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Originally Posted by Madman
I totally missed that your truck is a Denali, I honestly think that puts an entirely new light onto things.
That has the big 20" wheels and tires on it, and there is no way those are LT tires of any capacity - they will be a P rated cushy tire with small sidewalls. Tires have a weight restriction as well and are not factored into the manual or body sticker at all.
You've also just mentioned the AWD - I honestly don't know enough about towing with a modern AWD system, but I would have to think that would put a decent amount of strain on it.
Rear suspension - that will for sure be a comfy set up and might even have air ride on it, I would do some looking into it as well.
Axle ratio - with 3.42s it will be a dog off the line and on the hills. Even that big 6.2L will be working with a tall highway gear ratio like that.
A guy up the street from me hooked up his 29+ foot bumper pull to his Denali last year and it did not look safe at all with the amount of sag it had. (and he had a distribution hitch to boot)
Not trying to rain on your parade, just want to make sure you are happy with what you buy and you and your family are safe.
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I would not be concerned, at 4600lbs dry and doing the 10-12 trips at most per year mainly down the major highways, with a Yukon, or Denali setup. We had a Denali XL when we got our trailer a few years back (its 4300 dry), and while I can't remember the tire rating for sure, I was fairly certain the stock tires are rated heavy load. SIdewalls aren't an issue either.
Given the casual weekend camping, having a 3.42 axle, or AWD is not an issue either IMO. These are trucks at heart, and perfectly capable on handing that type of load for our camping months.
The biggest thing that the Denali has is the Air Ride. Hook up the hitch to the ball, and let the truck do its whirring of automatic levelling. then hook up the weight distribution system.
Second biggest thing is the 6 speed transmission. Of course it has tow mode which you're using, but having those 2 extra gears is awesome and totally noticeable in shifting patterns and holding RPM's.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace
What about the trailer with the best specs in this list 28'8" & 4600 lbs. For weight this really should have me way under. This is 58% of my vehicles towing capacity (I'll be well below 76% loaded).
So now for length let's say I "could" tow a 27 foot trailer, is the extra 1 foot 8" a deal breaker, is the extra couple feet going to cause me that much trouble.
Thing is I just can't find a smaller trailer than this that will fit our use, this is why it's close to the "give up" point for me...
Is there anyone on CP towing a long trailer with a similar vehicle. I'll spend money on the "best" hitches, etc...
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Our trailer is 27 ft total, including the hitch, and having an XL helps probably, but having never towed anything else, don't know what it feels like to have sway or out of control. But our trailer is ultra efficient aerodynamically, and besides 6 or 7 trips each year down Highway 2 south (with some nasty Crowsnest winds and crosswinds) never a sway problem. We don't usually carry full water (and our trailer carries more water than newer ones), but do hae a lot of stuff. Never weighed to see what our total is, but am sure am in a comfort zone percentage wise.
I've driven to Vancouver Island and back (the Coquihalla was a treat), with a regular 2007 Yukon XL (we sadly decided to downgrade from the 2007 Denali XL the second year we had the trailer), with larger tires than 20" and had less sidewall than the OEM tires. Again, no issues. This is of course with the smaller 5.3L engine with 4 gears instead of 6, no air ride, and had no issues with trans temp (Denali has a seperate cooler for the transmission) or anything mechanical. I don't think we were pushing anything with our limits on what the truck could do.
Hitches cold be interesting for you, luckily the guy that we bought ours off of had an adjustable hitch, which was handy, as the Denali seems to sit higher than other vehicles (?) . He had extra strong distribution/stabilizer bars as well, over rated for what we need, but nice to have.
For 28.8", and that weight, I think you're more than fine. Get a good hitch as you said you are, take it on a few runs before heading out, with water and without and see if that makes a difference. But given the type of towing you're doing, in our weather for 4 months of the year (with that weight, those are not winter trailers), down mainly flat roads, you have more then enough truck with those dimensions.
However, do get exactly what you want in your trailer from the very start, especially if brand new. Don't go and say you'll get something small and see if you use it and like it and want to upgrade next 2 or 3 years. Kijiji must have hundreds of pages of trailers year round as people are trying to upgrade. They depreciate worse than a car, and with a flooded market its hard to sort through, a pain in the ass to usually show, there are hundreds that are between that magical price of $14-$30k, as the dealer is offering 50 cents on the dollar for something 3 or 4 years old that people paid $27K for. A buddy has his on for 20 months before selling. They're all in great shape, used 6 -10 times a year, so very hard to pick from, but also very hard to try and offload if you don't have the floorplan or features.
We lucked out, got a vintage one from an original owner, and will have no trouble making our money back if and when we sell. In great shape, but after 2 years, we would like bigger, and each summer when we go out and see our friends rigs, we think about upgrading. Come October, that feeling goes away, as you don't see or use the spanking new trailer you plopped $30K on, for another 8 months at least as it sits blocking wind and collecting snow.
If you can get something on the cheap (under $12K) to see if you'll use it and like it, with the eye to upgrading, it may be easier to sell in 2 or 3 years at $9K, and then you don't take a bath to unload it. Buy a new one at $30 and then in 2 years you want to sell it, the dealer will give you $18k to trade, and you'll be in tough with hundreds of others trying to sell it for $24k.
Good luck. A good place that know's what they're talking about as far as weights go is the Hitch Shop on 42nd Ave SE just off Blackfoot. You'll likely have to go there for a hitch or the brake controller installed, although I guess if you're getting it new, the dealer will do that.