Silverado Towing

prae35 · 03-23-2015, 11:41 PM

I know this has been covered lot of times. I have a 1500 Silverado, crew cab, 4x4, 5.3, 3.42, weight of 5800 loaded for camping. I would like some opinions on pulling 7000 lbs. I am going to keep the truck. no 2500hd's

Wantoride · 03-23-2015, 11:54 PM

I pulled my passport 23rb with the same vehicle and to be honest, it struggled at times. My ecoboost is way better at pulling as well as the overall feel and handling. You will be able to do it but you might be getting to the limit. Check your door on the drivers side for the info you need.

prae35 · 03-24-2015, 04:16 AM

thanks that helps

bato3500 · 03-24-2015, 05:26 AM

My thoughts are that you should always have extra truck when towing for safety reasons. Give yourself a cushion between what you are towing and what you "can" tow. Pushing the limits on towing capacity can damage your vehicle and contribute to accidents. Do the math and be safe.

**sourdough** · 03-24-2015, 07:51 AM

Look at the sticker on the door. It will give you your payload. Spec says 1820 lbs but that will vary. Tongue weight will probably be 1000lbs or so on a 7000lb trailer (considering that is loaded/wet weight). Add 100lbs for your hitch. That leaves 720lbs for people, fuel and stuff. You will be over you payload more than likely. GVWR is 7200lbs so you will be really close to, or over, this as well.

Max tow is 9200 lbs so you would be under that BUT towing 7000lbs with a 3.42 rear end is not optimum to say the least. Can it pull it? Sure. Should you pull it, will it be fun, will the truck take it in stride? Maybe not.

You also need to consider your truck's tires, suspension and a good WDH with sway control (you probably have the latter). You would be getting to a weight where the P series street tires on a 1500 would start to be a consideration.

***These numbers were pulled for a 2015 Silverado. If the truck is very old the numbers are probably significantly less.

Desert185 · 03-24-2015, 08:51 AM

I used to tow a 7000# GW enclosed utility trailer with a 1977 Chevy K10 4x4 heavy half ton. It had no door jam stickers that I remember and didn't know the difference. It did pretty well with the 400ci smallblock, shift-kitted TH350 and 3.73's.

With 3.42's you might want to hold that fancy, new transmission in a lower gear at times.

7000# is pretty much my limit with a full-size half ton, IMO, regardless of door jam sticker or no door jam sticker...but I'm old, so...

prae35 · 03-24-2015, 12:03 PM

Thanks I stay below 6000 lbs and switch to lt tires

CWSWine · 03-24-2015, 12:19 PM

I had a travel trailer that was 5035 dry and about 6800 ready to go camping plus I had 2012 1500 with tow package. I had good WD setup and the trailer towed fine on flat ground even in LIGHT winds it tow fine. As soon as I hit a hill I was the guy doing 40 mph in 70 mph zone and down a hills i had to fight to keep under 70 MPH without burning up brakes or over revving the engine. I got between 8 and 9 miles per gallon towing. Hope that helps.

prae35 · 03-24-2015, 03:04 PM

That does help. I am going to stay below 6000 loaded

buzzcop63 · 03-24-2015, 03:50 PM

The best advise I could give without all the numbers from your truck is to do the math and to be accurate that means taking your truck and trailer combination to the scales. If the numbers are within the boundaries set by the factory then its see how it works on the road. My combination has a smaller engine at 4.6V8 but with 4.10 rear differential with tow package and the scale weight of my loaded trailer is 6,100Lb, 900lb less then your looking at. My P rated Bridgestone tries show weight capacity of 2,469Lb, which is far above the observed scale weight of axels on my truck when fully loaded with trailer attached. Gross weight rating of my truck is 6,700Lb, deduct my truck weight when fully loaded and with trailer of 6,280Lb and I have 420Lb of weight left to add. Sad news is the label on the drivers door says that passengers and cargo cannot weight more then 1,135Lb! Reality is that I am close to the maximum the truck can carry. This is the fourth season and the truck tows with great stability, no sway, going up hills it accelerates, down hills, drop down a gear or two, no problem running over our coastal mountains.

Tbos · 03-24-2015, 04:39 PM

I have a 2014 Silverado with the same set up. Connected to my previous truck the TT weighed in at 4800lbs fully loaded. The truck was a 2013 with the 4.8 and 3:23. I was maxed out at gross combined for that truck 10,000. However it never faultered. The new truck has a combined gross of 15,000. I just wanted that extra safety margin.

buzzcop63 · 03-24-2015, 06:29 PM

Tbos:
My max combined weight listed is 14,000 and truck and trailer scale weight 11,780 so I am under weight max by 2,280, all other weights are inside the margins. Really wonder what the true numbers are from the factory?

Dave-Gray · 03-24-2015, 10:59 PM

Not all 1500s are created equal. I recommend you use RVtowCheck.com to help you discover the realistic towing capacity.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

Hansel · 03-25-2015, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzzcop63

Tbos:
My max combined weight listed is 14,000 and truck and trailer scale weight 11,780 so I am under weight max by 2,280, all other weights are inside the margins. Really wonder what the true numbers are from the factory?

Those numbers are not accurate, my Laredo is suppose too be in the upper 6k range something like 6,700lbs but after taking it too the scales it was just a hair over 8,000lbs. now that is with hardly anything in it other than how it came from Keystone. So I don't know how they came up with that weight.

Ken / Claudia · 03-25-2015, 09:36 AM

Prae 35, you do not show what year of 1500 truck you have. The state police dumped the f150s from 95,96,98s and purchased the 1500s in 01 thru 04. Same engine/tranny, 4x4s std and ex cabs. They did about when post #9 says. We, mostly me pulled a 4500 lb boat. The one guy who would not use the tow haul mode, needed a new tranny after several days of towing. My opinion is with a lower rear end gear they could pull hills at highway speeds while towing. Over all they where better and held up better than the f150s they replaced. Remember the years of vehicles I just typed, nothing about newer models in my statements.

buzzcop63 · 03-25-2015, 10:09 AM

RVtowcheck.com, ran my numbers and they came out very close to my calculations using "Guide to Towing" put out by Trailer Life. All my towing is done with Tow/Hall engaged and because of tires and watching my "Tire Minder" I travel at 55MPH over in the slow lane with the big trucks! Lots of power to run faster but we are retired and in no hurry and like the trailer tires to run cooler.

prae35 · 03-26-2015, 12:50 AM

Ken/Claudia, the truck is a 2010. thanks for the help.

ThePressureIsOn · 03-26-2015, 04:37 PM

Prae35, I used to have a 2008 Silverado, 4 speed with the same engine and gears except it was two wheel drive. It was a real struggle to pull our 248RKS. The trailer is about 6,000 lbs loaded. On the flats, no problem, but it didn't like the hills, downshifting forcefully, even with tow/haul in use. I upgraded to a 2500HD with the 6L 3:73 gears and 6 speed transmission and it was like night and day difference in towing.

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