What can my Suburban safely tow?

travelnman wrote:
We tow a TT dry weight of 6,200lbs loaded with dry tanks it must be 7,500lbs.
GM says our 1500 Suburban with the 5.3 motor and 3.73 axel can tow 8,200lbs, it
does pretty well. Never ever any sway but do have to pull the trany down when
in the mountains and go 20mi hour at times in 1st gear on very steep
grades. Extreme winds are also a effort don't expect to get gas mileage
there either but the suburban comes thru so we are very happy campers. I
also turn off the air conditioning during these times and pretend its the good
old days. I image the six liter would be a big boost over the 5.3. I have been looking for a 2500 with the six liter but they are really hard to find and
the new Suburbans are out of my price bracket and can only hope the FBI has
a auction. In the future I'm wondering who will be able to afford a tow
vehicle and RV, camping is getting to be for the rich. I have seen some
nice motor homes for a fraction of their original cost with low miles. I'm
going to consider that. Never consider them before.

It really is expensive! We aren't willing to even consider updating our tow vehicle at this point, perhaps someday though.
I think one thing that really hurts our Suburban's tow capacity is that whoever owned it before us put every stinking option you could possibly get on that thing! I'm guessing that must add weight? Our payload capacity is slightly under 1,400lbs! We will also frequently be towing in the mountains, so we want to stay as far under our tow capacity as possible.
Aside from finding out that our Suburban doesn't tow any where near what we thought it would I'm pretty in love with that truck! I certainly don't miss my minivan! Lol!