towing Towing question

[Gordon Jacobs]

Hello all, have a question about towing. Recently purchased a 2011 Sierra 1500 with the 5.3L V8 K5L HD Cooling Pkg in the Crew Cab. I see from the manual that max trailer weight is 9500lb and max tongue weight with weight distribution is 1100. We are getting a camper and the one we like is 31 ft with 5635lb dry weight and GVWR of 7350 (don't imagine ever getting near that). The only issue I possibly see is that the camper has a 800 lb tongue weight and I'm trying to figure out if that's going to be a deal breaker for payload capacity (as in putting family/dog/other stuff in truck bed and cab). Anyone have any insight?

 

I feel like I should be fine towing this but just wanted to see if anyone on here has had experience or knows way more than I do on this and will most definitely be taking it slow and steady on trips watching engine temps. Thanks for any input.

 

Gordon

[TomDiesel]

You should be fine. The minimum payload listed for a 2011 Sierra 1500 is 1494 lbs. The maximum that I found is 1937 lbs (depends on how the vehicle was spec'd). If the trailer tongue weight is 800 lbs, you will have room for 694 lbs of stuff. If you have the beefier model, you can pile in 1137 lbs of stuff  in the pickup. In either case, that's a lot of stuff.

[bshort]

If that tongue weight is a listed spec, it will be wrong.  They create those dry, without propane and batteries and your stuff.  Need to actually weigh the tongue.  Mine fully loaded, has a tongue weight that is 200 over the listed spec.