zackyboy3rs wrote:zackyboy3rs wrote:
6.0L 3.73 gears. Truck numbers are 9900# towning and 2700# payload. Question is on a trailer I am looking the specs are dry (yellow sticker on door) 7920# with a gvwr 11000# and hitch is said to be 880#'s.
2009 CC 2wd. Sunnybrook Sunset Creek 300RK. all the numbers I gave came off the trailer not the website.
Another Sunnybrook is the 312bhss. It weighs 8000# dry , GVWR 11000#.
Hi Zack
I looked up your truck, in 2007 GM changed something to get more towing out of the 6.0 so your 2009 should have it and it shows up in the ratings. I never knew what it was, however your 6.0 with the 3.73 is rated at 16,000 GCWR as stated on page 4-59 in your owners manual. And the tow rating aligns with the 2WD, CC long bed.
My 2003 2500 Suburban with the 6.0 and the 4.10 was rated at 16,000 GCWR same as the 2500HD of that time period. Year 2000 to 2006. So with your newer engine the pull rating equals out to what I had with more gear ratio.
Here is the rig.
The camper weights where 7,300# with a 1,000# TW and 32 ft of camper when I left the dealer, and bare minimum camping gear for 1 night. That was the day we brought it home from the dealer in Reading PA. I had towed with that truck since 2003 on my prior camper, 6,500#, loaded 1,200# TW loaded, 27' TW lower profile (not so much frontal area) and it pulled and handled great anywhere we needed to go here in Ohio, PA and IN.
In the case of the 2500 SUV, 1,200# is about it for a TW with people inside and minimum gear. Here your 2500HD has an advantage, you have more payload capability, and you can pull more trailer as the truck is lighter to start with. But we do not know your truck loaded weight yet less the TT. Suggest you load up the truck, kids, full tank of gas, all camping gear you must take in the bed and spend less than $10 at the truck stop scales and get a front and rear axle weight. Then subtract it from your 9,200# GVWR and and what is left is your extra payload for the camper. CC, long bed weighs more with added options and it all adds up, so your 2,700# payload number may need to be adjusted.
You "can" still be OK on the weights but you are going to have to watch what you put in the truck bed.
Now the pulling. I suspect you will notice a difference with either of the 2 new campers. I tried to find your 2010 29L but can only find a 2010 29BHS. Bunks in the back, small couch slide, front bedroom. Your older weights are close to that 29BHS, don't know if it is your layout or not. Jayco changes models during the year some times and the archive on their site only has the last one. I followed this link, put in year, TT and Jayflight G2.
http://www.jayco.com/pages/products/archive.php
The 2 new campers, The 300RKS by Sunny's site is 33' 8" lg 7,720 dry with 1,015 TW dry on 11,415# GVWR. Since you had numbers off the trailer sticker consider those more accurate. I was looking at the floor plan and that is a rear kitchen.
The 312BHSS by the Sunny site on a 2014 is 34' 11"lg 7,199# dry with a 931# dry TW and a 11,331# GVWR. If your numbers came off the sticker, use them. They are close enough it will not matter in this case. This one is a rear bunk slide, couch/dinette slide, front bed room.
They are both very nice campers. For sure you need a larger WD hitch. 1,200# WD bars may not be enough. You might be sitting on 1,300# to 1,400# TW pending how much gear you put up front on the 312BHSS. The 300RKS may be more in the 1,200 to 1,300#. You have the Equal-I-zer now, I would say their 1,400# would be the one as the 1,200 may be too close.
You will for sure need to make sure the WD hitch, truck weights and truck tires pressures are all optimized with the either of those 2 campers. 34 to 35' is a good qty of camper. Do not know how much camping you do, if it is a lot, consider a Hensley, Propride or Pull rite. I'm not saying the EQ can't do it, you are on the edge. The good thing is you have the most wheel base you can get.
Now the pulling. We do not know what your truck GVW with the family and camping gear is. Both campers are starting out in the close to 8,000# dry area. In a camper that long and with kids, it is not hard to take on more than your 1,000# gear estimate. It is just the DW and I and we have ours filled with stuff and when we add fresh water it is just under 10K starting out at 7,300#. You could be at 9,200# to 9,500# in year or 2.
You have 16,000# GCWR to start with, now subtract lets say 9,000# for a lower TT loaded gear estimate. 16,000# - 9,000# leaves 7,000# for the truck and all the gear in the truck. It gets worse on 1,200# or 1,500# of gear. Trust me, we all have our "stuff". We are in luxury camping, we are not backpacking. That stuff adds up. I'm always amazed at what stuff weighs. 20# here, 10 # there and before you know... I'm over 1,000#
You will be siting right on the GCWR limit or over pending the truck weights and camper weight. Hence the need to know the real loaded truck weight less the camper.
You may still just fit, but you will need to watching the weights.
Now the pulling, before I traded mine, I was at 15,750# GCW. Yup I'm at the pull rating limit of this drive train. Camper was only 1/2 loaded and I had to limit my TW to 1,200#. In my case I have a rear living room layout and these things load tongue heavy. I'm at 1,600# now with full fresh water when I'm at 9,950# GVW on the TT.
On the way home with the camper from the dealer almost empty, we had
basic stuff to camp for 1 night. Bedding and very little extra. I was at about 14,800# GCW. Out on the interstate the Burb did good. 6% grade hills in PA and she pulled 50mph in 3rd gear no problem. And then on the way in and out of camp for the night I found the wrong roads in PA... Long story short, on the way out there was a series of secondary roads what seemed like non stop hills and the tranny temps started to rise. Then I hit the last one... not good. Guard rail both sides and nothing but up and no place to turn off. I I was in 2nd then 1st gear sweating bullets to the top where I could pull off. By the time we hit the top the tranny was over 260. The engine hit the red boil warning, took my foot out and it at least came out of red boil warning. We pulled over and took this pic at the top.
The 75 to 80 cars behind me zoomed by and 30 minutes later the whole thing cooled back down and where continued on back to home. From there all was good and again once we were back on the interstate. In the 3 months or so after that I loaded the camper until the rig was at the 15,750# GCW. In the flat lands of Ohio, the truck pulled OK, no real issues but I knew for sure I was not going to southern OH with it. Lots of steep hills but short. The larger, higher profile camper eats up more wind drag then my smaller one and the aux transmission cooler on these things are not very big. Never ran out of engine, just cooling capacity.
Your truck can do this, but you will be on the limits. You have the ability to hold more camper TW then I did however heads up if you head into the mountains on the secondary roads with lots of hills. If you do a lot of camping and long distances and plan on keeping this trailer a long time, I will predict somewhere in the future you will find out for yourself you want more truck. If you only tow 500 to 1,000 miles a year, well, you can get by.
Again, you can make this work, but your going to be on the edge more often than not. You are using all of the truck with little to no reserve pulling power.
Hope this helps and good luck with the new camper which ever it is.
John
