bikes games etc. I put some stuff aft axels, but want to maintain adequate tougne weights. We camp at full hook up sites so we don't haul water, never made sense to me anyway, if we don't get full hook up we can get water at the campsite so you are not hauling far. In MN you cannot haul firewood across county boarders due to Emrald Ash borer and Dutch Elm disease. This means we have to buy wood at the campsite but saves on weight.

In the cab it's me, wifey, and my son a growing 8th grader and sometimes a friend. So a little more weight than you but not much. Overall I would not hesitate to pull 7k rolling with Av. What that means to you is your decision but factor in an additional 1-1.5k in add on weight to the listed dry weight.

I've been to the scale a number of times, trailer consistently comes in at 7-7.2k total combined weight of about 13-13.5k. The only weight I am over is the rear axel rating and it's between 50-150lbs. I've decided I can live with that.

I did put in 4.10's over the installed 3.73's, mainly to help truck stay in 3rd gear on hills. It also gives me a little more acceleration on the on ramps and off the the stop lights, (you'll never win any races towing a RV).

You make the call it's all you are comfortable with, but I will say the MOST gray area in towing is one driver's subjective experience vs another's. Your experience is the only things that matters!!

Enjoy RV'ing!!

It is in the math, a 5000 dry weight TT will weigh about 6200 lbs. when loaded for the road. Mine does across the CAT scales. That equated to 750 to 800 pounds of tongue weight.

What is the max cargo limit on your vehicle?

Most folks run out of cargo capacity before towing capacity.

Good luck

Shal36 wrote:

Hannibal wrote:

Shal36 wrote:
I had a 2011 Avalanche LTZ. I changed to a 3.73 gear, which is about the same as a 4.10 gear in the older four speed models. I did a tune. I have a 29' lightweight camper that weighs 5,500 loaded ready to camp (yes, that's weight based on a CAT scale). I have a blue ox setup. It did ok, good power, but after about 9 months, we bought a Sierra 2500. On a windy day, it felt like driving on ice. And yes, I definitely experimented with WD settings, tire pressures, and trailer loading. The Avy is not a great tow platform. Payload is low and it tows "squishy" IMO. I think you would find anything over 26' or so and over 5000# to be a bit uncomfortable. The 2500 is a much more pleasant experience. I would imagine a properly equipped 1500 truck would do better than the Avy.

I'd be willing to bet a better sway control hitch would have made a world of difference. Just the same, the 2500 probably doesn't even need sway control. We tow our 32.5' Jayco TT with our F250 without sway control. It has to be pretty windy to feel it. If our next truck is a 1/2 ton, it will definitely be with the Reese dual cam or Equalizer hitch.

https://www.etrailer.com/question-116001.html

The Blue Ox is a sway control setup.

From the link I posted.

{Does Reese Dual-Cam Sway Control Work Better than Blue Ox Sway Control
Question:
I have 34 ft v nose travel trailer toune weight of 1200 pounds current have blue ox system with ford f250 diesel getting sway above 50 mp Will reese cam system work better with sway thanks
asked by: Chuck R

Expert Reply:
Yes, it is my experience that they dual-cam sway control works much better than the Blue Ox systems. I recently have been riding in trucks towing trailers, one with the Blue Ox and one with a Reese system with the dual-cam sway control. The Blue Ox system worked but not nearly as well as the Strait-Line systems with the dual-cam sway control.}