2015 Yukon TT Weight Help

[cfendya]

Hello all, I'm new here and we are currently in the search for a "new" TT for the family. Mostly looking at the used market as it seems like a good place to start out to make sure everyone enjoys things before upgrading. 🙂

I've done a fair bit of research on what is the right weight for my vehicle but vetting it out with the experts here is what I'm after. Below is what I know about my vehicle and what I'm thinking in way of possible weight of TT.

It's a 2015 Yukon minus the heavy duty trailer package. We have the 3.08's but the Service Part Description sticker shows the vehicle came equipped with the Oil and Trans cooler. Max payload sticker shows 1500lbs and the hitch show's max tongue weight of 1000lbs. I'm figuring approx 500lbs of gear in the Yukon leaving 1000lbs of payload (tongue weight). Max towing capacity is 6300lbs.

TT's we're looking at have a tongue weight of around 500lbs with empty weight of 5100/5300lbs. Assuming full of clean water we'll probably be around 5500/5800lbs.

One concern we have is we're located out in Denver, CO and with a gasser I have heard you want to play it down some due to high altitude and naturally aspirated engines struggling a bit up here.

My couple questions are is the "high altitude" concern legit and the other being is the dry weight of what we're looking at seem reasonable or should we look at smaller/lighter units?

Thanks in advance for all the helpful insight!!

[cfendya]

Thanks again for all the great feedback Fixed.

Being this is our first TT, we're starting out with something which we can see how much/little we enjoy it. Really it's our biggest reason for buying used. Most of your points have been considered however it's good to see some real life use numbers surrounding water and gas.

We're concentrating on a Rockwood Roo 25RS right now as we like the separate beds for the kids, the hard shell surround and reading many reviews out there, it seems as though it's been a great trailer for many.

Again, thanks for all the help!

[Fixed_Sight_Tra]

A few other things to consider besides the ability of the TV are:

What do you need? How big is the family? Do the kids need their own beds? Do you mind converting the dinette into a bed? Do you mind or like sleeping under a canvas bunk end as in a hybrid TT? Are the kids able to grow into it or will they end up in their own beds or a tent at some point? How much time do you spend inside while camping? Some people spend a lot of time inside while camping while we tend to be outside most of the time. I can see where a gourmet chef would want a bigger kitchen while we are happy with a small one as we do almost all our camping over a campfire.

Where do you like camping? Air conditioning won't run w/o a generator or hookups. Generators are big, heavy, take up a lot of room and are probably not permanently installed in a camper the size you are looking. They also require gas which means a possibly smelly gas can somewhere in one of the vehicles. Or you can go to a campground with hookups. These are fairly expensive and TEND (not all the time) to be more cramped than dry camping CGs. We prefer to go high enough and into wooded areas where we don't need AC.

With 2 kids, 2 labs my wife and I we use about 30 gals of water for 4 days. We haven't needed the showers so that is for drinking, cooking, dishes and flushing the toilet. Again, we rarely have hookups so we carry the water with us. With a cart and a few jugs you could fill up fairly easily but we just take it with us and accept the extra weight. 43 gal @ 8.35 lb/gal is 360 lbs. I'm about to install another tank under the back of the trailer to balance the weight better.

Batteries and propane are usually mounted on the tongue. How long are you going to stay out without hookups? With one battery you may be limited to just a couple days without recharging a battery depending on your use of course. Less if you run the furnace. More batteries add weight to the tongue. A generator will charge the batteries but slowly and inefficiently. A solar charger may be good if you like dry camping. Propane last a long, long, long time and 2 20 lb tanks are cheaper and weigh less than 2 30 lb tanks. Mine came with 2 30 lb tanks but I'd be just as happy with 20 lb tanks.

Sorry for the unsolicited advise but these things could make a difference when it comes to making a choice.

[cfendya]

Thanks and your comments and suggestions all make perfect sense! Also good to know you're in the Denver area and pulling something larger with a similar vehicle 😉

Greatly appreciate the response!

[Fixed_Sight_Tra]

The 500 lbs of gear will most likely be taken out of the Tahoe and put in the trailer so figure passengers and fuel for the payload and that will let you know about max tongue weight.

I pull a 7k # trailer with an older Tahoe out of the Denver area and almost all in the mountains of CO. 2 to 3k miles per year. Your Tahoe will pull the trailer you are describing just fine IF you do your part. The bigger the trailer the more you are going to have to work while driving. Not just put it in D and go.

As has been said you need to keep the RPMs up while climbing but it's not a bid deal and soon your family won't notice 3500 to 4000 rpms. Use the manual gear shift to hold it in the gear/ rpm range that will work for you and don't let it shift every time you level out for a few seconds or let off the gas a little. The hills aren't that long and if you slow down it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. Also you'll notice it shifts very hard going up hill with a load so it's better for the transmission to hold it in one gear at an RPM which will get you all the way up the hill. You'll notice that when you hold it in gear and use the rpm's you won't even have to give it too much gas going up the hills.

Planning ahead for stopping, accelerating, passing and even changing lanes becomes more important and fatigue can set in if you aren't used to it and is worse with a heavier trailer so I would worry less about the Tahoe's limitations and ask yourself what you or the other drivers are comfortable with.

[cfendya]

handye9 wrote:
Your available payload is much less than your estimate. Deductions, from your payload capacity, include everything and everybody, you put in or on the vehicle. In addition to that 500 lbs of gear, you need to subtract the weight of your family.

Your max tow capacity (6300 lbs) is considering a 150 lb driver who, has no cargo, and has no passengers. As you load people and gear into the vehicle, your tow capacity and payload go down, pound for pound.

Average trailer load (pots and pans, dishes, utensils, bedding, bath linens, tools, camp chairs, BBQ, groceries, water, etc) is closer to 1000 lbs. A trailer with 5300 lb empty weight will be more like 6300 when ready to camp.

Average tongue weight is 12 - 13 percent of loaded trailer weight. A 6300 lb trailer could have tongue weight over 800 lbs. A weight distribution hitch will add another 80 - 100 lbs.

What is the general consensus on % of tow capacity to leave for reserve?

I don't want to completely max out the capacity but at the same time want to make sure we can get something which we all can safely enjoy.

[handye9]

cfendya wrote:
It's a 2015 Yukon minus the heavy duty trailer package. We have the 3.08's but the Service Part Description sticker shows the vehicle came equipped with the Oil and Trans cooler. Max payload sticker shows 1500lbs and the hitch show's max tongue weight of 1000lbs. I'm figuring approx 500lbs of gear in the Yukon leaving 1000lbs of payload (tongue weight). Max towing capacity is 6300lbs.

TT's we're looking at have a tongue weight of around 500lbs with empty weight of 5100/5300lbs. Assuming full of clean water we'll probably be around 5500/5800lbs.

Your available payload is much less than your estimate. Deductions, from your payload capacity, include everything and everybody, you put in or on the vehicle. In addition to that 500 lbs of gear, you need to subtract the weight of your family.

Your max tow capacity (6300 lbs) is considering a 150 lb driver who, has no cargo, and has no passengers. As you load people and gear into the vehicle, your tow capacity and payload go down, pound for pound.

Average trailer load (pots and pans, dishes, utensils, bedding, bath linens, tools, camp chairs, BBQ, groceries, water, etc) is closer to 1000 lbs. A trailer with 5300 lb empty weight will be more like 6300 when ready to camp.

Average tongue weight is 12 - 13 percent of loaded trailer weight. A 6300 lb trailer could have tongue weight over 800 lbs. A weight distribution hitch will add another 80 - 100 lbs.

[cfendya]

APT - It's great you posted this! I found a similar article late last night that was a year or so old on a truck forum talking exactly about this.

As you depict, and what the other post discussed was exactly the point of having transmissions with more gears with lower rear end gears provides similar final drive ratio as one with less speeds and higher rear end gears. Lower rear end gears will come into play on acceleration out of the gate but at cruising speeds, everything should be even and if needed/wanted, individuals with more gears can shift higher if appropriate and even gain some fuel economy.

I was going to circle back around here this morning and ask the question but it seems as though you have a nice spreadsheet there outlining everything - even for non GM trucks. You should make a sticky with your content as I'm sure as manufacturers continue to innovate on the transmission side, rear end gears will become less a discussion topic. Not only this, the content clearly outlines invaluable info for newbies like myself 😉

We are now looking at a TT right at 5000lbs dry - An used Roo 25RS which is about 300lbs lighter than what we were originally looking at. I know it's just 300lbs but it does move the needle further away from max tow capacity. I'm figuring loaded will be around the 5750 mark.

Huge props on the great spreadsheet!

[APT]

All 2015 GM full sized SUVs come with the trans cooler. The 3.08 isn't that bad, comparable to older 4-spds with 4.10 axle. Stick to about 5k dry, use tow/haul trans mode, and no higher than 4th gear. All hybrids are under 5k, but so are many TTs.

[bikendan]

with that 3.08 rear end and the non-HD towing package, you're going to be limited to popups or small TTs or smaller Hybrid TTs.

[Campfire_Time]

Well, with the combos I've towed close to rated capacities, I never felt like I wanted to tow more than 3 or 4 hours, or more than a few hundred miles. And certainly not in mountains. I've towed in mountains when I had a combo with reserve capacity so I know what the difference feels like. Like I said, on relatively flat terrain, towing close to the capacities isn't bad. But even then those combos would downshift and sometime struggle even on relatively low hills especially in the wind. It was a limitation I would live with.

There is a marked difference when the combo is "right", that is has some reserve capacity. With my current combo my truck doesn't even break a sweat.

[cfendya]

Thanks guys!

Can't take the truck back now so we're stuck with what we have.

Campfire - When you say limited in how far/long can you elaborate on this? Same thing with "hating" it?

I have two small children, wife and a lab. I could probably see after a couple years upgrading anyways if it's something we all enjoy doing. Purchasing a truck to specifically pull a fifth wheel or larger TT wouldn't be ideal right now but I definitely could see going down that path after a couple years.

Thanks again for all the help!

[Campfire_Time]

I'm not concerned about the gears. Even if all the numbers work and you stay within specs, you'll be close on all your numbers. In my experience, you'll be fine but you'll be limited on how far you tow and how long. And being in mountains, well that would be a big limitation. I've towed two different combos close to my limits. Its worked fine in the flats of WI, but I would never have taken either of those combos through the Rockys. That said I think you'll hate it. I'd be looking at trailers at least 1000# lighter.

You also said "family". How many? Keep in mind the kids grow and so does the amount of stuff they bring. Today you might keep within the payload numbers. Two years from now you might be over. Something to think about.

[TXiceman]

The 3.08 axle is a dealer killer in my book. This is a highway axle ratio and not a towing axle.

With that axle ratio, I'd keep my wet and loaded weight under 4500# as a max.

[APT]

Can you take the Yukon back and get one with the NHT package or better yet the Ford Expedition with Ecoboost?

RV tow ratings for half tons are typically limited to tongue weight or payload. But your limit will be performance/perception bcause of that 3.08 gear. Even thought the 6-spd trans really helps, you'll be cruising on flat land in 4th gear at 2500rpm and down to 2nd gear for those mountains at 5000rpm. Truck will be fine, but will the family?

The typical RVer adds over 1000 pounds of camping stuff over dry ratings based on a survey done in the past. So 5k dry will be 6k loaded, more with full water. So you'll be right at the 6300 pounds of tow rating and whatever your GCWR is.