Overweight.

[prolandsurveyor]

We are looking at a 29' puma camper with a slide . It's dry weight is 6500lbs. I would be towing with a 1500 chevy suburban. The manual says it will tow 8100lbs. I know the 6500 lbs is the trailer empty. Of course I will add some to it when we pack it up. My question is ....is that too much for my half ton? Should I move on to the next one? We like this floor plan but I do not want to sacrifice safety. Of course the salesman says it will tow it but I am unsure...what do y'all think?

[wannavolunteerF]

be sure and look at the yellow sticker on the TT... I have been looking at trailers and discovered that the mfg stated dry weight (advertised in specs) and the yellow sticker dry weight on actual trailers is often vastly different.. on some I have seen as much as 1000 pound difference..

[Ron_Gratz]

jrichard wrote:
But using GVWR doesn't work, IMHO. In fact, it creates an odd situation in which you will tow a trailer with a light weight frame and marginal suspension components and correspondingly low CCC and not tow the same weight trailer with a stronger frame, stronger suspension and higher CCC. Weight estimates based on GVWR tell you nothing.

That's exactly correct.

A TV doesn't care how much load the TT can carry,
it only cares how much load the TT does carry.

Why penalize someone for buying a TT which has more CCC than they ever plan to use?

Ron

[Technologiq]

I was in a similar as you - we knew exactly what trailer we wanted (and it's 6500lbs dry) and I had originally looked at getting a Suburban. Being a newbie I initially looked at 1500's until I realized there was no safe way to do that. I then looked at the 2500s and since I have my wife, 3 teenagers and my 2 German Shepherds I decided on a Ford Excursion.

It's massive but it tows my trailer great. I like being able to travel and know that I'm not over or near the capacity of my rig The only thing I did was add airbags in the rear to level the vehicle out when towing. I was fortunate enough to find one that had 45k original miles in like-new condition.

[jrichard]

Probably too much weight.

But using GVWR doesn't work, IMHO. In fact, it creates an odd situation in which you will tow a trailer with a light weight frame and marginal suspension components and correspondingly low CCC and not tow the same weight trailer with a stronger frame, stronger suspension and higher CCC. Weight estimates based on GVWR tell you nothing.

Best is to weigh the trailer. Absent that (difficult when you're buying new), Google to see if someone else has weighed the same trailer. Another option is to look at the yellow sticker and contact the factory to see how they came up with that weight (some actually weigh the trailer as it leaves the factory). If nothing else, take the published unloaded weight and add the approximate weight of any options you order plus battery and propane. For loaded weight, I'd estimate another 1500lbs plus whatever water you think you'll carry.

My yellow sticker weight is less than the brochure weight, though I can't remember off hand what it includes (Prime Time Avenger).

[krobbe]

APT wrote:
Is the Suburban the 2003 in your signature? I would not recommend that much. Drop about 1000 pounds dry, or find a similar generation 3/4 ton, preferably with the 8.1L. Then you can tow just about any travel trailer you want, comfortably.

What he said. ^^^

[APT]

Is the Suburban the 2003 in your signature? I would not recommend that much. Drop about 1000 pounds dry, or find a similar generation 3/4 ton, preferably with the 8.1L. Then you can tow just about any travel trailer you want, comfortably.

[Leeblev]

As others have said, dry weight does not mean spit. Use the GVWR of the TT. Also good advice about the tongue weight. If you use 80% of the GVWR as your standard, you should be able to determine from the Combined Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of the Burb as to being able to tow. IMHO, I think it is too much. You also said your TV backshifts now so think about what would happen to that tranny with more weight.

[anaro]

As others have said that is too much trailer. To better figure out what you can tow, load your TV up with all passengers, pets and gear you intend to have in it and then go weigh it w/ a full tank of fuel. Take the scaled weight and subtract it from the TV GCWR to get your adjusted towing capacity. Take the scaled weight and subtract it from the TV GVWR to get your available payload. You need to stay under both of these weights as well as under your receiver rating with all of your loaded weights. The loaded tongue weight must be subtracted from the available payload.

As you know you will never tow a dry trailer. Not knowing how much you will load in it you are safest doing all calculations using the TT GVWR. Tongue weight should be 13-15% of the loaded trailer weight (again you can figure Max tongue weight to be 15% of the TT gvwr). This should help you figure out where you should be looking on trailer weights.

[Jayco-noslide]

We tow a 26 ft 5th wheel (no slides) with a dry wt of 5,300 lbs with a 2007 half-ton Silverado and it tows it fine but I would not add 1000 lbs, not even 500.

[prolandsurveyor]

Better safe than sorry I say.

[stew47]

im a brand new camper so take what I say with grain of salt 🙂 I have a 01 suburban half ton and a 06 30 ft skyline seaview with a dry weight of 4400 lbs. I might have a total of towing 150 miles. I wouldn't go any heavier if possible. I have to admit though some of my problems will be fixed with a weight distributing hitch with sway bar. It is on the short list to buy.
The suburban down shifts to second a lot on the hilly terrain in my area. It is not horrible but it might get old a few trips down the road. I will say that I recently paid off suburban so im in no hurry to upgrade tow vehicle. I guess my opinion is buy something lighter or upgrade tow vehicle.

[burnmark]

We used to tow a 6500 LOADED trailer with an 03 Suburban 1500. 3.73 gears, 5.3 motor, and oh how it struggled. We really had to think out routes, and avoid hills. It would be ugly with anything heavier.

[fla-gypsy]

It will be too much. The voice of reason and experience is being kind today.

[WoodGlue]

Either upgrade your tow vehicle or;
Downgrade your Travel Trailer expectations (as far as weight goes)

WoodGlue