7,500lbs behind a Silverado 1,500

[tuffr2]

One thing noone mentions is what kind of towing they will do.

I towed from 3 years with a maxed out truck. But...I was on back roads and never towing more than 15 miles at around 45 mph max. A special case, from storage to where I was camping was only 15 country miles. No interstate at all.

If my camping was going to stay that way that truck would have still worked. But then we had more time to travel further. Well, one time on the interstate I traded thalt truck for a bigger truck that week. Now we could travel in comfort any distance.

So interstate travel or local travel?

[Jay D.]

i wouldn't worry. i have a 2010 GMC crew cab 5.3 and 342 gears, i pull a 27' T/T that weighs between 6500 and 7000 ready to camp. it pulls absolutely perfect. i don't understand all the worry about pulling 7000 with the 1500s i have all the power i need. i live on the west coast and know what hills are. i also have excilent braking ability's with the 6 speed trans. your newer model gm's should have more hp than mine.
Jay D.

[CCHubbard]

Stumper,


You ask some good questions.



The RV manufacturers' GVWR is a hard limit that shall not be exceeded. Total weight of everything in or on the RV in this case cannot not weigh more than 7,495lbs. Contents in your holding tanks count against the GVWR.



I tow with a F150 with the Max Tow Package (53c). It's has 1,852lbs payload and rated to tow 12,700lbs. No aftermarket modifications to the truck. My RV is a 2018 CrossRoads SunSet Trail 291RK It has a GVWR of 7600lbs and is 33'4" long. In the 2 years that I've owned the RV, we have been on 6 trips totaling more than 8,000 miles. No issues with towing, braking or handling.



Since your truck does not have a factory installed towing package, you may want to see what modifications / add-ons you can install to achieve the best performance.

[fagnaml]

Stumper --

First off welcome to the Forum! There are many good folks will to provide help anytime!

Your 2018 Silverado has a similar tow rating to the 2011 Silverado LT 4x4 Short Box Crew Cab I previously owned that had 5.3 L engine, 3.42 gear ratio and the trailer towing package. My Silverado 'the vast majority of the time' had no problems towing the 2011 Trace Executive 3000BH travel trailer I had at the time. The Tracer had a similar UVW and and GVW to the Grand Design Imagine 2600 your are considering (the Tracer's UVW and GVW were ~200 lbs. lighter). I owned the Tracer for five years during which I made seven round trips each year between Houston and Baton Rouge for LSU football home games. The "loaded" weight of the trailer was ~6,600 lbs. including two full 40# each propane tanks, full 50 gallon fresh water tank (415 lbs). plus food and clothes.

My 2011 Silverado had a curb weight of ~4,800 lbs. The "loaded weight" of the Silverado for the LSU trips was ~5,400 lbs. for the stuff loaded into the truck (wife and me, two Honda 2000 generators, full cooler and two plastic picnic tables, four umbrella picnic chairs. The "combined vehicle weight" for those trips was ~12,000 lbs. which for me was comfortably under the 15,000# GCWR for my Silverado (an LSU tailgating buddy told me a "rule of thumb" is keep the "combined vehicle weight" at 80% or less of the GCWR).

When just the wife and I towed the Tracer to the Texas Hill Country for a long weekend the "combined loaded weight" dropped to ~11,300 lbs. (fresh water tank empty, no generators or tailgating stuff, only a small cooler).

I only had two "white knuckle" trip events to the Hill Country. The first was a spring time trip driving in a 15-25 mph cross wind when I had to slow down to minimize trailer swaying (I added anti-sway bars to the tongue after that trip) and then an early August trip from the Hill Country during hot, sunny, breezy, 110 F weather conditions and the engine and transmission would reach over-heating temps climbing hills on I-10 (just had to slow down from 63 mph to 50 mph going up hills).

Your truck will tow the Grand Design 2600 without problems. Can you drive 70 mph towing with a Silverado -- NO! But you wouldn't want to anyway! I learned the hard way that the 14" tires on light weight travel trailers have a max speed rating of 65 mph which is why on all of my trips I never drove faster than 62-63 mph.

[cmcguire48]

hitch weight is way off where did that number come from?

[Jay D.]

Originally Posted by cmcguire48

hitch weight is way off where did that number come from?

hitch weight ( where? ) whos hitch weight?
Jay D.

[Fox831]

NO, NO, & HECK NO! Some truck manufactures stretch the facts, likely by marketing exec's! What they need to add to those exaggerated numbers is a speed & distance limit.
I saw another post once that said you should reduce manufacturer specs by some 40 or more percent. I thought that was crazy. For a 1/2 ton truck it is probably very accurate. I pull a 28 foot 6000 lb dry weight trailer, first pulled with same 1/2 ton chevy as yours, spent a bunch of money to try and improve its capability to finally learn it was a bad idea.
We now pull that trailer with a 3/4 diesel with exhaust brake (love the exhaust brake... 110000 miles and counting on original brakes!!). Just do it, make the 3/4 diesel investment, you will be glad you did.
P.S. Our adult kids said they could hear the difference in our voices when we called to check-in from the road. Went from nerve racked in 1/2 ton to relaxed and confident in 3/4 ton!

[Yosemite77]

Originally Posted by Fox831

…Our adult kids said they could hear the difference in our voices when we called to check-in from the road. Went from nerve racked in 1/2 ton to relaxed and confident in 3/4 ton!

It might not have been the truck. Are you sure that it wasn’t puberty kicking in?

[bddadles]

Simple answer. It is not enough truck. It will probably pull it but it will not be pleasant and you can't stop it safely. And after you make that first panic tire smoking stop (and you will) you will agree. Then you will get new seats and a bigger truck. You can be the best driver in the world but your problems will probably be caused by someone else and then you are in just as much trouble as you would be if it were your fault.

[Monacoach]

A low profile trailer will pull much easier. Its not always the weight when calculating what you can tow. Tires, type of suspension, vehicle over hang......... you can pull that trailer easily and safely with the correct setup. Most go cheap with the slinky friction sway control devices and dont adjust the weight distribution hitch correctly or the angle pivit of the hitch itself and then blame the tow vehicle and waste money upgrading to a larger vehicle..

Very few rv dealers have or are willing to share what you really need before you pull off their lot with an rv. They just want the quick sell and off you go to figure things out for yourself.

I found an amazing rv dealer with extensive knowledge on towing travel trailers. Cam am rv in london ontario

[Jay D.]

Originally Posted by Fox831

NO, NO, & HECK NO! Some truck manufactures stretch the facts, likely by marketing exec's! What they need to add to those exaggerated numbers is a speed & distance limit.
I saw another post once that said you should reduce manufacturer specs by some 40 or more percent. I thought that was crazy. For a 1/2 ton truck it is probably very accurate. I pull a 28 foot 6000 lb dry weight trailer, first pulled with same 1/2 ton chevy as yours, spent a bunch of money to try and improve its capability to finally learn it was a bad idea.
We now pull that trailer with a 3/4 diesel with exhaust brake (love the exhaust brake... 110000 miles and counting on original brakes!!). Just do it, make the 3/4 diesel investment, you will be glad you did.
P.S. Our adult kids said they could hear the difference in our voices when we called to check-in from the road. Went from nerve racked in 1/2 ton to relaxed and confident in 3/4 ton!

hmmm, I must have done something wrong. I pull a 6500# 27' T/T with my 1500 crew cab and don't have any problems at all. I can manually set the trailer brakes only and almost put the wife through the windshield. I just don't see a stopping problem, if your trailer brakes are set right. and I can't see a 2500 stopping any better.
Jay D.

[elite wa]

Originally Posted by Jay D.

hmmm, I must have done something wrong. I pull a 6500# 27' T/T with my 1500 crew cab and don't have any problems at all. I can manually set the trailer brakes only and almost put the wife through the windshield. I just don't see a stopping problem, if your trailer brakes are set right. and I can't see a 2500 stopping any better.
Jay D.

Same here at the 28 foot 7k lbs range we never had a problem with our half ton. Good brake set up and WDH and I think you are fine. I love it when everyone says you can’t stop with a half ton because it’s close to max weight. But somehow an HD maxed out is okay. Physics is physics.

[Jay D.]

also most 2500 or 3/4 ,ton rigs will weigh a 1000# more than a 1/2 ton or 1500. thats a lot of extra weight to slow down and its all up to the tires. the brakes are up to the task but the tires resistance to the pavement is what's going to stop you. so as far as one quick stop your not going to see much difference. were the actual brake size or design will make a difference is on a long slow down. such as down a long mountain pass 6 or 7 % for 3 miles.
Jay D.

[RyanZ71]

I’m going to be picking up my Forest River Tracer 290BH in a few weeks, I have a 2014 GMC 1500 SLE CREW CAB STANDARD BOX With 2:42 gears. I’m fairly certain I should be able to pull this camper with with my truck but of course some of you guys have me worried. The trailer weighs 6457 dry with 1250 cargo with a 704 TW. Truck has a tow capacity of 9600 load weight of 1660. I should be good right? I know a 2500 would be better but right now not an option. (Hopefully once the wife sees we need one after a few trip of 10mpgs).
Hopefully I didn’t still the post from the original poster. I’m new to these forum sites!