Towing question

kdismydog wrote:
Thanks for the input so far. Does it matter that the towing distance will be short...and very infrequent, once or twice a year? And on flat ground?

Unless your talking about movement around the storage facility, from a capability and legality standpoint nope.

If you your talking about extensive travel I imagine most of us would be telling you to get a 3/4 ton for that. Since you are talking about relatively small usage and we are assuming you are willing to put up with relatively poor performance for that period of time. In other words your vehicle is about as lite as you can go now, just to drive around the block.

Thanks for the input so far. Does it matter that the towing distance will be short...and very infrequent, once or twice a year? And on flat ground?

I would need a bit more information to be 100% sure but on first glance I think you are good.. HOWEVER do not take my word for it.

Here is where you need to be to find out:

Trailer Life 1999 towing guide

From the looks of it, depending on just exactly which of the Suburan line you have.. You may be well within tow ratings.


As for the "Get the biggest truck you can" crowd (of which I am part) I usually send folks to http://www.trail-hauler.com which is the site for folks to shop if they do not wish to ever ask the question "Can I Tow That". But the fact is the bigger the tow vehicle, the better the tow vehicle, That is, the less you will feel the towed, and the easier it will be to handle..

But the chart I linked to should give you the facts regarding YOUR truck. Being as its a '99... I'd try to give it a bit of Headroom, say take a thousand pounds or 20 percent off the tow rating of the truck.

It's doable, depending on how much payload is taken up by passengers and cargo.

You have somewhere around 1230 lbs of payload. That's room you have for weight from the trailer tongue, WD hitch, fuel, driver, passengers, and cargo, in or on the Suburban. If 6000# is loaded trailer weight, the hitch and tongue weight will eat up about 800#.

A while back, we had a poster asking pretty much the same question. Turned out, he had six kids. His driver / passenger / cargo weight was close to 1000#. A full tank of gas and the WD hitch, put him at his max payload. Any tongue weight, would put him over.

Have you headed to the nearest scale to find out your actual weights loaded for a trip? Compare that actual weight with the published towing numbers for your TV and trailer.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
6000# loaded OK

6000# 'dry'.......not so OK

X2, what you describe seems fine if that is loaded trailer weight.

6000# loaded OK

6000# 'dry'.......not so OK

If your trailer is 6K trip loaded....hook it up and go. You will be fine for what you posted you are going to do.

I pulled a 32 ft travlstar 30qbs all the way to great falls mt with a 1500 Silverado which weighed about 6000 loaded