Total newbie, towing question regarding my TV
We have never owned an RV before, always tent camped but now with twin 3 years old kids, it's time to get a travel trailer.
We have a 2010 Suburban 1500 4wd, single speed transfer case and 5.3L V8 with the 3.08 axle that we bought used last year. The dealer ran my VIN and came back with 5300 lbs towing capacity. I looked up the various towing capacity for this vehicle, and found that the towing capacity will go to 7900 lbs if it has transmission cooler and 3.42 axle.
I plan to install a transmission cooler, that's pretty simple to do. Upgrading the axle to 3.42 is out of question due to cost (I'm assuming it's very costly, don't know for sure). So I'm stuck with the 5300 lbs towing capacity. I figured with the only difference been the axle between the two tow capacities, the 5300 lbs is fairly conservative if I add the tranny cooler, and for going up hills, I can always use the manual gear mode to select the highest gear and not allow the tranny to gear hunting too much.
We've done some research and are down to two options for the travel trailer. Starcraft AR-One Maxx 19BHLE and 20BHLE models. Both are the bunk beds that we need. The interior is essentially the same with the 20BHLE having an extra pantry and separate fridge and freezer. The 20BHLE has tandem axles while the 19BHLE is a single axle. The 20BHLE's dry weight/GVWR is 3822/5000, while the 19BHLE's is 3373/4400.
The dealer said the 20BHLE will tow better, sway less and bounce less due to the tandem axles. I plan to get the Equalizer sway/WD hitch so I figured the swaying is not going to an issue. The question now is whether the 20BHLE when loaded to the GVWR, will be too much for my Suburban. I have weight the Suburban empty on a CAT scale and it's 5850 lbs with a full tank of gas. The GVWR of the Suburban is 7400 lbs. The tongue weight of both trailer models is 400 lbs. So I have about 1150 lbs of cargo capacity in the Suburban to play with including four of us, some gear and a couple kayaks on the roof).
I'm totally new at this so would love to hear feedbacks from people. I worry about what dealers tell me since they're biased to sell the biggest and most expensive trailer to me.
We have a 2010 Suburban 1500 4wd, single speed transfer case and 5.3L V8 with the 3.08 axle that we bought used last year. The dealer ran my VIN and came back with 5300 lbs towing capacity. I looked up the various towing capacity for this vehicle, and found that the towing capacity will go to 7900 lbs if it has transmission cooler and 3.42 axle.
I plan to install a transmission cooler, that's pretty simple to do. Upgrading the axle to 3.42 is out of question due to cost (I'm assuming it's very costly, don't know for sure). So I'm stuck with the 5300 lbs towing capacity. I figured with the only difference been the axle between the two tow capacities, the 5300 lbs is fairly conservative if I add the tranny cooler, and for going up hills, I can always use the manual gear mode to select the highest gear and not allow the tranny to gear hunting too much.
We've done some research and are down to two options for the travel trailer. Starcraft AR-One Maxx 19BHLE and 20BHLE models. Both are the bunk beds that we need. The interior is essentially the same with the 20BHLE having an extra pantry and separate fridge and freezer. The 20BHLE has tandem axles while the 19BHLE is a single axle. The 20BHLE's dry weight/GVWR is 3822/5000, while the 19BHLE's is 3373/4400.
The dealer said the 20BHLE will tow better, sway less and bounce less due to the tandem axles. I plan to get the Equalizer sway/WD hitch so I figured the swaying is not going to an issue. The question now is whether the 20BHLE when loaded to the GVWR, will be too much for my Suburban. I have weight the Suburban empty on a CAT scale and it's 5850 lbs with a full tank of gas. The GVWR of the Suburban is 7400 lbs. The tongue weight of both trailer models is 400 lbs. So I have about 1150 lbs of cargo capacity in the Suburban to play with including four of us, some gear and a couple kayaks on the roof).
I'm totally new at this so would love to hear feedbacks from people. I worry about what dealers tell me since they're biased to sell the biggest and most expensive trailer to me.
