Very Capable Truck

SouthpawHD · October 29, 2018

There's always seems to be so much negativity around these GM 1500 trucks vs. the other brands, who can tow more, etc.

Well this pic shows that these trucks are perfectly capable. I am pulling my 34' travel trailer, weighing in a little less than 7,500 pounds. I was towing it 55 miles to a storage facility for the winter, so the TT was pretty much empty as was the truck. It pulled decent at highway speeds, but there was a solid cross-wind most of the trip and that cause a little tail-wagging at times. But, the TT was a little nose down, so some adjustments to the WD hitch is needed before the return trip in the spring.

Now that being said, this does NOT tow the TT as nice as my previous 2500HD and I would not want to pull it every weekend across the state fully loaded. But for my purposes, works just fine.

SkiDooNick700 · October 29, 2018

Did you have a 6.0 in your HD? I'm not sure what engine you have in your 1500, but if you have the 6.2, was just curious if you noticed a power difference.

Nice setup man, looks really good!

Yondu · October 29, 2018

45 minutes ago, SouthpawHD said:

There's always seems to be so much negativity around these GM 1500 trucks vs. the other brands, who can tow more, etc.

Well this pic shows that these trucks are perfectly capable. I am pulling my 34' travel trailer, weighing in a little less than 7,500 pounds. I was towing it 55 miles to a storage facility for the winter, so the TT was pretty much empty as was the truck. It pulled decent at highway speeds, but there was a solid cross-wind most of the trip and that cause a little tail-wagging at times. But, the TT was a little nose down, so some adjustments to the WD hitch is needed before the return trip in the spring.

Now that being said, this does NOT tow the TT as nice as my previous 2500HD and I would not want to pull it every weekend across the state fully loaded. But for my purposes, works just fine.

There is so much forum negativity on all trucks, I think. I've only got 250 miles on my 18 Silverado and I love it. A lot of the gripes people complained about like backup camera quality, shifting and vibrations I looked for on the test drive and couldn't find any cause for complaint.

SouthpawHD · October 29, 2018

10 minutes ago, SkiDooNick700 said:

Did you have a 6.0 in your HD? I'm not sure what engine you have in your 1500, but if you have the 6.2, was just curious if you noticed a power difference.

Nice setup man, looks really good!

Yes, I had the 6.0L in my 2500. My new Sierra has the 5.3L. And while pulling the trailer, the 5.3L works very well, but the 6.0L certainly had a little more torque and better gearing when needing to accelerate, but outside of that I did not notice huge differences.

Yondu · October 29, 2018

I will say there is one thing I read about that was true - but it's a easy fix. The gas pedal flex /deadzone made low speed driving annyoing and difficult. Shoved a spacer behind the bracket and it drives beautifully. I've heard trucks with adjustable pedals have less flex, mine are fixed.

After that was "fixed" I love the way it drives :). Glad the OP loves his too.

madsen203 · October 30, 2018

13 hours ago, Yondu said:

I will say there is one thing I read about that was true - but it's a easy fix. The gas pedal flex /deadzone made low speed driving annyoing and difficult. Shoved a spacer behind the bracket and it drives beautifully. I've heard trucks with adjustable pedals have less flex, mine are fixed.

After that was "fixed" I love the way it drives :). Glad the OP loves his too.

More info on where you placed the spacer? Did it change the response of the pedal? Link to relevant info?

DONWT15 · October 30, 2018

3 hours ago, madsen203 said:

More info on where you placed the spacer? Did it change the response of the pedal? Link to relevant info?

Use the search and put in "gas pedal flex solution". There is a long thread on symptoms and solutions.

Easy fix.

Yondu · October 30, 2018

7 hours ago, madsen203 said:

More info on where you placed the spacer? Did it change the response of the pedal? Link to relevant info?

I pulled the bracket towards me sone and pushed a shim up there. Left it slightly exposed so I could silicone it to the bracket to make sure it didn't move.

It's no longer difficult to slowly accelerate from a stop.