What do you tow with your GM 1500?

Last year my wife and I traveled around the U.S.A. towing an Ultra Light 28 foot-5,500 pound travel trailer. My truck is an 2011 Crew Cab optioned like yours.

We towed 8,000 miles in 8 months and put another 12,000 miles on the truck "touring". For a total of 20,000 miles. I proved that an Ultra Light trailer and a half-ton truck will hold up just fine. The truck was/is COMPLETELY STOCK. WE HAD ZERO ISSUES. We had the trailer in Tornado warning winds and torrential downpours. Not even a flat tire running so called "China Bombs". It goes to show if you run at 60mph they don't blow.

Feel free to PM me if any questions.

BTW-I would suggest no more than 6,000 pounds dry when looking at a trailer. Mine was 4,800 pounds dry.

IndyCamp wrote:
I tow the trailer in my sig (same trailer as wmoses) and the truck does OK. Not great, but it gets the job done.

Door sticker says 1,552. Just two adults and a two year old. Very little gear goes in the truck.

What is your rear end ratio?

My truck does pretty well pulling my 30+ ft trailer which is probably around 7100#. Just my wife and me, clothes in 2 backpacks in the rear seat, and the bed with approximately 200# of stuff. Get about 10 mpg while pulling at 60 mph on rolling terrain in cruise control and tow mode. Revs never go over 3400 rpm and are typically at 2750 rpm or so, even dropping to 1800 rpm on a rare occasion.

Since it is my daily driver I like the 16+ mpg I get driving around and going to work.

I'm waiting to pick up my '14 Silverado 1500 in about a week from now. Having towed what is in my sig with the truck that is currently in my sig, I know that it will be no problem.

The new GM 5.3 has more low-end torque than the 5.7 Hemi and I was able to kit the Silverado it out with the Max trailiering package which upgrades payload capacity, RAWR, GCVR and Rear end to a 3.73.

The 5.3 of today is a little stronger than those of the past, and with that rear end, I doubt that the hills in the east will be a problem, thought I might not cross the rockies.

Here's a good source of info on what different configurations of the '14 Silverado will net you for capacities:

Linky

Edit: my rig is loaded for camping at about 5800.

We tow a 29' TT that weighs about 6k lbs loaded to camp. Our 1500 Suburban is stock, no 'improvements' made. Works ok. Not ideal, but not bad, either. If we were full-timing or doing extensive traveling, I would probably not be satisfied with either the TV or the TT, but it works for our weekend outings.

I did add a set of Timbrens to my 2012 2WD Silverado 1500 which firmed up the rear suspension. Of course, I don't need them any longer since I upgraded tow vehicles.

I tow the trailer in my sig (same trailer as wmoses) and the truck does OK. Not great, but it gets the job done.

Door sticker says 1,552. Just two adults and a two year old. Very little gear goes in the truck.

I won't be buying a 2500 any time soon, but when we go bigger on our next trailer in a few years, we will also upgrade the truck.

Empty Nest, Soon wrote:

We need more room now that we’re both retired and planning on traveling more. I’m hoping to get an idea of what peoples’ real-world experiences are towing with this truck, and what I can hope to tow.

Your a TT vet so really you know what you need in the case of more room. We've been looking to larger and with our set up even a few light 5th wheels are an option. However in TT's we ran smack up against the receiver rating (1130 lbs.) In your case you don't want or need to be anywhere near that. The are quite a few ultralights that have plenty of room and relatively light tongue weights. Our biggest problem is that we have become picky with our requirement list not the availability of larger lightweight TT's. Good luck and hopefully more responses keep coming from real world set-ups.

I have a 2000 GMC 1500 5.3L reg cab Z71 130,000+ miles.
I pull a 20ft TT

Specifications
Unloaded Weight 4,154
Hitch Weight 499

I am not going to pass anyone going up hill but I wouldn't if I could. But I would pull it anywhere I wanted to go.

TomG2 wrote:
The first thing to is forget that 10,000 pound number. . .

I never had any aspirations of towing a 10,000 pound TT. I was hoping to be able to maybe tow as much as 8,000 pounds, but now it seems like that is pretty questionable.

Several people have mentioned "improvements" to their trucks. Have you done something to get a little extra carrying capacity without too much risk?

Wayne

I tow a 26' 4500 lb (dry) TT with a crew cab 5.3 and 3.42 gears and I don't like it. When we load the TT up and pack the family of 4 and gear in the TV the 5.3 is fine on flat, open road but if we hit a moderate incline the 5.3 struggles. You may have a different experience with the 6 speed transmission in the newer 1500s but my experience has me in the market for a more capable TV.