Wayfun

I stopped by the dealer today to look a the new baby Duramax in a Sierra Denali. I tow a 6500 lb travel trailer with my '16 Yukon Denali and I was thinking about switching to a pickup. The truck was very nice but it lacks payload capacity. The payload and rear axle ratings were both less than my standard Yukon Denali. The payload sticker listed it at 1394 lbs and my Yukon is 1545 lbs. The rear axle rating was only 3800 lbs vs 4200 for the Yukon. Given that my tongue weight is approaching 900 lbs I don't think the Sierra has enough load capacity. Is this typical of all half ton Sierras?

I'm currently towing a 6,000 lb travel trailer with a 6.2L Yukon Denali. While it tows OK, I am interested in the 3.0 Duramax's peak torque at a low rpm. For those of you towing with one, how does it pull on significant hills? I pull at 60 mph and on significant grades the 6.2 will downshift an pull at 3,000 rpm on those hills. Does the torque of the 3.0 allow you to comfortably pull hills without multiple downshifts?

We looked at similar trailers this year and settled on a Rockwood Minilite 2511. I believe it's weights are very similar to the Grand Design. I'm towing with a Yukon Denali. Here are my weight numbers after adjusting my hitch.