How well will an 04 1500 tow 5K lbs?

496 CUBIC INCHES · May 7, 2004

I currently drive an 01 2500HD with the 8.1,and tow a 5Klb travel trailer 8-10 times per year. With the way gas prices are I'm considering downsizing to an 04 Silverado 1500 4x4. I'll get the 5.3 for sure,and the 4.10 rear end if I can find one.

I know it won't tow as well as what I drive now,but will the 5.3 be a good match for 5000 lbs? If I towed my trailer more or did more highway miles I'd stick with my BB,but 8mpg is killing me,I'm spending $300 per month on gas,its only going to get worse.

Ben · May 7, 2004

Personally would not. Mine is 96 7.4L/4.1 and got 7-8 mpg towing +8.5K lb boat/trailer from sea level to Tahoe. Sold the boat so don't tow anything for now.

Buddies with 1500 and mix of smaller V8's to 5.7L's towing TT's and boat/trailers in the 5K-6K range *ALL* got similar to less MPG and they were not doing well (over heating, watching their temps go up, rev'ing the heck out their engines, etc).

Plus you'll lose the better brakes to something much smaller and almost no margins towing anything above 5K lbs.

Known weak points of any GM 1500 are auto tranny and diff.

Also will have P rated tires. Three classes of tires. P is passenger car tire sized for 1500 trucks. LT is light truck tire. Commercial is what the semi's run. P rated tires used to haul/tow heavy (you will be at 5K lbs) must be DE-RATED min 9% of it's weight rating, while kept at max listed pressure.

If me, I'd buy a new set of tires, but larger in dia to change the effective diff ratio. That will give a bit more MPG. Switch back to proper sized for towing.

The 5.3L will be a dog trying to pull 5K lbs, especially compared to a 8.1L, think you'll be VERY disappointed.

sgiangregorio · May 7, 2004

I have an '02 Tahoe Z71 with the 5.3L. My current boat setup is around 4700 pounds, my older boat was closer to 6800. The truck is rated for something like 7300. No problem with either load, of course getting the bigger boat going took a little more, but the truck still had no problem. If you're worried about gas mileage, well...I don't know what to say...I just fill it up and smile. What can you do?

Shaners · May 7, 2004

The two big questions are... How far do you tow? and what kind of terrain?

In most cases the 5.3L with 4.10's is a good combo for towing and everyday driving.

You would need a good hitch with sway bar and torsion bars (which you probably already have), a good electronic brake controller, and like was mentioned before, some tires that are rated to do the job. You'll also need the "towing package" with auxillary coolers.

How long is your travel trailer?

I would expect the gas milage would be about the same when you are towing, and I know your performance wouldn't be as good... but when you are running empty, the truck would be a great runner with the 4.10's and should still give much better MPG's then you're used too.

496 CUBIC INCHES · May 7, 2004

Shaners,

I mainly tow my trailer to a couple different sites. My wifes favorite is about 35-40 ea. way. A couple times per year I'll take it to E. Wa. where we'll have to pull a pass. Those trips would be about 150-200 miles,and like I said,just 2-3 times per year.

My trailer is 23' long and weighs just about 4800lbs loaded for a trip. We never carry water,and always travel with empty tanks.

I have all the necessary stuff to tow it,it'll just have to be swapped out from my current truck. Before it ever leaves the dealer it'll have LT tires.

My old last truck was a 98 1500 with the 5.7 and 3.73s. It towed our trailer well for the short trips,but was a little slow over the pass. The new 5.3 has almost 50 more HP than the 98,and the same amount of torque. Add the 4.10s to that and I think I'll be good.

Truckman031 · May 7, 2004

The 1500 should be fine. The 5.3 is a good engine, but as mentioned you won't get the same performance.

ridnlow · May 8, 2004

A buddy of mine tows a 28 foot Danzi (which weighs in right around 6000 pounds) with his 04 GMC 1500 5.3L Crew Cab. It tows it extremely well. He did add a set of helper bags though and of course he has an electronic brake control to slow that baby down..

dogzapper · May 8, 2004

Hi,

I have a 2003 Silverado Z-71 with the 5.3 liter engine. We have a travel trailer, a Nash 19B, that weighs 3728 lbs dry and about 5,000 pounds fully loaded. I was very worried about the engine's capability - especially in hills.

We live in Oregon and mountains, real mountains are a way of life. I didn't want to be the jerk that tows a trailer house at 20 mph over Mount Hood. Hate that!

To my surprise, the 5.3 engine proved to be a gutsy rascal. The Z-71 perfoms wonderfully in towing. It climbs every hill I've encountered so far - it even tops Government Pass on Mount Hood doing a spritely 55 mph.

As mentioned before, use the tow/haul mode, a weight-distributing hitch and a good electric trailer brake. Beyond that, it is just a matter of using good sense. Obviously, the half-ton rig does not have the heavy duty transmission or the larger brakes that a ¾-ton has, so just drive sensibly.

I owned many 2500s and always hated the harsh ride and the low mileage of the larger engines. We tow less than 1000 miles per year and put approximately 15,000 miles a year on a truck. It makes no sense for the 1/15th useage to dictate what we drive the year around.

Frankly, I'm delighted that the light-duty Chevy 1500 Z-71 does so well. It's a keeper.

Hope this helps, Steve

frdfandc · May 9, 2004

I have an 03 Z-71 ECSB with the 5.3. I've towed a car trailer with my race car on it several times now. The trailer is a 18 foot full steel deck that weighs approx 3000 lbs, and my race car is around 3100 lbs. Also towed 8000 lbs for approx 15 miles once. One way to the dyno a few months ago (123 miles one way) the truck only used 1/4 tank of gas. I'm guessing fuel economy was around 14 mpg or so. On the way back is another story. lol.

I use the tow/haul mode and a good brake controller. I'm very happy about the way the truck tows.

1981camaro · May 9, 2004

consider this.. the bigger engine has to work less to move a heavy load.....a smaller engine has to work ALOT harder than the big engine to move a heavy load.. think about it for 1 second and you will get what i'm sayin

i know a guy .. he has a tow truck, flat bed with a 454.. him and a buddy who has the EXACT same tow truck.. just a smaller engine (350) same size gas tanks ect same everythign... both of them went to pick up 2 cars both about the same weight... after they got back they refilled the tanks in the tow trucks.... the 454 got BETTER milage than the smaller 350 because... the 454 had to work less(not as hard as the 350) to move the weight

SteveCZ · May 9, 2004

consider this.. the bigger engine has to work less to move a heavy load.....a smaller engine has to work ALOT harder than the big engine to move a heavy load.. think about it for 1 second and you will get what i'm sayin

i know a guy .. he has a tow truck, flat bed with a 454.. him and a buddy who has the EXACT same tow truck.. just a smaller engine (350) same size gas tanks ect same everythign... both of them went to pick up 2 cars both about the same weight... after they got back they refilled the tanks in the tow trucks.... the 454 got BETTER milage than the smaller 350 because... the 454 had to work less(not as hard as the 350) to move the weight

Yes, thats true,

However, thats a day in and day out thing for the Tow Truck Drivers.

This guy only tows a trailer a few times a year, and not that far, except for one trip.

Just my $0.02,

My family used to have an OLD Chevy Suburban, like an 84 or 85 with the 350 in it and the 4 speed auto (not sure what it was back then).

They used it to tow a 23 foot travel trailer from near Syracuse NY to the 1000 Islands up by the Canadian border to camp most of the summer, and go from camp ground to camp ground.

This trailer was packed full of stuff, and it never had a problem towing it....

Granted, like these guys are saying, it had a good brake controller, and we never used OverDrive, and it had all the necessary coolers added. But, she worked.... in fact, the truck just recently got taken off the road.....not because of the motor or tranny, but because the rear wheel wells were rusted through.... made for some extra ventilation that according to the DMV, wasn't road worthy...

Oh well.....

496 CUBIC INCHES · May 9, 2004

I know the smaller engine will be working harder to tow our trailer,and I KNOW for a fact the 8.1 will get better MPG when towing,but the amount of non-towing miles will far outweigh the towing miles. I put about 10-12K miles per year on my truck,with maybe 1000 of it towing the trailer.

Thats where I have the issue with MPG. Why get 8-9 MPG all the time,when I can get 15-17 all the time and then 8 only when I'm towing the trailer.

I have everything I need to tow a trailer safely. The brake controller is a Tekonsha Prodigy,one of the best on the market. I have a W/D system and sway control.

I'd be foolish to expect the same performance with the 5.3 that I'm currently getting with the 8.1. We'll have to leave earlier.but I'm sure we'll get there OK.

Thanks again guys.

casper · May 11, 2004

I had alot of problems with overheat towing our 26' 5400 lb 5th wheel. I even removed the thermostat (a BIG OBD no no) just to keep the heat down. After trying different coolant combos and additives I rebuilt the system completely.

I heard about these radiators from Extremeradiator.com that were being used for extreme Jeep offroading and rock crawling(definitely more heat that road hauling). I contacted them and they had an all metal(better cooling) Heavy duty radiator for Chevy Trucks also. I put it in with a thermostat and no more oveheats and my computer is Happy!

Happy Trails...