Need Feedback ASAP - Questions about Towing

Tires make a huge difference in how the vehicle rides... I shopped new tires for my F150 recently and although a much stiffer sidewall would have added to the tow experience, I decided since most of my driving is not towing, I would stick with the nice soft Michelin "P" truck tires. When I tow, I just add air to the rear tires and it helps with the squishy rear end feel that towing brings on with the soft tires.

I didn't need to carry as many passengers, but was stuck with the F150 as my daily driver... actually only driver.. so it had to work for all the time. Talk to a real tire shop and see what they suggest to help with ride if whatever you buy has a less than comfortable daily ride. A couple of conversations with tire shop really helped me make my decision.

We did not know what we wanted, so we rented a TT the same size we thought we wanted to see how it pulled.

We discover our F-150 had the payload but the 200 hp was not. We now have an E-boost.

You learn a lot about pulling a TT that way.

sw20td06 wrote:
Olay after a couple days of searching I think I narrowed my choices to the following.

05 Excursion 6.0 Turbo Diesel 4x4 with 170k, with a 2015 F250 front end. Very clean, and I have a shop lined up to do bulletproofing if I go this route. I love the look of this truck and it is not lifted so I am expecting a better ride than my old lifted 7.3 on 37 in tires.

OR

09 Suburban 2500 LT 4x4 with 119K. Also very clean, but I am worried the 6.0 will be really slow fully loaded with people and pulling the trailer. But I do like the "car" like ride. Interior is leaves much to be desired in terms of quality.

Coming from the 7.3 Excursion I think I am more inclined to pick up another newer model especially with the newer front end. It will cost me an additional 5k to "bulletproof" the motor, but I think it will last a lot longer than the Suburban.

Any advice which route I should go Doing some research, the excursion has some lower payload capacity compared to the Suburban is that correct? Any input would be great!

We've been going back and forth ourselves over Excursion versus a newer 2500 Burb or Yukon XL.

Fwiw we've narrowed it down to the Yukon XL. It has a few options the Burb didnt offer such as cooled front seats. To us the Excursion feels too plain and basic inside compared to the GM twins.

The GM twins are newer with less miles. Gas motors are cheaper to maintain and fix compared to diesel. We've run Chevy 2500 pickups at work with the 6.0 motors for 12+ years and all have gone to 250k+ miles with no major issues.

I figure once we get the Yukon XL I'll add headers,exhaust and intake along with a Black Bear tune to help the power situation.

Olay after a couple days of searching I think I narrowed my choices to the following.

05 Excursion 6.0 Turbo Diesel 4x4 with 170k, with a 2015 F250 front end. Very clean, and I have a shop lined up to do bulletproofing if I go this route. I love the look of this truck and it is not lifted so I am expecting a better ride than my old lifted 7.3 on 37 in tires.

OR

09 Suburban 2500 LT 4x4 with 119K. Also very clean, but I am worried the 6.0 will be really slow fully loaded with people and pulling the trailer. But I do like the "car" like ride. Interior is leaves much to be desired in terms of quality.

Coming from the 7.3 Excursion I think I am more inclined to pick up another newer model especially with the newer front end. It will cost me an additional 5k to "bulletproof" the motor, but I think it will last a lot longer than the Suburban.

Any advice which route I should go Doing some research, the excursion has some lower payload capacity compared to the Suburban is that correct? Any input would be great!

Thanks for all the input! Yes I was referring to 6.0 "Bulletproofing" as they call it to correct issues in the 6.0 motor.

After some thought I think I may go with the 2010+ 2500 Suburban. There are some surplus government vehicles with low miles I found for under 26 for a 9 seater.

atreis wrote:

sw20td06 wrote:
Thanks for the tips everyone. I ended not getting the Toyota. I had a 00 Excursion 7.3 Diesel which I sold recently. The ride was not comfortable when not towing. It had 37 in tires and a 6 in lift which added to the roughness. It was a great truck but would cost more in the long run trying to improve the suspension, tires, etc. Im thinking of getting a 2003+ 6.0 Bulletproofed Excursion with a 4 link upgraded suspension, but they sell for a premium also and most are modified. I live in CA and smog tests for diesels are mandatory now.

I've test driven the 2009-2011 Suburban 2500. Although I think it would handle the load easily, the interior felt really cheap for the price they were asking. I came from the Excursion, I know which wasn't the "best" interior.

A bulletproofed vehicle is going to have a significantly lower cargo capacity - that bulletproofing adds a lot of weight. (And .. Uh... Do you really need it? Can't say I've ever taken a bullet in any car I've ever owned.)

Take a look at E-350 or GM 3500 full size vans. Those have decent capacity and can hold all those people in comfort. A custom conversion may have a decent interior, although those are getting harder to find.

The OP did not mean bulletproofing in the literal sense.
Bulletproofing refers to completing repairs needed to make the Ford 6.0 PSD engine more reliable. There are a lot of known issues with the 6.0 PSD. Having those issues repaired has come to be known as bullet proofing.

sw20td06 wrote:
Thanks for the tips everyone. I ended not getting the Toyota. I had a 00 Excursion 7.3 Diesel which I sold recently. The ride was not comfortable when not towing. It had 37 in tires and a 6 in lift which added to the roughness. It was a great truck but would cost more in the long run trying to improve the suspension, tires, etc. Im thinking of getting a 2003+ 6.0 Bulletproofed Excursion with a 4 link upgraded suspension, but they sell for a premium also and most are modified. I live in CA and smog tests for diesels are mandatory now.

I've test driven the 2009-2011 Suburban 2500. Although I think it would handle the load easily, the interior felt really cheap for the price they were asking. I came from the Excursion, I know which wasn't the "best" interior.

A bulletproofed vehicle is going to have a significantly lower cargo capacity - that bulletproofing adds a lot of weight. (And .. Uh... Do you really need it? Can't say I've ever taken a bullet in any car I've ever owned.)

Take a look at E-350 or GM 3500 full size vans. Those have decent capacity and can hold all those people in comfort. A custom conversion may have a decent interior, although those are getting harder to find.

Consider a 3500/350 van. They have ample payload capacity to haul people and a large trailer. They have a decent ride and are a bit more plentiful then 3/4 ton SUV's. They are also value priced vs. the 3/4 ton SUV's

sw20td06 wrote:
What about the Cadillac Escalade ESV? Do they have the same capacity as the 1500 Suburban or are they rated higher?

Also with the Suburban, should I be looking at the 2500 only or will the 1500 suffice?

If you want to haul people only a 1500 if you want to haul people and a trailer a 2500. Read the other post about towing with a Suburban. You need to upgrade the hitch as well on the 2500 burb.

2500 Suburban towing a 31' trailer

What about the Cadillac Escalade ESV? Do they have the same capacity as the 1500 Suburban or are they rated higher?

Also with the Suburban, should I be looking at the 2500 only or will the 1500 suffice?