AlaskaErik

Well, then GM screwed up when they made my 2019 with NHT and put in a 2 speed transfer case.

I consider both a total waste of money. My phone has plenty of data available, so there is no advantage to having extra data onboard the truck. I also have AAA, since several of my vehicles are beyond the manufacturer's roadside service. AAA also covers my travel trailers and either my wife or myself can use it. OnStar only covers one vehicle, and I have two OnStar equipped vehicles, in addition to two other vehicles. Since I snowbird, I would be constantly shifting coverage between the two OnStar vehicles and putting one on vacation hold while reactivating the other one. AAA covers everything all the time. Both my Silverados have remote start, which I do use on a regular basis in the winter. So far, the fob has worked out fine for me.

The tongue weight listed in the brochure is utterly meaningless. Once you add batteries, propane and all the gear you take along, your tongue weight will be hundreds of pounds heavier. The brochure lists my trailer's tongue weight at 392 lbs. When I weighed it, it was 710 lbs, and I wasn't even loaded up for a trip. Your fully loaded weight for the trailer is probably well over 6000 lbs. At 13 percent, which is typical, a 6000 lb trailer will have a tongue weight of 780 lbs. So you're looking at over 1400 lbs of your payload capacity used up. Add in the weight of the hitch and weight distribution hitch and you're probably over 1500 lbs. And that yellow payload capacity sticker on your driver door jamb, that's your payload capacity before you added any accessories to your truck, such as a canopy or tonneau cover, side steps or bars, lift kit, bigger tires, etc. All that reduces your payload capacity. So my guess is that you're over your truck's payload capacity.

A lot of people severely underestimate the weight of their fully loaded trailer and its tongue weight. 4 inched of sag tells me you have a heavy tongue weight and/or a lot of people and gear in the truck. I've never had a 4 inch sag towing with either my 2016 or 2019. I'd start by weighing the truck and trailer when they're fully loaded. Also weigh the truck alone. That way you can determine your tongue weight if you don't have a tongue scale. You should not need air bags if all weight limitations are below their max limit.

Both my 2016 and 2019 LTZs have front and rear parking sensors. The 2019 also has blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert. I paid under $37k out the door for the 2016 and under $49k out the door for the 2019. Both were brand new, about 8 miles on the odo and no trade in on either one.

You don't need a diesel or HD when a 6.2L 1500 will pull a 5500 lb travel trailer with ease. You could even get by with a 5.3L, but it is a little sluggish in the mountains. Like I said, 5500 lbs is still half ton territory. Towing my 5500 lb travel trailer is very comfortable in my 6.2L 1500. When you start towing in the 7000-8000 lb range, that's when I'd move up to a 3/4 ton or one ton.

5500 lbs is still half ton territory. No need to go 3/4 ton at that weight.

I was facing the same dilemma as you. 5500 lb trailer, but a 2016 5.3 with the six speed. The 5.3 was just too sluggish in the mountains. My 2019 has the 6.2 and it tows so much better. I also have the Max Trailering package. Both trucks have the 3.42 axle. Upgrading to 3.73 is not going to solve anything. But no way would I ever go back to the 5.3 to tow a trailer that weight. The difference is very noticeable.

The limitation is on the door jamb trailering information sticker. Don't look to the forum members to validate your going over the established tongue weight limit. Either you're within the limits or you're not. Get a 3/4 ton if you want to tow that much.

Mine gets all covered up when it's snowing. It should have been placed much higher up to keep as much snow and road spray out of it as possible and to make it easier to reach.

The long bed is only available with a regular cab. Double cab only comes with a standard bed and crew cab can be had with a standard bed or short bed.

And the pin weight on a 5er is in the 20 to 25 percent range, so he's way over payload capacity before he even puts one thing in the truck itself. But hey, the factory says I can pull 10,000 lbs. SMH.

Anyone who thinks their truck can pull right up to the max tow rating doesn't know anything about towing. First of all, you're going to run out of payload capacity on a half ton long before you ever reach your alleged max tow rating weight. That max tow rating is the most useless, meaningless and irrelevant number in the towing world. And it's always accompanied by an asterisk or footnote number that most people don't bother reading. It's a bragging rights number for manufacturers, and nothing more. GM bases their max hitch weight on 10 percent of max tow weight. The 2019 trailering guide has my max tow rating speced out at 12,000 lbs and max hitch weight at 1200 lbs. But anyone with any towing experience knows that tongue weight is almost always closer to 13 or 14 percent on a travel trailer. Mine is over 14 percent when the fresh water tank is filled. So you're either going exceed your max hitch weight or you're going to have to settle for a much lighter load. A 1200 lb hitch weight limit at 14 percent tongue weight means I can only pull a 8571 lb trailer before exceeding the max hitch weight limit. And most of you have a much lower hitch weight limit. A 960 lb hitch weight limit at 14 percent tongue weight means you can tow up to 6857 lbs. But most people only look at the so-called max tow rating and ignore payload capacity, hitch weight limit and rear axle weight limit. And this is the reason a 3/4 ton or one ton truck is more appropriate when you start getting into the 7000 lb and 8000 lb range when it comes to towing travel trailers.

A trailer that size is best towed by at least a 3/4 ton. Can a half ton do it? Probably. But you may not like the white knuckle experience.

It's been called a parking brake for years now. If your brakes ever fail, don't count on the parking brake to be Plan B.