Truck for a 5000# travel trailer

[Trnrbrnr]

This is my first post to this forum. I'm sure many of you have seen this type of question posted before, but I'd appreciate your input.

My wife and I retired last year and bought a 2011 Gulf Stream Gulf Breeze Sport 22 TRB travel trailer. My current truck is a 2009 Silverado with the 4.8L engine, which has a trailer capacity of 5800 pounds. The dry weight of the trailer is reported to be Gulf Stream site says that this model has a dry weight of 3640 pounds, so when we bought it, I figured that the Silverado should be able to handle this size trailer. We’ve taken it on a couple of trips from our home in southern New England, up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, out to Cape Cod, down to Assateague in Maryland, and out to the Catskills, and it is apparent that the engine is underpowered for this trailer. On our most recent trip to Upstate New York, we took the Mass Turnpike through the Berkshires, and the truck was able to go around 42 mph over the hills of western Mass. Of more concern, I was monitoring the transmission fluid temperature, which would peak a little above 200 on some of the hills and reached 228 F as we topped the highest hill. (The truck has the factory transmission cooler). When we returned, I weighed the trailer fully loaded with fresh water tank, propane, all of our outdoor chairs, awning, bicycles, food, and clothing (the gray and black water tanks were empty) - 4860 pounds. We like to dry camp, so we want to carry fresh water with us.

Our long range plans are to take this trailer out west – the Rockies and on to the west coast - for longer periods of time, which this Silverado clearly won’t be able to handle. So I’ve begun looking for a more capable truck. My budget is around $25k for a used truck, but that number could go up. I want a truck that can handle hills, and I think that I would I would like to be able to cruise at 65 with the engine in the low 2000 RPM range. I don’t like going too slowly and having cars zipping by at 30+ mph faster because I think the speed differential can be dangerous.

I believe that I should be looking for a truck that has significantly higher torque than my current 4.8 L in the RPM range that I want to cruise in. In the 2500 RPM range, the 4.8L turns around 270 ft-lbs, and I am thinking that I want to be looking for something in the 350+ ft-lb range. Does that make sense?

Basically, how much truck should I be looking for to tow a 5000 pound trailer? Diesel trucks would certainly do, but I wonder whether I really need that much truck or their additional up-front and maintenance costs. The Ford Eco Boost engines have what I believe is pretty good low RPM torque like the diesels, but they are somewhat expensive, and I wonder whether those engines will be reliable. Then there are the larger gas engines, 5.3 to 6 Liters. Am I correct in believing that I can only expect less than 10 mpg when towing regardless of the engine? Can you recommend some particular makes, model years and engine/differential combinations that work well for you that I can target?

Thanks,
Chris

[mkirsch]

If you want to stay with Chevy/GM, any of the 2007-up trucks with the 5.3L engine, 6-speed transmission, and 3.42 or 3.73 gears will be a night and day difference over what you have now.

I went from an '03 with the 4.8L and 3.42 gears, to a 2015 with 5.3L and 3.08(!) gears for my daily driver, and the new truck tows all my old trailers WAY better than the old one ever did.

[tragusa3]

I towed about the same weight with the 4.8 liter Chevy for a few years. Came to the same decision and had the same trips out west coming up.

Decided on the EcoBoost. So far, an awfully good decision! In 2014 we did a 6k mile trip out west and I can't say enough about what a pleasure it was. I know it is an overused and often not accurate statement, but here goes..."I didn't know it was back there".

When all was said and done, we averaged 11.5mpg.

Two years later, this summer, we took our new 7500 pound trailer on a 7k mile trip. I knew it was there, but the truck impressed every step of the way. This time, the average was 10.2, heavier trailer and more wind.

With the 7500 pound trailer, we cruised at 62mph and right at 2k rpm in 5th gear. In flat land, I would go up to 6th and about 1700-1800 rpm.

So now we're at 43,000 on the truck...have towed about 16-17k miles of it and haven't had a single issue.

I disagree with the poster that said it isn't a proven engine. Go to autotrader and search the country...you'll see plenty over 100k and enough over 200k to convince me.

[Oldchev]

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
I agree about the Ford Ecoboost and Dodge Ecodiesel being good choices in a 1/2-ton pickup to tow 5000 lb trailer.

These both appear to be good choices - especially the RAM Ecodiesel.

Note, however, that some user surveys have suggested that FCA companies (including RAM) have more QA problems than average. Research this point carefully.

The Ecoboost tends to get about the same fuel mileage as a V8 when it's being worked hard, so fuel saving may not be what you expect. It will certainly go faster than the 4.8, which was a torqueless wonder.

Also, you probably can't get an Ecodiesel for 25K yet.

My personal experience involves an old 1999 Silverado K2500 with a 6L V8. It gets terrible gas mileage, but I finished paying for it over 14 years ago. It now has 227,000 miles on it and has pulled 6,000+ lb loads over various mountain passes many times. It has the 4L80 4-speed auto with a transmission cooler and Tow/Haul mode. The torque converter lock works in 3rd as well as 4th.

My usual drill with a substantial grade and a heavy trailer is to allow the transmission to downshift to 3rd and lock up. You can see the lock when the tach drops 2-300 rpm without a shift into 4th. Then I'll run it at about 2,500rpm which is easy on this engine. I've pulled a heavy cargo trailer over a local pass this way often, which is about a 15 minute climb up 4-8% grades, and I've used the same strategy when pulling over the Continental Divide down in the States.

When doing this, the transmission runs at a reasonable temp (never more than halfway on the gauge), and the engine runs at exactly the same temp it has run for 17 years. (The vehicle also has a factory engine oil cooler.)

This lengthy story suggests a modern GM 5.3 should work fine (or a RAM 5.7 or a Ford 5.4) but it will turn more than 2,000rpm when climbing. Watch the tach carefully to make sure the torque converter locks in whatever gear you may be using.

[Trnrbrnr]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I learned a lot. I'm going to make a list of options and see what comes up for sale.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

I just towed a 5800# TT for my BIL last week and the truck in my sig handled it flawlessly! This was in Knoxville Tn. in the mountains. The truck had no issues towing it up some step grades and the factory brake controller work great also!




Don

[Tachdriver]

My two cents, I had a 1996 C1500 with 5.7L and felt it was under powered. My sig below shows what I have.

I was in the same predicament as you were. I ended up with a 2011 Ecoboost, paid mid $20's for and had a bit over 100,000 miles. I paid a bit more that I planned since this truck is decked out, including cooled/heated seats with Lariat package.

I am not at all disappointed in the performance. From KY to FL is relatively flat compared to where you want to go but there are some grades in TN that I was able to maintain 65 without getting much above 3000. Look at the performance charts, the EB makes peak torque at a low RPM.

I highly recommend you test drive every one of these suggestions, but if you go Ford its enticing to get the 5.0L, while it is still a great engine, the EB outperforms and you will maintain power better in higher elevations being turbocharged.

Good luck in your hunt.

[Thunderbolt]

I pulled 5,000 lbs with my 98 Chevy with a 350 and 3.73 gears. It has less power ,but a little more torque than the 4.8 liter and it did fine. Look up a dyno chart for a 4.8. It makes peak horsepower at around 5,000 rpm's. You van run it with the pedal to the medal and the computer will not let it over rev.

[Thunderbolt]

That is correct info. It doesn't mean your transmission will fail. It means you need to change the fluid more often than normal to protect the transmission. Lugging it in high gear at low rpm's is harder on everything than letting it downshift and run higher rpm's.

Trnrbrnr wrote:
Yes, this truck does have the 3.42 rear end.

Regarding the acceptable temperature for transmission fluid, we checked internet references on the road and the guidance that we saw indicated that 180-200 F was a normal operating range and that temperatures above ~220 F would contribute to an accelerated breakdown of the fluid. If the temp gets to 250 F, shut it down. Some references show a temperature duration/rate of breakdown relationship.

For example, http://transmissionrepairguy.com/transmission-overheating/

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

SoCalDesertRider wrote:

Trnrbrnr wrote:
Yes, this truck does have the 3.42 rear end.

Change those passenger car/highway gears out for 4.10, 4.56 or 4.88 gearing and you'll have a completely different and much better towing experience with that truck!

It won't matter if the OP puts 650's in the rear end if he won't wind the engine to 5 grand +. That's where the little 4.8 makes most of it's power.

The little Chevy makes pretty good power. People have to be willing to get it there though.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

Trnrbrnr wrote:
Yes, this truck does have the 3.42 rear end.

Change those passenger car/highway gears out for 4.10, 4.56 or 4.88 gearing and you'll have a completely different and much better towing experience with that truck!

[MitchF150]

Trnrbrnr wrote:
Yes, this truck does have the 3.42 rear end.

Regarding the acceptable temperature for transmission fluid, we checked internet references on the road and the guidance that we saw indicated that 180-200 F was a normal operating range and that temperatures above ~220 F would contribute to an accelerated breakdown of the fluid. If the temp gets to 250 F, shut it down. Some references show a temperature duration/rate of breakdown relationship.

For example, http://transmissionrepairguy.com/transmission-overheating/

That's "old school" temps.. The modern trans today run in the 200* range normally. If you have an old 3 speed or even 4 speed auto trans, those temps in the chart are more accurate.

Like I said above, I bet if you had let the trans downshift, your trans and engine temps would have gone DOWN while pulling that grade..

Good luck!

Mitch

[MitchF150]

Trnrbrnr wrote:
Thanks to all of you who replied. My comment about cruising at 2k RPM should be explained - my observation when going uphill was that the engine would be turning around 2k RPM at a speed probably in the low 50 mph range before shifting down to third gear. And then on the steeper long section, speed would continue to drop into the 40s unless I allowed the transmission to shift down again, which I did not. So I would drop speed down into the low 40 mph range, which is too slow for me. I'd like to be able to at least minimize downshifting, indicating that the engine is safely below its limits.

Since the transmission was overheating, I gather that it is not able to handle that sort of load, especially on hot summer days.

I am looking forward to traveling through the mountains of Colorado in mid- to late summer with no worries! Thanks!

The transmission overheated because you didn't allow it to do what it's supposed to do and that is downshift... 😉

Sure, the rpms will go up, but that's what the engine and transmission are designed to do... Perfectly normal.

What you did was lug the heck out of it, the engine was never in it's peak power range, and the torque converter on the trans was probably unlocked, which would cause the temp to rise very fast..

You did more "damage" to the engine/trans by lugging it like you did then letting it rev to 3500 rpms or more..

Good luck!

Mitch

[Trnrbrnr]

Yes, this truck does have the 3.42 rear end.

Regarding the acceptable temperature for transmission fluid, we checked internet references on the road and the guidance that we saw indicated that 180-200 F was a normal operating range and that temperatures above ~220 F would contribute to an accelerated breakdown of the fluid. If the temp gets to 250 F, shut it down. Some references show a temperature duration/rate of breakdown relationship.

For example, http://transmissionrepairguy.com/transmission-overheating/

[mowermech]

I had a Dodge Ram 1500 with the 360 (5.9L) engine and automatic transmission.
I was mostly happy with it until I took a 7X14 box trailer from here to Sheridan, WY with a bunch of stuff for a Ham radio swapmeet. There are a lot of hills on I-90 in that stretch, and that poor truck struggled all the way.
I sold it and bought an older (1999) Ram 2500 with the 24 valve Cummins and 5 speed manual transmission.
Now, the truck pulls hills like a locomotive, trailer or no trailer, loaded or empty. I (and the truck) are very happy!
IMO, for pulling power a diesel can't be beat!