Jump to content

Towing Question? I think I'm putting too much stress on my truck.

LeeDowney

Recommended Posts

Badass69 Senior Enthusiast

Badass69

Posted
Posted

Meh... I guess if you need to pull a 40' toy hauler or something you can worry about the full floater. What the average guy toys here is not ever worth worrying about the semi floater versus full floater argument. The 9.5" 14 bolt in its approaching 40 years of production has proven to be plenty strong...

 

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

  • Replies 38
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Bandit33x Enthusiast

Bandit33x

Posted
Posted

I agree with many on here. If you're comfortable I wouldn't worry about it. Stopping is probably the most important thing. That being said, I pull a dump trailer with my 2015 1500 SLT that generally weighs around 5500 when I have it loaded. It has good trailer brakes and I feel safe stopping. My dad has a 2013 2500hd duramax and it is a lot more fun to pull with the diesel just because the power is night and day difference. Especially when you start going up hills. I've heard the airbags help the 1500s a lot with the bounce and the little jolt forward and back, which is what mostly bugs me.

kp52 Enthusiast

kp52

Posted
Posted

Meh... I guess if you need to pull a 40' toy hauler or something you can worry about the full floater. What the average guy toys here is not ever worth worrying about the semi floater versus full floater argument. The 9.5" 14 bolt in its approaching 40 years of production has proven to be plenty strong...

 

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

This is the internet, some people will claim they towed 10K pounds with a bed full of gravel for 10 years across the country with their '95 F150 and had no issues and some will claim you need a dually to tow a 24' travel trailer. Like anything else on the internet the truth in somewhere in the middle.

 

I've seen people do dumb stuff towing with any size truck, also a big difference between towing on flat land or through the mountains at 70mph so its not the same for everyone.

 

  • 1 month later...
LeeDowney Enthusiast

LeeDowney

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Update- Well, my towing issues were resolved this past Monday. That's when my local dealership called me and told me GMC authorized them to make certain vehicles 15% off. They knew I was thinking about upgrading to a bigger truck so they marked a 2016 2500HD Denali 15% off, which saved me $10k. They offered me $44k for my current truck I bought back in February.

 

I towed my tractor yesterday for the first time. Weight, just over 10k with trailer. Holy cow boys, I honestly couldn't even tell I was pulling anything. I had a buddy tell me that a few weeks ago and I thought to myself....that's BS. How can you not feel 10K behind you. Well, I know what he was talking about now. That 6.6 Duramax engine is a freaking beast.

 

Not towing, I'm averaging 19.8 MPH. Towing 10k yesterday, I averaged 11.6 MPG. Not bad at all. Very happy with those numbers.

 

Thanks again for the advice. I just never felt truly comfortable towing 10k with a 1500. I definitely knew it was behind me in that truck. I'm very happy with my new truck. Kept the same color.

truck

 

 

 

15silver Enthusiast

15silver

Posted
Posted

Have used a 2500 and 3500 with the diesel a few times. Its makes everything so effortless. Smooth, quiet. I'd so love to have one, but $10k in Canada for that option. If I needed the truck to make money and had to tow any equipment I could justify the cost in a heartbeat just for the day to day experience of having the diesel, let alone business deduction. If you tow, its a no-brainer to get all the torque you can. For the average guy though, its a lot of coin. I'd be the same as you ... I already have a truck and I'd try to make do. Course earlier you were saying 7000 lbs - truck should be fine with that if you can balance the load to keep tongue weight in line. However 10000 on a 9100 rated truck is gonna be tough unless you are just hauling an rv to your site once a year.

Re air springs - they don't and any capability ... or rather dont increase your load rating. Actually decreases it by the weight of the kit. They are good for leveling. You could put stiffer springs in for the same effect, but have the harsher ride of the springs 24x7. You can put more load on with air springs and the truck looks level, rides better - ie looks like it is handling more load - but the vehicle has the same brakes, trans, etc....... doesn't increase the capacity. Their marketing is a bit misleading.

LeeDowney Enthusiast

LeeDowney

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Have used a 2500 and 3500 with the diesel a few times. Its makes everything so effortless. Smooth, quiet. I'd so love to have one, but $10k in Canada for that option. If I needed the truck to make money and had to tow any equipment I could justify the cost in a heartbeat just for the day to day experience of having the diesel, let alone business deduction. If you tow, its a no-brainer to get all the torque you can. For the average guy though, its a lot of coin. I'd be the same as you ... I already have a truck and I'd try to make do. Course earlier you were saying 7000 lbs - truck should be fine with that if you can balance the load to keep tongue weight in line. However 10000 on a 9100 rated truck is gonna be tough unless you are just hauling an rv to your site once a year.

Re air springs - they don't and any capability ... or rather dont increase your load rating. Actually decreases it by the weight of the kit. They are good for leveling. You could put stiffer springs in for the same effect, but have the harsher ride of the springs 24x7. You can put more load on with air springs and the truck looks level, rides better - ie looks like it is handling more load - but the vehicle has the same brakes, trans, etc....... doesn't increase the capacity. Their marketing is a bit misleading.

Yeah, my initial post I said the tractor and bush hog weighs right at 7k but on the trailer, it's a touch over 10k. I was concerned with towing 10k when my truck was rated for 9,100.

15silver Enthusiast

15silver

Posted
Posted

Its awesome things worked out for ya to swap up to the 2500. I'm envious. Pulling that much on a regular basis I'd want the peace of mind I had a bit more capacity than load. :loser:

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Atlas
      Wow I'm in a pickle. (Broke down truck) and a story.

      By Atlas · Posted

      tl; dr I've now reached the 6th floor of hell. I'm chronicling my journey for my morning readers.   Pulling the top of the intake apart was moderately easy but it involved a lot of parts, connections, and minutae. I was preparing for the new fuel lines to arrive ("nut and bolt kit" it's called). The fuel line connections are notched and held in place by the manifold and a metal plate with a T27 screw.   It's on the back of the intake, under the firewall, with little clearance, and two hard metal fuel lines in the way. I was using Franken-tools (weird combinations of 1/4 inch ratchet with/without an extension, with a bit holder for my T27) to get in there. One of my sockets and bits fell off and has yet to emerge on the floor. I lost a second setup and that's when I almost started throwing tools. But that was the point at which I had gotten traction on the Torx head, and it promptly stripped. No more traction.   I started humming "1-877-kars-4-kids" because I was about at that point. You know what? I'm $1500 into this thing and I can make it disappear just as quickly. This isn't fun anymore. I had spent a lot of time already "tidying" around the engine bay: Fixing all the "someone's been here before!" BS. The truck has been exclusively dealer- and shop- serviced and I'm reminded of why I never let other people work on my cars unless absolutely necessary.   Speaking of dealer service. This truck has a 1" stack of records going back to 1995. I put them all in an excel spreadsheet, date/mileage/description.   The CPI spider has been replaced 4 times in 85k miles. The EGR? Another 4. Multiple, multiple O2 sensors. One Cat. 4? Sets of plugs and wires, and I swear half the stack is diagnosis paperwork for "misfire, runs rough, extended crank, dies at stoplights".   GM was producing some proper crap back then. And it was still well within the era of brittle/crappy plastic. (Windows 95 was released the same month this truck was sold new, we HAD the technology!!)   There (was) a plastic shroud around the evaporator core and HVAC fan in the engine bay. I noticed a chunk of it missing so I poked at it some more and it literally shattered. Touched it some more and pieces were crumbling off. Had a good laugh. Clearly whatever plastic garbage they were using had broken down over 30 years and was literally turning to dust. That was a good half hour of using a shop vac to remove the rest of it.   Back to it.   I was going to give up for the evening but then decided I'm already level 10 pissed off at the stripped screw: G* D* it, give me my tools back -- and my JOY. We'll do this the hard way: The whole intake is coming off.   Blazer won Round II. After finally finding and accessing the 12 intake bolts and using a pry bar to unseat it from the heads, it popped loose in an explosion of gunk and grime raining down into open ports. Awesome.   6 times I reminded myself: Be careful of the temperature sender on the front of the intake.   YEAH, I forgot again and snapped it clean off in the removal. Add another $20 to the ever-growing list of new parts this thing is consuming.   The shame is, long before removing the intake, I had changed the oil in prep for Tuesday's momentous fuel line replacement that was going to be the magic fix and I'd have a running Blazer to tool around in this next weekend. The intake removal, including raining gunk, also gushed dirty coolant all over the valley. Of course it did. Welp, there goes another $35.   I now need an intake gasket set, bolt set, coolant temp sensor, another 5 quarts of oil, some RTV. Don't worry, I've already got 3 new jugs of Dexcool and a thermostat waiting. I'll fill it with clean water first to get it running, dump it, and then add the Dex later on in case... well, let's not go there. I'm only tearing this down once, next time the truck is going on Marketplace for FREE.   Oh, and I'm going to need vacuum hose for all the stupid connections placed at the rear of the engine which have since disintegrated. Come on, GM....tell me you don't do that anymore?   Oh, and the ears on the distributor where the cap screws down are both cracked. I mean, why not put a new distributor in it too. You get a distributor, YOU get a distributor, Everyone gets a new distributor!   This truck isn't out of the woods yet...I'm already questioning how much more time I'm willing to sink in.
    • William Aldrich
      Bent valve in 2025 GMC Canyon Denali - Requires engine swap at 14K miles

      By William Aldrich · Posted

      NewDude, thank you for the suggestions!    I did follow up and the dealer indicates he has an open CX case and is working with DPAC (Dealer Parts Assistance Center).   Per the dealer, GM has had a quality spill and is not providing an update for when a replacement engine will be available.
    • Silver Yeti
      Poll: Does your truck have the rear window leak?

      By Silver Yeti · Posted

      That's interesting.   There was a factory wire-hole in the back, top of the rear cab, which had a wire for the third brakelight assembly running through it, as well as several holes (10 of them I believe) for all of the studs coming off of the 3rd brakelight assembly itself.   I sealed all of those holes with RTV/silicone as well.   I found it kind of odd, that none of those holes, were sealed with any kind of sealant by the factory - if there was any there, it wasn't very much.   That said, I've been out in heavy rain and have ran the truck through high-pressure car-washes a few times now and she has been 100% water-tight to this point.   I feel very confident in the repair, we'll see how it holds up.
    • Jay-22-2500
      2024 Silverado 2500 HD with the 6.6 Gas (L8T) Engine

      By Jay-22-2500 · Posted

      I bought a used 2022 2500hd with 6.6L in February. In March took a 2200 mile trip towing our 6500 lb trailer. Changed the oil day before leaving and when we were arriving at our 1st destination, low oil light came on (roughly 1000 miles) it was 2 qts low. Now it towed like a dream, no issue there, and we did go through the mountains of TN, but still, 2 qts! Luckily I did purchase an extended warranty. Brought it to the dealership in April, oil change and consumption test. Brought it back last week, 1300 miles, no towing, and no oil showing on the dipstick. GM is reccomending a new engine (cheaper than them rebuilding), we'll see if the warranty company comes through. 
    • Donstar
      Navigating senior years.

      By Donstar · Posted

      T3's and Ibuprofen. I do have a cryotherapy unit (ice machine) and a lift chair that will allow me to raise my legs above my heart.  There are topicals that I can use once the wound is fully healed.  

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...