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Newbie from Northern Michigan!

rusty01

By rusty01
in New Member Introductions

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rusty01 Enthusiast

rusty01

Posted
Posted

Just thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Tim and I live in beautiful Northern Lower Michigan. My ride is a rusty ol' 2001 GMC Sierra 1500 Ext. cab 4wd with just over 100,000 miles. Nothin' fancy just a good ol' stcok pickup truck with a sprayed in bed liner and cover. I mainly joined this site to get some insight on some performance enhancements to this truck for towing purposes. We are looking at buying our very first travel trailer and I know the truck in it's current state is gonna struggle! So with that said, howdy ya'll and feel free to point me in the right directions for some info to help this poor ol' truck tow our beautiful new camper!

Stevens03 Senior Enthusiast

Stevens03

Posted
Posted

First off, Welcome to the site. :thumbs:

 

What specs does the truck have, as in what motor and what gear ratio? That will help. If you don't know the gears, look in the glove box for the RPO codes on the sticker.

GU6 = 3.42

GT4 = 3.73

GT5 = 4.10

G80 = Factor lockers.

 

What size trailer are you looking at. Without knowing the specs of your truck, and assuming you have the 5.3L, I can still pretty safely say, your truck will handle a travel trailer with the unloaded weight upto 5000 lbs. That gets you into alot of ultra lites and other light trailer options. With my 2003 pickup I owned, I towed quite regular 5800lbs travel trailer 31' long with ease. It had the 5.3L and 4.10 gears.

 

But with that said, since you've got some mileage on the truck, I'm not sure when the last time you did a tune up and fluid swap, but I'd say at 100,000 miles, your due for all of that. I'd consider synthetics since they protect better, also If you have the Z71 or trailer package on your truck if you don't have a transmission cooler, I'd consider adding one.

 

Just a few things to think about :thumbs:

rusty01 Enthusiast

rusty01

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the welcome! Not sure on the gearing but it does have the 5.3L with towing package, not Z71. I do not believe it has a tranny cooler though. I just had the tranny fluid changed 10,000 or so miles ago. Regular oil changes and I have been considering switching to syn. oil. The camper we are looking to purchase is just over 5800lbs dry and 31ft. in length. I have towed my bro-in-laws 16ft car hauler a couple times which weighs a couple thousand lbs. and had about 4,000 lbs of retaining wall block on it. The truck was not happy! Towed it about 50 miles though and just took er easy. So just going off of that I know some things need to be done to make the truck perform decently. We plan on taking this camper on long trips at least a couple times a year with many trips to local camp sites.

Stevens03 Senior Enthusiast

Stevens03

Posted
Posted

If the truck wasn't happy with 4000lbs, then this is what I'd consider. Depending on gears, I'd consider a gear swap to at least 4.10, I'd add a transmission cooler for sure, and look into a Blackbear performance tune to get you a little extra HP for towing. What size tires are you running? Are they the stock 245's or 265's?

 

Also, regardless of the tranny fluid swap, I saw a huge improvement with Royal Purple Max ATF fluid in the transmission. When I say improvement, it shifted smoother but still crisp, and saw a solid 1-2mpg better mileage over regular ATF. Also the transmission never saw temps over 195 on the hottest days while towing.

 

I think in 2001, your 5.3L had 275HP stock. A custom tune will help alot. :thumbs:

ChevyTech77 Senior Enthusiast

ChevyTech77

Posted
Posted

1/2 ton's with the 5.3 will be 3:42 gears, most likely open differential and because of the Z-71 package, factory tires should be 265/75R16's.

 

I agree with Steve, this may not be the truck to haul that size of camper with. If it's down near 4,000 or lower, you'd be fine but this

trailer is going to be a bit much for an 1500 series. 4:10's and a tune would be mandatory along with a solid transmission. The factory towing package transmission cooler does an o.k. job but at this weight, you might want to add another cooler to keep the temps in check.

 

If it were me, with that size of a camper, I'd want to upgrade the truck to an HD with a 6.0l engine, to be completely honest.

 

And also, welcome. :cheers:

Stevens03 Senior Enthusiast

Stevens03

Posted
Posted

Um... Actually I think the truck will handle it fine with a few upgrades. The 5.3L is strong enough but at 275hp, I'd do a tune for sure. Next, he stated non-z71 so it may not have a transmission cooler unless he has the factory tow package then it probably already does. And since it's not a Z71, most likely the tires were 245's and the gears would be 3.42's without lockers. He needs to check that out and see what he has.

 

What I recommended was possible gear swap... at a minimum 4.10 gears and would even consider 4.56's if he wanted to go with the 265's or even 285's and a transmission cooler if he didn't have one. Either way nothing short of a tune. With that said, my 2003 5.3L HAD 4.10 gears with 295hp and I even ran 35" tires with a custom tune and it still towed ALOT of miles very comfortable loaded around 6500 lbs. If the trailer he's looking at is 5800lbs, I think he def. should be looking at a truck upgrade as well.

 

total.jpg

This setup with with my 03, 6" lift and 35" tires towing a 8304S trailer, loaded was around 6500 lbs. I towed with this almost every weekend somewhere for several years. I've owned several campers all dry weight under 5000lbs and the 03 handled them fine. :thumbs:

ChevyTech77 Senior Enthusiast

ChevyTech77

Posted
Posted

Missed the NON part so yes, smaller tires, yada yada.

 

Most Z-71's in the 800 body style still came with 3:42's not 3:73's and a locker was an option not standard as well.

 

It's not that the 5.3 can't pull the weight, far from it, but I just don't believe 1/2 ton trucks should go around pulling their max tow rating's on a regular basis. I've seen too many bad things come from it.

 

And don't take this personally Steve but I can guarentee you that an HD would not only handle the load in your picture better but safer as well. That's a lot for a 1/2 ton, imo.

Stevens03 Senior Enthusiast

Stevens03

Posted
Posted

No worries, I agree and HD would do a better job but I pulled that camper from Pa to South Carolina and never felt unsafe. I would NEVER put my family at risk. :thumbs: I believe the 03 had a max tow rating of 8800 lbs, but I'm not sure what his 01 would have.

rusty01 Enthusiast

rusty01

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My truck came with 265's. Not sure if it's cause the towing package or the fact that it's a SLE. Like stated has tow package but is not a Z71. So I wonder since it has the 265's if it has the 3.73's in it. Guess I will have to check the tag in the glove box. As much as I wish I could upgrade to a HD (it'd be a 3/4 ton diesel for sure!) we just don't have that kind of income right now. We can get a real good deal on the camper and it will fit our needs very nicely so I need to make this truck work. Thanks for the replies so far! Been very helpful.

 

No worries, I agree and HD would do a better job but I pulled that camper from Pa to South Carolina and never felt unsafe. I would NEVER put my family at risk. :thumbs: I believe the 03 had a max tow rating of 8800 lbs, but I'm not sure what his 01 would have.

 

 

Mine is also rated at 8800 lbs towing cap.

ChevyTech77 Senior Enthusiast

ChevyTech77

Posted
Posted

Mine's rated at 9400 lbs towing capacity but I'll be damned if I ever take it that far.

 

My '98 had 3:42's and 265's from the factory, no locker.

rusty01 Enthusiast

rusty01

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My bro-in-law tows with his 98 Dodge Ram with a 360 in it. It is stock and his camper weighs in right around 5000lbs. He says it has no problems towing just as long as he doesn't try to haul ass with it and just take it easy when taking off. Says he keeps about 60 on the freeway. Not sure about the running gear in a 1/2ton Dodge but I do know it's stock. Seems like my truck should be just fine after some tune and gear changes.

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