K2500 and 12,500 lb Keystone Raptor 3712

[jklennon]

Hello everyone. I am trying to prepare my truck to pull a trailer slightly over the tow capacity. I know it's not ideal but I don't have a choice at the moment. So please if you are going to tell me why I shouldn't do this move along. This is only temporary, but at the moment it's my only choice.

Truck specs. 2000 GMC K2500 ext cab, LWB, 7.4L Vortec Automatic 4.10. Tow package, tranny cooler ect. Cat back single exhaust, K&N air filter, 93 octane computer tune. Reese 15K pro series Hitch. BFG, T/A K.O 265/75/16 E. Truck is rated to pull 11,500lbs stock.

Trailer specs. 2007 Keystone Raptor 3712. 39.1ft long, 13.5 ft high. Shipping weight 12,415lbs hitch weight 2920lbs. Tri axle.

I haven't picked up the trailer yet and I am trying to prepare my truck before I do so.

Planning on tranny flush, oil change, fuel injector clean.

Maybe airbags? Helper springs? Brake upgrade? 4.56? Camshaft? Supercharger? Shift kit? Please, serious answers. I know the 3500s are rated for 13,500lb with the same engine tranny and 4.56 and stiffer suspension.

Thank you for your help in advance.

[6_7_tow_rig]

rhagfo wrote:

6.7 tow rig wrote:
When something happens and the investigation begins into the a crash or what have you insurance will likely get involved and refuse to cover you. I have seen it happen a couple times on collisions Ive worked on I-75. One being a trailer full of round hay bales that was being towed by a half ton Chevy that jack knifed during a panic stop. The passenger car behind it drove under the now sideways trailer causing a juvenile passenger in the front seat to sustain serious injuries and was airlifted from the scene. I wont bore you with other details but we did charge him. PM me if you want more

Really!!!!!

Seems even though he jackknifed he stopped, the other car rear ended him, and he got charged???

Sounds like the passenger car behind failed to stop in time, likely tailgating.

No because the trailer crossed into another units lane of travel. Had he been rear ended than yes that would be tailgating but since the jack knifed trailer crossed into others lanes its not their fault. Hopefully that makes sense. Kind of hard to explain in text

[rhagfo]

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

jerem0621 wrote:
T&P. I love the "if there is an accident and it's your fault you are negligent" argument. It's always used in the context of overweight towing.

My question to those people is...what happens if you cause an accident and your underweight? Does the Police, attorneys, insurance, and the judge say "Oh, they were under all their ratings, it's all good, your forgiven..?"

Nope...

The woman that rearended my wife earlier this year was under all her weights...you know how many times that came up in the conversation? Zilch...nada...none.

That lady was charged as at fault and the insurance had to pay my wife's medical bills and the restoration of the car.

Towing safely isn't about numbers...it's about common sense... Something that is all too often not common.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Awwwwwww you saw where I was going. :B IMHO your post should be a sticky.

Many people on this forum think the little sticker on the door is regulatory no matter how many times it is proven it's not. The only thing the little sticker is for is for warrantee. GM does not want to pay for your 4L60E transmission if you decide to put a 13K TT on the back of your 1/2 ton truck and blow the thing up. Cops couldn't care less about the weight in your truck as long as you're not over the axel rating.


As far as hitting a stopped trailer or anything else for that matter. In Ca if you hit anything from behind you're at fault; no if's and's or but's. You're at fault, end of story.

The ONLY exception would be if you could prove someone cut in front of you and slammed on the brakes! This is why I now have a dash cam, cheap insurance!

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

jerem0621 wrote:
T&P. I love the "if there is an accident and it's your fault you are negligent" argument. It's always used in the context of overweight towing.

My question to those people is...what happens if you cause an accident and your underweight? Does the Police, attorneys, insurance, and the judge say "Oh, they were under all their ratings, it's all good, your forgiven..?"

Nope...

The woman that rearended my wife earlier this year was under all her weights...you know how many times that came up in the conversation? Zilch...nada...none.

That lady was charged as at fault and the insurance had to pay my wife's medical bills and the restoration of the car.

Towing safely isn't about numbers...it's about common sense... Something that is all too often not common.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Awwwwwww you saw where I was going. :B IMHO your post should be a sticky.

Many people on this forum think the little sticker on the door is regulatory no matter how many times it is proven it's not. The only thing the little sticker is for is for warrantee. GM does not want to pay for your 4L60E transmission if you decide to put a 13K TT on the back of your 1/2 ton truck and blow the thing up. Cops couldn't care less about the weight in your truck as long as you're not over the axel rating.


As far as hitting a stopped trailer or anything else for that matter. In Ca if you hit anything from behind you're at fault; no if's and's or but's. You're at fault, end of story.

[rhagfo]

6.7 tow rig wrote:
When something happens and the investigation begins into the a crash or what have you insurance will likely get involved and refuse to cover you. I have seen it happen a couple times on collisions Ive worked on I-75. One being a trailer full of round hay bales that was being towed by a half ton Chevy that jack knifed during a panic stop. The passenger car behind it drove under the now sideways trailer causing a juvenile passenger in the front seat to sustain serious injuries and was airlifted from the scene. I wont bore you with other details but we did charge him. PM me if you want more

Really!!!!!

Seems even though he jackknifed he stopped, the other car rear ended him, and he got charged???

Sounds like the passenger car behind failed to stop in time, likely tailgating.

[jerem0621]

T&P. I love the "if there is an accident and it's your fault you are negligent" argument. It's always used in the context of overweight towing.

My question to those people is...what happens if you cause an accident and your underweight? Does the Police, attorneys, insurance, and the judge say "Oh, they were under all their ratings, it's all good, your forgiven..?"

Nope...

The woman that rearended my wife earlier this year was under all her weights...you know how many times that came up in the conversation? Zilch...nada...none.

That lady was charged as at fault and the insurance had to pay my wife's medical bills and the restoration of the car.

Towing safely isn't about numbers...it's about common sense... Something that is all too often not common.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

I don't have any personal experience but my boss sure does and we talk about it all the time.

She has a 03 or 04 Dodge 2500. She bagged it and put an E brake on it. Other than that it is stock.

They hang a Fuzion 36 footer on the tail of the Dodge. I think she said it weighs somewhere around 13K+ fully loaded. They don't really put anything in the garage other than a few dog beds and a BBQ so it's heavy on the pin. How heavy? I don't know?

I have seen the setup and there is nothing scary about it. Looks normal to me and I look at a lot of setups. I have asked her many times how it tows and the answer is always, "fine, no problems." I asked her how it handles and the answer is always, "just fine."

We live on the west coast so she is always towing in the mountains.

Should you do it? I have no idea? That's up to you. I'm just telling you what my boss does with a similar setup and I would have no problems towing her setup all over the US just like she does.

BTW, for the guy that said they "charged someone". What was he charged with exactly?

[APT]

jklennon wrote:
I pull alot from the conventional hitch, dump trailers, trackhoe, car hauler

None of those tow like an RV, which is by far the most difficult type to tow. You'll be at 13.5k pound before adding any toys. That's how much over your 15 year old truck's tow rating? RVers generally learn that tow ratings are very optimistic "in the real world" when it comes to RVing for a brand new trucks, let alone 15 year used ones. I don't get why you want to spend money on upgrades to a truck that isn't yours and isn't designed to tow what you want. Get the right truck first, or smaller RV.

[Taco]

Too much tail for too little dog.

I am by no means "weight police" on this site but that isn't even close to a workable combination.

will it move it to the destination, yeah it will. It will be slow on any hills and too much weight for the truck to comfortably handle.

[rocmoc]

jklennon wrote:
So if i upgrade the hitch is it possible that it will use the same rails if i get another reese pro series? It would be nice to keep the new rails to install on a new truck in December.

I would think so. I know that is the case with the Pullrite hitches. Tho the rails are the cheapest part of the hitch.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

[CampingN_C_]

4.10
It was a real stump puller off line but fell flat in the mountains, but only in the mountains. Granted gasses lose HP at higher elevation. I saw 1st on the floor more than once. Going down was different, I think that 454 will hold anything back in 1st.
So, if it's a must do I'd.have a Tru Cool 40k up front and new tranny fluid,complete ignition tune up (really helps the 454) synthetic in the rear end and probably air bags or 3500 springs. E tires go without saying.
Personally I wouldn't fool with all the other bolt on stuff.

[jklennon]

CampingN.C. wrote:
Here's my 2 cents. That thing will gross out around 15K. Pin weight could be insane depending on how you load it. IMO even if you had a 3500 dually of that year you would be pushing it. In those years there wasn't much difference between the 2500 and 3500. If you look you'll notice conventional towing weights all peg at 10K between both trucks. That's a lot on the tranny (assuming it's the 4L80e), as well as the brakes weren't the best with the rear drums.
I had a K2500 Suburban for years which is identical to your truck and was only towing around 7K lbs. I wouldn't dream of that kind of weight with that truck. The 454 is a beast but you're going to run out of juice real fast, especially in the NC mountains.
Maybe not what you want to hear but I don't think you'll get many replies here telling you it's OK.

thanks for the advise. what rear end did your k2500 have? I pull alot from the conventional hitch, dump trailers, trackhoe, car hauler and it was never much of an issue around here. the only time i will be pulling in the mountians is up the saluda grade(6% for 3 miles). I have thought about storing the camper at the bottom of the grade until i get a bigger truck because i live right at the top of it so it would be a short drive.

I just found a used 20k hitch for under $300

[x96mnn]

Real world advice on towing much more then my truck was rated for was no fun. On what I did to try and make it better with add on parts, the airbags gave the most bang for the buck. It sounds like your going for this regardless so if I were you and knowing what I know...I wouldn't. Not knowing do the airbags, tune your truck, make sure your tires are in great shape, and the cross drilled rotors is a great idea. You should spend the coin on a 20k hitch if your truck can accept it or 18k min.

Will you have the wife traveling with you? Biggest mistake I made was not have her take another rig. Now she is terrified to travel and I needed to buy a TV much greater then I needed just to get her to feel safe again. I would take it on a decent run on your own before you add passengers as it makes it worse when they get white knuckles and are not even driving. I will state my situation was much much crazier then what your going to do.

Ps. Please do not think for a moment the advice the rest have given you is not real world advice. I think the majority of us started out wrong or over our abilities and learned over time.

[CampingN_C_]

Here's my 2 cents. That thing will gross out around 15K. Pin weight could be insane depending on how you load it. IMO even if you had a 3500 dually of that year you would be pushing it. In those years there wasn't much difference between the 2500 and 3500. If you look you'll notice conventional towing weights all peg at 10K between both trucks. That's a lot on the tranny (assuming it's the 4L80e), as well as the brakes weren't the best with the rear drums.
I had a K2500 Suburban for years which is identical to your truck and was only towing around 7K lbs. I wouldn't dream of that kind of weight with that truck. The 454 is a beast but you're going to run out of juice real fast, especially in the NC mountains.
Maybe not what you want to hear but I don't think you'll get many replies here telling you it's OK.

[jklennon]

downtheroad wrote:
It sounds like you are trying to find someone who will tell you what you want to hear, "It's ok, you'll be just fine, lots of people do it."

So, I say, go for it, you'll be fine.

(You spend a lot of money bolting on add ons and modifying your truck. Should have bought a bigger truck instead.)

Anyway, good luck with it and hopefully others will tell you what you want to hear.

i understand that is how it sounds. So far there has only been one reply from someone who has actual experience.

[jklennon]

old guy wrote:
with all the upgrades you plan on making, I think it would be cheaper to buy a new truck. one that will tow your TT safely.

The super charger was just a joke. I have plenty of BB power. the airbags are $350 and the hitch will cost under 1k and can be installed in my new truck when i get it. The truck is part of my company fleet and i may keep it depending how everything goes for the rest of 2014.