Copperhead
Central Iowa
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Yeah, GM's tow ratings only really work if one is pulling a dead tongue farm trailer such as a hay wagon or grain wagon of some sort. More often than not with a trailer that puts weight on the truck, payload capacity comes into play before max towing weight does. It is one of many reasons I ditched my 2013 1500 5.3 3.42 pickup and got a 2015 2500 6.0 4.10 version. I caught myself inventing new swear words when it came to the 1500. As a side note, many times one can get an equivalent packaged 2500 for the same or less money than a 1500. A market driven thing.
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gmw photos
midwest
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Joined: 12/11/2011
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OP, I sent you a PM with some setup suggestions.
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boosTT
Milwaukee
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Way too much trailer for that truck.
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SoundGuy
S Ontario
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Joined: 02/11/2015
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roaming_free wrote:My camper is 7250 dry, 8600 gvwr, with a tongue of 900 lbs.
I will be pulling it with a 2013 Silverado 1500 that has the following (in no particular order):
GU6 3:42 rear axle
K5L Heavy-Duty Trailering Package
KC4 COOLING HEAVY DUTY ENG OIL
G80 Eaton G80 locking rear differential
C5W GVW RATING 7,000 LBS
KNP Cooling, external transmission oil cooler
JL4 StabiliTrak, stability control system
MYC Transmission, 6-speed automatic
VR4 TRAILER HITCH WEIGHT DISTRIBUTING PLATFORM
Z82 Trailering Provisions HD
JF3 BRAKE VAC POWER, 17 DISC/DRUM, W/ABS, 7,000 LBS
It does have an integrated brake controller.
FWIW, now that it's daylight I went out and took a pic of my 2012 Silverado's RPO code sticker and it matches every item in your RPO code list. The only difference is mine doesn't have an integrated GM brake controller, I use a superlative Tekonsha P3 instead, otherwise it would appear your 2013 Silvy is much the same as my 2012 with which I wouldn't be comfortable towing any trailer weighing any more than 6000 lbs loaded & ready to camp, based on scale weight measurements, the weight calculations I've done, and my real world experience in towing full height travel trailers since 2006 with 3 different variations of GM's 1/2 ton 5.3L truck platform.
2012 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab
2014 Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS
2003 Fleetwood Yuma * 2008 K-Z Spree 240BH-LX
2007 TrailCruiser C21RBH * 2000 Fleetwood Santa Fe
1998 Jayco 10UD * 1969 Coleman CT380
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sgfrye
north carolina
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roaming_free wrote:Let's try to remain friends here. I appreciate all of the feedback. I'll take the truck to the scales tomorrow and see how it turns out. We have not bought the camper yet, but if I can manage to get the weight within specs, I have no issue with taking two separate vehicles when we go to camp, we almost always do right now. I also have no problem reducing speed if it increases safety.
I'm also going to call the camper lot and ask them to put the camper on a scale and make sure that I didn't misremember details. The campers website lists the tongue weight at 800 lbs.
Thanks for the advice folks.
agree with getting your numbers. it gives you a good base line on your needs i towed our 33 foot tt loaded to camp at about 7500lbs (cat scale weighed for about 2k miles with my 2000 ford f150 5.4 gasser. these miles were only about 5 or 6 hour round trips for home. never had a problem, never felt unsafe, maintained the speed limit and always allowed for extra stopping room. long story short this past september wife and i decided to buy a f250 super duty gasser because we are planning on longer trips this coming year. towing with the f250 is night and day difference. the tt feels like a utility trailer. heavy duty suspension, transmission, rear end make the whole towing experience better. wife takes her turn driving on longer trips now with no problems also.
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Copperhead
Central Iowa
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Most feel the same way going from 1/2 Ton to 3/4 ton. I went from 3/4t to 1/2t after being fooled by the marketing, realized my mistake and went back to 3/4t.
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roaming_free
Iowa
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All great advice. If I can get it in under
Legal limits with no cargo or passengers, I may give it a try. Taking a second vehicle for passengers and cargo is no issue. We almost always camp within a 45 mile range, but even if we decided to go to another state, a second vehicle is still an option, because my wife and I usually leave at different times for different reasons.
You guys are right, I did not understand the impact of the payload weight. I'll take the truck to the scales today and see where I am at. Unfortunately they are not going to let me take the trailer until I buy it, so I will have to make some assumptions on loaded tongue weight and weight distribution. Worst case if I get it and can't tow it after it is loaded, I'll buy a larger tow vehicle. I don't think it would be a hard sale to the wife after we've invested in the camper, and luckily it is something that we could afford if necessary.
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Copperhead
Central Iowa
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See if they have a small scale used for checking tongue weight.
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roaming_free
Iowa
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Will do thanks.
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SoundGuy
S Ontario
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roaming_free wrote:Unfortunately they are not going to let me take the trailer until I buy it, so I will have to make some assumptions on loaded tongue weight and weight distribution.
Check the weight sticker on the front left street side of the trailer, that will allow you to determine the weight of this particular unit as it sits on the dealer's lot. To that add 1000 lbs for what will be added later and that will put you somewhere in the ballpark. Gross tongue weight should ideally be somewhere in the 13% to 14% range of that number.
* This post was
edited 01/03/18 05:42pm by SoundGuy *
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