Anyone with experience towing with a Suburban

[andrewwm]

Hi, I’d like to hear from people who have experience towing a larger travel trailer with a Suburban. I have a Suburban 1500 5.3L. I want to buy the largest travel trailer my suburban can safely tow. This will be my first travel trailer. I have towed many small trailers and cars on trailers. It will be me my wife and two small children on the trip. We would like as big as we can for space as it will be long trip visiting several towns for weeks at a time.

I’m not so concerned about weigh but I am concerned about length and sway as I’m currently considering a 25 foot outback weighing about 4,500lbs unladen and another 29 foot travel trailer weighing 5,500lbs unladen. If you can give advice from experience on length and sway that would be really appreciated. All advice from experience is appreciated but I’d also really like to hear from those who have towed with a suburban.

Below is an explanation why I’m not as concerned about weights – basically GCWR is probably my limiting factor and I plan to keep within my weight ratings.

Weights – I’ve checked the ratings on my Suburban. From the manual and after checking my gear ratio it has a 7,500lbs max trailer weight and 13,000lbs max GCWR. I had checked on websites such as Edmunds which stated my Suburban would weigh about 5,000lbs. Fortunately, I weighed it with a full tank of gas and nothing else in it but me. The actual weight with me was 5,760lbs (I’m about 200lbs). So before I even add gear to the Suburban/trailer and passengers the max weight of my trailer is limited by the GCWR to 7240lbs.
My rear axle is rated to 4000lbs with tires rated to 2400lbs each. When I weighed it my rear axle had 2760lbs on it. The manual states a maximum tongue weight of 1,200lbs which gives me a trailer weight assuming 15% tongue load of 1200/0.15=8000lbs. So if I don’t put too much weight in the suburban it looks like tongue weight is not my limiting factor. It looks like my GCWR will be.

Thanks

[captnjack]

Tvov wrote:

EMD_DRIVER wrote:
I don't want to discourage you, but I want to show you what happened to a friend of mine. He was towing a 29' Sunline and I believe he said it weighed-in at about 7,200lbs. He had just crested a hill and the trailer started to sway. As he was reaching for the brake controller, the whole rig flipped. The trailer landed on it's side and the Suburban landed on it's roof. Please base your purchase on the trailer's maximum GVWR and forget about it's unloaded weight. Most people end up carrying a lot of "Stuff" and the weight adds up very quickly....

I think you are showing an extreme example. Something happened going over the hill... speed change, wind gust, vehicles passing. That could have happened with an F250 or other tow setup depending on the circumstances.

I agree with this post and others like it. We have no idea what caused this accident. Very likely has nothing to do with the Suburban as a tow vehicle.

[fallsrider]

I tow our 26 DB Sunnybrook with our '05 1500 5.3L 'Burb. It does pretty well, but I don't want any more trailer back there. The TT is rated as 4,300 dry gross, 7,000 GVWR. I have only weighed the TW so far (700 with 1/2 full FW tank), but I figure I'm in the 6,000 lb range, give or take a few hundred, headed to the CG.

My 'Burb is rated for 7,700 towing, but I wouldn't want to approach that number.

The 'Burb is a great camping vehicle, with lots of dry, lockable storage. Come spring, though, I really need to get all my weight numbers.

As long as you can stay within the weight ratings, I think you will really enjoy your 'Burb for towing/camping. We enjoy ours.

[burnmark]

We had a 2003 Sub 1500 with the 5.3 and 3.73 rear end. Pulled a 30 foot, 6500 lb trailer. WDH and a friction sway bar. Ultimately I upgraded from P to LT tires, better shocks and GOOD maintenance. We towed in the mountains and flat. IT did OK. NOt great, OK. It revs really high, almost scary climbing, and slows down..
Pay attention to all the tips from here - tongue weight, WDH set up and stay witin your limit.

m

[Tvov]

EMD_DRIVER wrote:
I don't want to discourage you, but I want to show you what happened to a friend of mine. He was towing a 29' Sunline and I believe he said it weighed-in at about 7,200lbs. He had just crested a hill and the trailer started to sway. As he was reaching for the brake controller, the whole rig flipped. The trailer landed on it's side and the Suburban landed on it's roof. Please base your purchase on the trailer's maximum GVWR and forget about it's unloaded weight. Most people end up carrying a lot of "Stuff" and the weight adds up very quickly....

I think you are showing an extreme example. Something happened going over the hill... speed change, wind gust, vehicles passing. That could have happened with an F250 or other tow setup depending on the circumstances.

[eluwak]

EMD_DRIVER wrote:
I don't want to discourage you, but I want to show you what happened to a friend of mine. He was towing a 29' Sunline and I believe he said it weighed-in at about 7,200lbs. He had just crested a hill and the trailer started to sway. As he was reaching for the brake controller, the whole rig flipped. The trailer landed on it's side and the Suburban landed on it's roof. Please base your purchase on the trailer's maximum GVWR and forget about it's unloaded weight. Most people end up carrying a lot of "Stuff" and the weight adds up very quickly.

Like I said, I am not trying to discourage you, or scare you. I just want you to be aware and make as informed a decision as possible.

That doesn't really sound like an overloaded situation unless they had 1500+ lbs in the vehicle (then possibly). I have a tad under 2900 lbs payload in mine (8600 lbs GVWR & ~5700 lbs GVW). My guess would be more that the setup wasn't right in some aspect, or there was some other factors involved. Was his TW high enough? Was there a load shift or strong wind gust? Was he driving too fast for conditions?

I have the feeling if he was using a 1 ton CC long bed the result would probably have been the same.

Just my $.02

I tow my 28 ft (32 ft LOA)) nearly ~6000 lbs TT without any issues, and I've gone though some fairly gusty rainy days.

OP, your Suburban will probably be OK with what you've come up with so far as long as you don't add much to the TV, and stay below your tow rating. You do have the disadvantage of a softer suspension with passenger tires, so you will feel the movements more.

You don't state the year which could make a difference. My guess is that you have a GMT800 (1200 lbs. TW) which could have the problematic receiver. I think the later ones were limited to 1000 lbs.

[PAThwacker]

2004 k2500 suburban 3.73. Sucks on hills. Tow a 5000lb 7.6ft wide by 9ft3". It's not the weight on the hills, it's the barndoor effect (frontal area) killing the 6.0.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

As far as length - my Ram 2500 pickup is 22'4" long - front bumper to ball and my TT is 36'5" long ball to back of the bicycle rack. That's 58'9" - so I consider it 59 feet long. It tows very well with my WD hitch.

I have a friend who pulls a slightly longer TT with a Suburban 3/4 ton and he is almost exactly the same length - maybe a couple inches longer when we park side by side. He enjoys the way his rig drives.

That is not uncommon. A 43 ft fifth wheel such as big toy haulers or DRV are often longer total length. I've seen a couple fifth wheel rigs over 62 feet long.

[Ivylog]

Pulled a 31' Airstream for over 20K miles out West with a K1500 Burb without any sway. Five adult size people, small motor cycle on the front and a small generator on the back.

[VAfan]

My 2001 - 6L, 2500 suburban tows a 27ft ~7000-7500 lb. loaded trailer ok on "flat lands" and but it struggles on hills. A distribution hitch with an anti-sway system is a must (mine is Reese dual cam).

We love it for the comfort and space and based on lots of different trips would not tow any heaver.

[MNRon]

I won't comment on the weight issues as you seem to understand this. You original question was on length. I pulled two TTs with a 3/4T Yukon 8.1L engine. The engine size would relate to your weight question and hills, but I beleive the 3/4 suspension also helped little more than you'll have with length. With all that said, both TTs were ~28BHS models that ran about ~32ft ball-to-bumper. I used an Equilizer hitch on both and set nose slightly down. With nose even/high i had sway issues. Set up properly I was very happy with them. There was a little suck in/out with large semi's passing fast but all in all I had good towing experiences over ~15-20K miles in ~10yrs.

Not to change your mind, but I didn't really know what good towing was until I got a 5er last year...

[Dick_B]

I tow 7500 lbs with my 6.0L Suburban and it creeps up the hills. It's safe but agonizing when I can't go over 30 mph up the steeper hills. Haven't taken it to the real mountains out west yet. Not sure I want to.
I'd recommend the lighter weight RV.

[krobbe]

I agree with westend. Payload will be the most limiting factor. If you stay well under that, towing should be safer. That maximum tongue weight of 1200# is reduced by any other weight/cargo/passengers you carry.
The primary reason I bought a 3/4 ton Sub was for the higher payload. Although I only have 2 kids under age 10, Many of my trips I have carried 2 - 4 adults and 4 kids towing a 7200# loaded up TT. Consider that at some point, you too may have a carload of people on a trip.

[calamus]

That looks like a 3/4 ton suburban also! We have a 2008 Z71 and pull a 22 ft. Bennington pontoon boat. Weighs in about 4000lbs + tandem Axel trailer we live 5 miles from the lake so not a big deal but if we go to our cabin 2 1/2 hours away we pull it with the diesel pickup its just to much for the half ton over 30 minutes or so.

[EMD_DRIVER]

I don't want to discourage you, but I want to show you what happened to a friend of mine. He was towing a 29' Sunline and I believe he said it weighed-in at about 7,200lbs. He had just crested a hill and the trailer started to sway. As he was reaching for the brake controller, the whole rig flipped. The trailer landed on it's side and the Suburban landed on it's roof. Please base your purchase on the trailer's maximum GVWR and forget about it's unloaded weight. Most people end up carrying a lot of "Stuff" and the weight adds up very quickly.

Like I said, I am not trying to discourage you, or scare you. I just want you to be aware and make as informed a decision as possible.

BTW: Both my friend and his wife survived, with some injuries. They did have to be extricated from the Suburban. They also lost a dog, after it ran from the scene. Below, are some pics of his rig..













My late wife and I, bought the wrecked Sunline and dismantled it for parts. Sad

[westend]

The most limiting factor for towing with your suburban will be the payload capacity. There is a sticker/label on the driver's door jamb that states "weight of passengers and cargo shall not exceed...". Tally your cargo and passenger weights. The remainder will be your allowable tongue weight.
Some folks like to fudge on this capacity rating, desiring to tow above that weight. Your decision will be how much fudge you feel is prudent above what the maker's engineers have decided, should you choose to go that route.