Tow Rating......Having a Hard Time Figuring it out!!!!!!!

[afwils]

Hi All, 

 

Trying to help my parents out as they are shopping for a new camper. We are not newbies to this but it has been an absolute nightmare to get the right numbers for tow ratings on my dad's 2016 Sierra. We have towed heavy campers before with a 1/2 ton Ford back in the day and made out perfectly fine. My dad also was a truck driver for 32 years and has recently retired. needless to say, the towing part and being knuckleheads about it doesn't really happen as we are extremely ****** about towing. 

 

Here is out dilemma: my dad's Sierra is an oddly spec'd model. I am listing it below with the specs that we are certain of: 

 

2016 Sierra 1500

Double Cab, Standard Box

All Terrain Package (NOT ALL TERRAIN X)

5.3L V8 

3.42 axle ratio

6 Speed Trans 

 

What is stumping me is that the max towing/trailering package includes the pre-installed brake controller which he has, but also includes a handful of others that we are unsure about but includes a more robust suspension, which this truck definitely has but is likely because of the A/T package. With the A/T package, does that give us a little more wiggle room with the payload and/or tongue weight? With what I can gather, we are sitting pretty at 9200lb towing capacity. We have a very high end weight distribution hitch that they bought less than two years ago for their current camper. We will be keeping that for the new camper. Issue is that I am seeing numbers all over the place which makes me doubt the 9200 capacity. I am seeing 6k, 9200, 10800 and 11800. I know for sure it is not 6k or 11800 as he has the 5.3, not the 6.2. So from what I provided, is it 9200 or 10800? Feel free to ask for more specs if needed! Thanks. 

 

[JimCost2014]

42 minutes ago, afwils said:

Hi All, 

 

Trying to help my parents out as they are shopping for a new camper. We are not newbies to this but it has been an absolute nightmare to get the right numbers for tow ratings on my dad's 2016 Sierra. We have towed heavy campers before with a 1/2 ton Ford back in the day and made out perfectly fine. My dad also was a truck driver for 32 years and has recently retired. needless to say, the towing part and being knuckleheads about it doesn't really happen as we are extremely ****** about towing. 

 

Here is out dilemma: my dad's Sierra is an oddly spec'd model. I am listing it below with the specs that we are certain of: 

 

2016 Sierra 1500

Double Cab, Standard Box

All Terrain Package (NOT ALL TERRAIN X)

5.3L V8 

3.42 axle ratio

6 Speed Trans 

 

What is stumping me is that the max towing/trailering package includes the pre-installed brake controller which he has, but also includes a handful of others that we are unsure about but includes a more robust suspension, which this truck definitely has but is likely because of the A/T package. With the A/T package, does that give us a little more wiggle room with the payload and/or tongue weight? With what I can gather, we are sitting pretty at 9200lb towing capacity. We have a very high end weight distribution hitch that they bought less than two years ago for their current camper. We will be keeping that for the new camper. Issue is that I am seeing numbers all over the place which makes me doubt the 9200 capacity. I am seeing 6k, 9200, 10800 and 11800. I know for sure it is not 6k or 11800 as he has the 5.3, not the 6.2. So from what I provided, is it 9200 or 10800? Feel free to ask for more specs if needed! Thanks. 

 

If they buy a camper/trailer at the max numbers, it is too much. Maybe look into a 3/4 ton, then buy the camper/trailer that they really want. 1/2 will get virtually anything moving, but when you have side gusts of wind, or when you have to hard brake, you will realize why you should have bought the 3/4 ton, 1 ton. The Tundra towed the space shuttle, but they did not show you it trying to stop

[NE18]

Have an identical 2018 Silverado, minus the all terrain thing, and I’m at 9200. I tow a 6k travel trailer and it’s tongue heavy at around 1k. With an upgraded  distribution hitch, it’s actually better to tow than my previous rpod at around 3k. 

[afwils]

10 hours ago, JimCost2014 said:

If they buy a camper/trailer at the max numbers, it is too much. Maybe look into a 3/4 ton, then buy the camper/trailer that they really want. 1/2 will get virtually anything moving, but when you have side gusts of wind, or when you have to hard brake, you will realize why you should have bought the 3/4 ton, 1 ton. The Tundra towed the space shuttle, but they did not show you it trying to stop

So the thing is that we aren’t going to be towing it everywhere, it’s taking a less than 2 hour trip to where we keep it and it’ll stay there for the whole season and be stored there in the winter months. We may move it around in the future, but it wouldn’t go very far. 

[afwils]

3 hours ago, NE18 said:

Have an identical 2018 Silverado, minus the all terrain thing, and I’m at 9200. I tow a 6k travel trailer and it’s tongue heavy at around 1k. With an upgraded  distribution hitch, it’s actually better to tow than my previous rpod at around 3k. 

Luckily we have an excellent weight distribution hitch and the tongue weight of the camper is less than 800lbs as all the heavy stuff is in the back, which is unusual for most campers. 

[CamGTP]

I think it needs 3.73's to get over 10k lbs towing. I have a crew cab short bed truck and it's 9200 from what I recall. Same transmission and gear ratio.

[2018GMC]

Since you don't have the max tow package, your truck is probably 9200lbs since you have the 6 speed and 3:42 gears.

My 2018 CC 6.5' bed 6.2 4x4 has the 8 speed and the max tow package with 3:42 gears. Normal gearing with 8L90 is 3:23.
Max tow package and 6 speed you get 3:73 gears.
My tow rating is 11,800. I wound never want to tow that much with a half ton. Like others have said, tow 75% or less of what it is rated for. If your truck is rated at 9200lbs it should tow 7000lbs ok, especially with a weight distribution hitch.

Edited March 18, 2024 by 2018GMC

[newdude]

On 3/16/2024 at 11:54 PM, afwils said:

Hi All, 

 

Trying to help my parents out as they are shopping for a new camper. We are not newbies to this but it has been an absolute nightmare to get the right numbers for tow ratings on my dad's 2016 Sierra. We have towed heavy campers before with a 1/2 ton Ford back in the day and made out perfectly fine. My dad also was a truck driver for 32 years and has recently retired. needless to say, the towing part and being knuckleheads about it doesn't really happen as we are extremely ****** about towing. 

 

Here is out dilemma: my dad's Sierra is an oddly spec'd model. I am listing it below with the specs that we are certain of: 

 

2016 Sierra 1500

Double Cab, Standard Box

All Terrain Package (NOT ALL TERRAIN X)

5.3L V8 

3.42 axle ratio

6 Speed Trans 

 

What is stumping me is that the max towing/trailering package includes the pre-installed brake controller which he has, but also includes a handful of others that we are unsure about but includes a more robust suspension, which this truck definitely has but is likely because of the A/T package. With the A/T package, does that give us a little more wiggle room with the payload and/or tongue weight? With what I can gather, we are sitting pretty at 9200lb towing capacity. We have a very high end weight distribution hitch that they bought less than two years ago for their current camper. We will be keeping that for the new camper. Issue is that I am seeing numbers all over the place which makes me doubt the 9200 capacity. I am seeing 6k, 9200, 10800 and 11800. I know for sure it is not 6k or 11800 as he has the 5.3, not the 6.2. So from what I provided, is it 9200 or 10800? Feel free to ask for more specs if needed! Thanks. 

 

 

 

Right in the owners manual:  00-Introduction_en_US 1..4 (gmc.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Terrain is just appearance on an SLE or SLT.  Otherwise mechanically its still just an SLE or SLT with the X31 (aka Z71) off road suspension.  

 

5.3 with 6 speed and 3.42 gearing was a rather commonly spec'd powertrain that generation as well.  

 

 

[afwils]

47 minutes ago, newdude said:

 

 

Right in the owners manual:  00-Introduction_en_US 1..4 (gmc.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Terrain is just appearance on an SLE or SLT.  Otherwise mechanically its still just an SLE or SLT with the X31 (aka Z71) off road suspension.  

 

5.3 with 6 speed and 3.42 gearing was a rather commonly spec'd powertrain that generation as well.  

 

 

Sounds about right. The AT suspension is stiff as hell. lol. My dad’s also has the upgraded 20” wheels. Thank you for the clarification.