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Originally Posted by dwdavis_17
My TT is a 06' Forrest River 28a+, UVW of 5780 and GROSS 7500.
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So count on a wet and loaded trailer weight of about 7,000 pounds and a wet and loaded hitch weight of about 900 to 1,000 pounds - provided you minimize the weight you haul in the trailer. That trailer weight (plus a couple of passengers in the truck) will max out or maybe exceed the tow rating and probably exceed the payload rating of your Avalanche.
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Originally Posted by BigBaron
Can your TV handle the trailer? I got this off of Google, " Towing Capacity with 3.73 Axle: 7,100 pounds. Towing Capacity with 4.10 Axle: 8,100 pounds. Standard Payload: 1,322 lbs."
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You'll probably exceed the GVWR of your Avalanche, but with the Equal-I-Zer hitch and air bags, you should be okay if you keep the gross trailer weight down to about 7,000 pounds, and drive like an old man that has to be very careful to prevent "accidents". Be sure to pump up the air bags to prevent your headlights from blinding oncoming drivers.
A big tranny cooler is required. If your Avalanche does not have the Heavy Duty Towing Pkg, then you need to add a tranny cooler at least as big as the one that came with that pkg. And bigger won't hurt a thing.
Heat is the killer of automagic trannys, so if you don't want a dead truck then don't allow the tranny to get too hot. "Too hot" is anything over 225° sump temp. How do you know tranny sump temp? With a tranny temp gauge that has the sender in the sump (tranny pan) or somewhere in the tranny that gives you sump temp.
So if your Avalanche doesn't have a tranny temp gauge that gives sump temp, then you need to add one before you tow that 7,000-pound trailer. The parts should cost you less than $200. If your Allison tranny doesn't have a screw-in port that will give sump temp, then weld an NPT (tapered pipe threads) bung into the side of the tranny pan, near the bottom of the pan. The size of the bung should match the size of the threads in the sender. Be sure the gauge has the peg at 100° instead of the normal 140° so you'll know the gauge is working in the wintertime. Here's the one I had for 12 years of towing with one tow vehicle:
ISSPRO R5659R EV Series Trans Temp Gauge at DieselManor
Then change the tranny fluid to synthetic ATF because synthetic can handle more heat without deteriorating, and change the synthetic ATF at least every 30,000 miles.
When towing, the only time you have to be wide awake and watching tranny temp is when working the engine hard with an unlocked torque converter - such as climbing a steep grade at a speed less than about 40 MPH. Or any time you back the trailer. Or even in stop&go traffic. At speeds less than highway cruising speeds the tranny cooler doesn't do much cooling. And the unlocked torque converter throws a volcano worth of heat at the tranny cooler, exceeding the cooling capacity of the cooler. If that gauge sneaks over 220°, then stop ASAP, put the tranny in neutral or park, and elevate the engine idle to over 1,200 RPM until the tranny temp falls back below 220°.
DO NOT install the sender in a cooler line. The "hot" cooler line will be much hotter than sump temp, sometimes over 300°, which is fine if the cooler reduces it to less than 225°. And the return line is the temp of the cooled ATF, not sump temp. There is no way to infer sump temp from either hot or return line temp.
Rear differentials rarely give any problem, but with a 10-year old truck I'd be sure the diff lube had been changed less than 50,000 miles ago. If you change the diff lube, be certain to use the exact diff lube required by your Owner's Guide. Mine required 75w140 synthetic. Ordinary 90w diff lube is not good enough. And you have to replace the pinion seal periodically after it begins to leak, but that's routine maintenance usually required only once every few years.
Additional braking power on the tow vehicle is not required, provided the trailer has good brakes and you use a quality trailer brake controller. Just maintain the truck brakes as you normally would for non-towing purposes. Use excellent parts at least as good as the Chevy OEM, but expensive special brake parts, such as rotors or calipers, are not required.
New TT owner, wanting towing upgrade advise
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