New Tow Vehicle

[Wishin]

Pretty excited about our new tow vehicle. Heading to the Rockies next year most likely and this will be a welcome upgrade. The wagon worked good but was really beyond its limits. It did a pretty flawless job for the last 8-9000 miles of towing however.

Just picked up a 2003 2500 8.1L Suburban. Need to fix a few things but I think it will work well. Just drove it back yesterday from Tennessee where I bought it.

From this:


To this:

[Wishin]

ktosv wrote:
Congrats on the new tow vehicle. Glad to hear you are keeping the wagon. You will enjoy how the Suburban tows. We started our "trailer" camping over 12 years ago using a 94 Caprice Wagon. Did your Buick have the tow package or were you doing it without?

The Buick does have the tow package, which included 2.93 gears instead of 2.56, oil cooler and external trans cooler, mechanical fan, not sure what else. I added a trans temp gage, largest fan powered external trans cooler B&M makes, external trans fluid filter, Hotchkis Sway bars front and rear, Air Lift bags in place of the air shocks (connected to the auto level control), and Bilstein shocks. 235/65VR17 XL Bridgestone Dueler HP Sports to replace the 245/60R17 Michelin all season tires was the last upgrade. The suspension and tire upgrades make the drive on a daily basis more enjoyable as well as aid in better towing. I've always wished it had 3.42 gears for towing but it works as it is. Those gears would have hurt our non-towing mileage so I never wanted to change them or pay for it. We get 18 day to day and 22 on trips without the trailer. It has hauled the trailer all around NY state, Pennsylvania, to the Smokey Mountains of TN and all over MI more times than I can count.

[LVJJJ]

You're fortunate to find an 8.1. I hear they're kinda rare.

[bmanning]

I'll pile on.

Beautiful 'Burb and that wagon is awesome! You've got 2 amazing road-trip-ready vehicles in the family, and looking at that 96 Buick you clearly know how to take care of your stuff.

[krobbe]

Love the Burb. You've got great taste in trucks. 😉

[Ron3rd]

Clean look'n burb.

[ls1mike]

Love that wagon!

The Burb will tow better, but man that wagon is clean!

[Road_Ruler]

Luving the Buick wagon. The Burb will work too but won't ride as good as the Buick out on the road.

[ktosv]

Congrats on the new tow vehicle. Glad to hear you are keeping the wagon. You will enjoy how the Suburban tows. We started our "trailer" camping over 12 years ago using a 94 Caprice Wagon. Did your Buick have the tow package or were you doing it without?

[wmoses]

Such a cool looking rig .... and I like how the Buick is sitting nice and level. Looks sleek.

[Wishin]

The wagon does get a lot of looks, and I've had lots of people comment on it. Brings back lots of memories for many people.

As for passing a gas station, it only passes them due to the size of the tank. Both times I got gas yesterday I had to swipe my card twice to fill up. One station maxed out at $50 which surprises me because I can hit that with a car. The other one maxed out at $100. The first 408 miles I calculated 12.55 mpg driving thru a rainstorm and with the flow of the faster traffic. That was from Knoxville, TN to somewhere SE of Fort Wayne, IN.

[catfishmontana]

Oh man! That wagon is too cool! Bet that gets lots of looks at the campground!

[shutdown]

Love the wagon. But I am sure you the new burb will do the job better. You will be passing everything on the road...except a gas station.

[Wishin]

Lowsuv wrote:
Lovin' that old Caprice Wagon .
cassete player ?
Lot's of Hall and Oates tunes ?

Buick wagon actually, they look pretty much the same other than the trim and grill however. It does have a cassette player as part of the OEM CD/Cassette combo radio. Hall and Oates? Before my time, I had to look them up. We're not getting rid of the wagon either, might as well keep it till it rusts away as it runs good and we love it. 176k miles on it.

[Lowsuv]

Lovin' that old Caprice Wagon .
cassete player ?
Lot's of Hall and Oates tunes ?