5th wheel towing with a lifted Denali

[Brummie99]

I'm looking to upgrade my truck to pull a 5th wheel and considering a 2016 Sierra Denali 2500HD Duramax.

 

However, it appears to have a 4-5 inch lift and I'm concerned about the effect the lift will have on 5th wheel towing.

 

Can the lift be countered by the hitch? Will it lead to an unlevel trailer? Will the lift affect the towing capacity?

[JimCost2014]

14 hours ago, Brummie99 said:

I'm looking to upgrade my truck to pull a 5th wheel and considering a 2016 Sierra Denali 2500HD Duramax.

 

However, it appears to have a 4-5 inch lift and I'm concerned about the effect the lift will have on 5th wheel towing.

 

Can the lift be countered by the hitch? Will it lead to an unlevel trailer? Will the lift affect the towing capacity?

To answer your third set of questions:

 

No, possibly, and yes.

 

[HeySkippyDog]

Lifted trucks are NEVER a good platform for heavy towing. Ever.

Engineers with years of experience designed these trucks to do what they do as they are sold from the dealer.

If you need a vehicle for towing, especially for heavy 5th wheel use, LEAVE IT ALONE.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727A using Tapatalk

[Brummie99]

Yeah. I already decided it was a bad idea.

 

I test drove another 2016 Duramax Denali with 50,000 miles last night and almost bought it. I just couldn't bring myself to drop $56,000 on it and they weren't moving on the price. Plus they were only offering $24,000 on my 2017 LT with 26,000 miles. KBB says $29,500 trade value.

 

As I was about to walk, they did offer to drop the lifted Denali back to stock and throw in a 5th wheel hitch which would have come in under $50k but still a lot of coin.

 

We have decided to look for a bigger Travel Trailer that my current truck can pull.

 

That Denali WAS a very nice truck though.

 

Thanks for the input.

[dieselfan1]

11 minutes ago, Brummie99 said:

Yeah. I already decided it was a bad idea.

 

I test drove another 2016 Duramax Denali with 50,000 miles last night and almost bought it. I just couldn't bring myself to drop $56,000 on it and they weren't moving on the price. Plus they were only offering $24,000 on my 2017 LT with 26,000 miles. KBB says $29,500 trade value.

 

As I was about to walk, they did offer to drop the lifted Denali back to stock and throw in a 5th wheel hitch which would have come in under $50k but still a lot of coin.

 

We have decided to look for a bigger Travel Trailer that my current truck can pull.

 

That Denali WAS a very nice truck though.

 

Thanks for the input.

They are on drugs for asking that much for a 3 year old truck (soon to be 4).

You can get a new one at Laura GMC starting at $59,XXX

[Brummie99]

13 minutes ago, dieselfan1 said:

They are on drugs for asking that much for a 3 year old truck (soon to be 4).

You can get a new one at Laura GMC starting at $59,XXX

I looked at Laura but by the time you've added taxes, fees and negative equity in my truck, the out-the-door price would be close to $70,000. The sticker price on the Denali was $49k.

[Donstar]

26 minutes ago, Brummie99 said:

.

We have decided to look for a bigger Travel Trailer that my current truck can pull.

 

Good solution.  An idea I've considered is a fifth wheel with a gas 2500.  However, I would need to give up using my truck as a daily driver as I have no desire to waste/burn  larger quantities of fuel.  The push for reducing dependency on fossil fuel is revving up here and it's not going away.   We decided to look for a new trailer that was a comfortable tow with our V6   There are many comfortable floorplans available in a <25' travel trailer with a gross weight rating of 7k lbs. We discovered that by replacing our trailer with the same size and model but a different bed configuration solved our concerns and need for a bigger truck.

[wforrest08]

I’d wait till the new 2020 fugly HDs come out. Around here in the Midwest anyway most of the larger GM & Chevy stealerships are loaded with 2019 crew 4x Dmaxs that aren’t moving. If you can live with a loaded LTZ or a SLT they can be had around here now for well under 60 & loaded LTs for 55. I have to imagine once the new ones start hitting the lots these will get cheaper.

 

https://www.karlchevrolet.com/VehicleDetails/new-2019-Chevrolet-Silverado_2500HD-LTZ-Ankeny-IA/3329342743

[L86 All Terrain]

5 hours ago, Donstar said:

Good solution.  An idea I've considered is a fifth wheel with a gas 2500.  However, I would need to give up using my truck as a daily driver as I have no desire to waste/burn  larger quantities of fuel.  The push for reducing dependency on fossil fuel is revving up here and it's not going away.   We decided to look for a new trailer that was a comfortable tow with our V6   There are many comfortable floorplans available in a <25' travel trailer with a gross weight rating of 7k lbs. We discovered that by replacing our trailer with the same size and model but a different bed configuration solved our concerns and need for a bigger truck.

This is probably they way to go if you only pull once or twice a year. I just got back from a trip to Edmonton and back into Ontario with my 20' deck over trailer hauling 7,000lbs of excavator buckets one way. I was $1,100 in gas with Justine's "Carbon" tax. Roughly 3,000km, not a trip one would want to do multiple times per year with a gasser. You could still make one trip a year for 10 years and still be cheaper than optioning the Duramax.