2003 Chevy Express 1500 Tow Capacity

Conversion vans tend to be a bit heavier than passenger vans, but yours isn't too bad, since the original empty van was probably around 5600-5700 pounds. That is the source of the "6400" number, 12,000 - minimum possible weight of an empty van = advertised towing capacity.

Loading the van to GVWR of 7200 (which includes tongue weight) gives "maximum towing capacity" of 12,000 - 7200 = 4800 pounds. You don't have a lot of wiggle room. Even though you would not be so close on the weight if you had an Express 2500 with, say, GVWR of 8600 to 9000 pounds, the same drive train would keep GCWR at 12,000.

Express can be an impressive tow vehicle, but only with the right combination, Express 2500/3500 for the weight carrying capacity, 6.0 V-8 or Duramax to bump GCWR up to 16,000-17,000 pounds.

Ford E-350 vans with 6.8 V-10 push the GCWR to 18,000 with the right gearing, and thus might tow as much as 9000 pounds when loaded to 8600-9000 pounds. But even that van is down to 15,000 GCWR with the V-10 and economy gearing.

I have a E-350 passenger van with V-8, 6300 empty, 9500 GVWR, 13,000 GCWR for "towing capacity" of 6700 pounds. My target weight for any towable RV would be 4500 or less, so as to retain carrying capacity for eight humans and their gear (I stripped out that 200 pound back seat). What I had in mind when I bought the van was a Casita or a hard side pop-up camper, well under 4000 pounds.

You pretty much have it figured out...you have discovered the answer to the Riddle my friend BenK often uses...I am paraphrasing some..."HowMuchCanITow....HowMuchShouldITow???" And the answer is not the same for everyone.

As a suggestion, and a consideration...you may be able to gain a few hundred lbs by changing vehicles to a crew cab truck...but if going through the trouble to change vehicles I would step up to a 3/4 ton truck and gain 1,000 lbs plus wiggle room (depending on the truck, not all 3/4 tons are created equal)

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Thanks Jeremiah, I hear yah, but I have pretty much done that already. Anything that went into the van would get weighed with our bathroom scale. That part is not my concern, my concern is how close to the 12,000 combined I should get using the van. We are leaning more and more towards switching to a 4 door truck that would have close to the same GCWR but would weigh less and have a slightly higher towing capacity. In addition, we feel we are sacrificing with the trailer we are selecting because of the limitations the van is presenting. Captains chairs and TV are nice during the trip but so is some slide outs and extra space once you arrive. Trying to finding our happy medium.

In other words, from what I have come to understand.

Take the GVWR minus actual weight of the loaded tow vehicle. This is how much tongue weight you can apply to the tow vehicle.

Then take the GCWR and subtract the weight of the loaded tow vehicle. This is how much loaded trailer you can pull.

A suggestion I would make is to load up the van for travel...no luggage but a purse and maybe the kids toys, as the pups and to weigh the van now...no more guessing.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Thanks everyone, and sorry for any forum rules I may have broken.

The Van weighs 6320 with a full tank of gas. I weigh 180. My wife and kids are a combined 300. This puts us at 6800. Lab and Boston Terrier add another 100. We are now at 6900. Therefore is it correct in thinking that any tongue weight over 300lbs puts the van over the 7200 GVWR for the van? I guess the part I find difficult about this is that with a full load of passengers you would easily be over the GVWR for the van? I have seating for 7. Just 6 average sized guys would put the van at 7720. Is this normal for Conversion Vans?

Now for the trailer weight. The van tow rating is for 6400lbs. If I find a trailer that weighs in around 4700lbs I am well within the tow limits, but that puts us right at 11,600lbs combined. 12,000lbs is the tow limit for the van and trailer combined weight according to the 2003 Chevrolet Express 1500 5.8L V8 Owners Manual. Is the concern more for power or ability to stop? I would definitely be using an anti-sway weight distribution. I also would remove the rear bench seat from the Van. This would subtract about 140lbs. So without any gear or stuff added into the equation we would be approx 500lbs below on combined weight and 1700lbs below on towing weight. I guess it does not matter that we are low on tow weight because of extra weight of the Van.

Looks like you have 700 pounds left for passengers, cargo, and tongue weight. This means if you bring the spouse and a kid or two, you will be able to tow a pop up trailer and not much more.

Trailer tongue weight is added to the tow vehicle. If you use a weight distributing hitch the weight is split between front and rear axles.
Remember the numbers you cited are likely brochure dry weight numbers and as such will increase as you load stuff in the trailer. The 380 pounds for family, does that include all the stuff people tend to take with them?

BTW, please read the forum rules before posting again. Thanks