Tow vehicles

[falconbrother]

My wife and I want to get out of the old motorhome and get a travel trailer. I don't have the cash flow to but all new. What's a good used tow vehicle? Tahoe, Expedition? We're looking at a 26 - 28 foot trailer. I was wondering if the 4.8 in the Tahoe will pull a travel trailer? It seems a shade small but, I see Tahoes all over the campgrounds.

[bluedogwilson]

Do yourself a favor and buy more hoursepower than you need. I pull a 36' Jayco with a 3500 Chev. Duramax and I thought this was overkill until I hit the mountains in Montana, Wyoming and Montana this summer and I was glad to have the extra HP and Torgue. I had the 3500 when I had my 40' 5th wheel. PS: If you buy any deisel be sure it does not use the DEF additive. Do a lot of shopping around, there are a lot of people that buy trucks and need to sell them. Good luck.:)

[Doug33]

Andy F wrote:
We just finished a 2200+ mile trip out west to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and our SUV towed extremely well including in the mountain passes. We went with a high-end hitch that makes a huge difference and we've upgraded our rear suspension on our SUV. We are at the top end of tow limit but I was amazed at the job the Sequoia did on the trip with 4 kids (2 teens) and 2 adults. We faced a very stiff 30+mph cross wind on I-90 through South Dakota on our way back and we passed several semi tractor trailers and travel trailers with our great towing experience. A lot of that has to do with our ProPride hitch and some with our light-weight trailer. The Hensley Arrow would give you the same experience. Those hitches are making SUV's very appealing as tow vehicles for many out there.

If you need 4+ passenger seating I'd highly recommend a used 2008 or newer Sequoia. They are hard to come by and sell quickly. The ones with the bigger 5.7 liter engine will give you a comfortable towing capacity comparable to a Suburban or Expedition. The Sequoia is a very reliable tow vehicle.

Hey - I like that TT you're towing around! 🙂

[PAThwacker]

Payload for 8600gvw burbs rule. Half ton whatever can not carry gear and tow at the same time.

[Faribo]

I have a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 5.3L with a 3.73 rear end and it pulls our 24' TT very well. As mentioned above a good weight distribution hitch with sway control can make a world of difference. Our TT is about 4,150 dry.

[APT]

Love my 3/4 ton Burb. It would be good for up to 8k dry if it has light tongue weight. The receiver is the limit on all late model SUVs. Tow ratings do not come into play for half ton RVing. You hit payload, rear axle, or receiver limit well below these tow ratings.

2000-2005 Ford Excursion V10 or diesel
2000+ Suburban/Yukon XL 2500

Passenger vans are far cheaper for same miles/condition

[Mr_Beebo]

Our Tahoe pulls about 6500 lbs loaded. 5.3 and 3.73s. Been thru hills and mountains, lots of grades. It does fine and knocks down about 11 mpg. A good weight distribution hitch and proper loading can make a huge difference.

[falconbrother]

It seems that so many, otherwise, large vans and SUVs have relatively small engines. Lots of six cylinders and small V-8s. I suppose a crew cab truck would fit the bill.

[JiminDenver]

Those older burbs are nice, too bad you can't buy a new one. I guess if we are going old, there is also the Excursion to consider. You can't get a new one of those either.

A new Expy can be had with a tow rating of 9000, what a new burb good for, maybe 7000? You are right, apples and oranges.

[PAThwacker]

2500 burb in my driveway has 2651 payload. 2500 8.1 burb has 2980 payload. Apples to oranges to any EXP half ton whatever variant. Running 80 PSI load range E tires, and have the brakes to handle 12000lbs plus.

[Andy_F]

We just finished a 2200+ mile trip out west to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and our SUV towed extremely well including in the mountain passes. We went with a high-end hitch that makes a huge difference and we've upgraded our rear suspension on our SUV. We are at the top end of tow limit but I was amazed at the job the Sequoia did on the trip with 4 kids (2 teens) and 2 adults. We faced a very stiff 30+mph cross wind on I-90 through South Dakota on our way back and we passed several semi tractor trailers and travel trailers with our great towing experience. A lot of that has to do with our ProPride hitch and some with our light-weight trailer. The Hensley Arrow would give you the same experience. Those hitches are making SUV's very appealing as tow vehicles for many out there.

If you need 4+ passenger seating I'd highly recommend a used 2008 or newer Sequoia. They are hard to come by and sell quickly. The ones with the bigger 5.7 liter engine will give you a comfortable towing capacity comparable to a Suburban or Expedition. The Sequoia is a very reliable tow vehicle.

[Tvov]

Nice thing about using a pickup truck to tow a TT is you have all that room in the bed for your "stuff". I have a large cap on my F250, it is like having an extra storage shed, which also happens to keep all our stuff dry in the rain.

[TomG2]

When I asked an honest salesman about a SUV as a tow vehicle, he replied, "Stick with a truck, we have enough trouble keeping SUV's right side up all by themselves". Pickups are designed to carry additional weight on their rear suspension. They may start out with too much weight on the front axle and not enough on the rear, but when hitched up, they are ready to go.

[JiminDenver]

One of our Expys has a payload of over 1500 and the other over 1700, I've seen specs for one over 1800 lbs. Since the tongue weight is limited to 900 lbs, there is lots left over for us and the dogs plus a bit of gear.

You can always replace the P rated tires for LT tires. We run P rated and never have issues with sway but we do use a WDH and sway control.

[Doug33]

See my sig - we are about as maxed out as I want to get. I'm only doing this because the TT is relatively light for its length - <5200 lbs dry. It tows wonderful on the interstate but I haven't had it on any significantly steep terrain yet.

[falconbrother]

So, the expedition would be the better vehicle, or a 2500 suburban? Yea, we're camping right now. I looked across the way and thought I saw a Tahoe sitting in front of a TT. In the morning light it turned out to be a burb. Our old MH has a 454 with the turbo 400 transmission. Right now we're pulling a Honda CRV as a toad.

Our MH is a 1990 model. The chassis is in very good shape for it's age. The house is showing it's age. My wife and I bought this thing about four years ago as a starter MH. There's positives and negatives but, for us there seems to be more negatives. Since it's a class A the whole front of the MH is wasted space at the campground. Since it's a registered vehicle it comes with extra insurance, oil changes (generator too), tires, etc.. If you have a flat on the side of the highway you're pretty screwed and pray it's not a front tire. We had a blow out, I mean grenade in the wheel well, last year. Was lucky to be able to limp to a tire shop right off of the interstate. Once that was fixed we passed a guy towing a TT that had a flat. He was changing it right there on the side of the road.

Seems to me that, for us, the TT is the best option. We had one years ago and enjoyed it except in heavy cross winds. Turns out the MH is no better.

If there is an upside to the MH it would be the on-board generator and bath room. We only have to stop when I need to use the bathroom or we need gas.