tow rigs

[vandy0090]

How many of u guys use ur rig to tow. Either travel trailer or cover car haulers. I'm gong to end up with a diesel superduty for my towing but in the mean time I'm thinking about using the H. The alternative is sell the H buy the diesel.

So for y'all that do. How do they tow and what kind of weight do u have behind them?

[guruerror]

Here's some small potatoes...I frequently pull my 5x8 landscaping trailer with a 700 Polaris quad using the Tow/Haul feature. I 'know' it's there, but it doesn't seem to screw with my MPG or power too terrible much.

That said, I don't think our rigs (the gassers anyhow) are cut out for serious towing. That Vortec is already hauling around 6,600lbs...LOL...I bet it (and your wallet) will really start to strain once you put a travel trailer behind it.

But I've seen pics on here of those who do though, so let me shut up and let someone else comment.

[iwillnc]

I've pulled a very heavy pintle hitch trailer with a s10 blazer with mine, it seemed to pull that 6000+# load easier then my 1000# boat for whatever reason, however word of advice, I had to slam on my brakes with the S10, I locked all 4 tires and still skidded about 25 feet had to go over into the other lane to avoid hitting something..

GET TRAILER BRAKES

[PaHumBug]

I tow my 4500# boat with mine. Trailer brakes are a good idea on any heavy trailer; Usually any vehicle can pull more than it's supposed to, they just can't stop it. It def dogs it down a bit but it's not too bad, once up to speed you don't notice it back there. I had a roof box and a canoe on the top (not many vehicles you can fit both side by side and my boat behind me, went from PA to Tennessee, and I think I averaged 9.5 highway mpg for the whole 10 hour trip... Ouch.

[twinmill28]

I tow a 28 foot travel trailer with the deuce---drove from Ogden, Utah thru Vegas to Phoenix and on to the panhandle of Florida this summer. Truck and trailer weighed in at 14,400 pounds--so I was running a little heavy, but we were moving and living in the trailer for a month.
The deuce doesn't like pulling the trailer thru the big mountains, we regularly camped in Utah pulling roughly over 6,000 pounds loaded for camp, but it will still do it respectably if you slow down thru the passes; the worst pass saw me doing 20-25 to get over and that was going to our regular campground. Try running any faster and trans & engine temps start climbing rapidly.
Driving from Utah to Nevada in the middle of the summer (end of June) pulling the heavy weight was a bad idea, the truck ran hot and made for a long day of driving thru the desert. We had to drive between 45-50 to keep the eng./trans temps down, and ended up breaking a couple of exhaust manifold bolts by the time it was said and done. We did learn you can still run the a/c even in those temps and it made no difference to the deuce--just killed mileage even more, but who care's--it was freakin' hot!
That road trip saw us filling up at every 150 miles, maybe a couple more if I really wanted to see empty on the gauge. Total road trip was over 2400 miles, so do the math on what we paid in gas! Averaged 7 miles to the gallon.
I tried running a programmer when we first got the trailer, but didn't like the way it made the trans shift, and the increased power brought on increased temps. Turns out that just running premium fuel for pulling is all you need.

[twinmill28]

I forgot to mention, it's not "should" have brakes when towing a trailer---it's MUST have brakes! They're recommended for trailers towing over 3000 pounds, but trust me, don't put yourself in that situation of not knowing if you can stop in time in an emergency situation. Your life and everybody that has to share the road with you is counting on your preparation.

[vandy0090]

Thanks for the info. Trailer brakes are a must for me. Last time I hauled in this I broke (sheared) my power steering pump shaft with a loaded down car hauler and car. Not a fun time.

Basically here is what I'm looking at. We r looking at a travel trailer. Would like to pull with the H for a year or so. Rigs we r looking at are 6500-8k lbs. I'm in okc. Not going to see a lot of hills. Most trips will be local or to GA to see the grandparents. Maybe south Texas. Ill be getting myself an f350 before too long. But for now the wife has the bug. I'm not in a position to keep the H and all our other toys with my wife loosing her job.....so best case to keep this is to have something I can haul with it and still keep my snobby wife happy ....

[twr]

Hi i bought a diesel dodge 2500 for towing my 28ft trailer with my race car it pulls like nothing is their. The H2 can't pull 11,000 safely. My 2008 tow rate is 8600 i think. When you can swing a diesel truck you will love it for pulling and mileage!!

[2010_5thgen]

i would never tow anything big with my hummer. its not made for it. ive pulled small trailers, but nothing big. ive thought about towing my car to the track with it......but quickly talked myself out of that one.

[vandy0090]

Originally Posted by 2010_5thgen

i would never tow anything big with my hummer. its not made for it. ive pulled small trailers, but nothing big. ive thought about towing my car to the track with it......but quickly talked myself out of that one.

can i ask why that is? from my understanding (and correct me if im wrong) is this truck is basically a 2500 tahoe with a body kit? from what i can find is its 5 inches wider and about 1400 lbs heavier than a tahoe with a 6L and an HD trans. the rear air suspension is questionable for me, but ive also put a HD rear air bag in.

ive towed once with it with an 18foot steel bottom car hauler and my mustang on the back and she did great (until my power steering pump issue). i now tow with my k5. its got a 200k mile tbi 350 and a short as hell wheel base and it tows fine. i know ur camaro is a fat pig, but my mustang isnt exactly "light weight". id imagine your H would do great.


that said i know an 8k lb travel trailer is a totally different beast than a open car hauler

[twr]

Hi look at the owners manual but i think the tow rating for 2007 back is 7600 pounds. The most i have ever pulled with my H2 is a small bike trailer with 2 bikes, about 2800 pounds so i can't say how it would pull 8000 pounds. My thoughts are get the right tool for the job. If you do pull that much WATCH the trans temps!!!

[twinmill28]

Deuces up to 2007 are rated for towing up to 6600 pounds--and they can and will pull it, I've been doing it for the past two years. They are happier on flat roads, but we've pulled the travel trailer thru the mountains going to Canada and the deuce will do it, you just have to slow down.
As it turns out, our trailer's axles aren't heavy duty and didn't like being towed fast; we destroyed both axles going to Canada when I first learned that I could go 65-70 with it, but light weight axles aren't built to go that fast that long (it has to do with all the twisty roads and flexing with a loaded trailer, whooda thunk).
To say the deuce is not made for towing is an incorrect statement. We bought ours knowing we'd be towing, so I made sure it had the air suspension, and it's worked out extremely well. I love the flexibility of being able to raise/lower the a$s of the truck when loading/unloading the trailer, especially when not on flat/level ground. That's not to mention how nice the ride is when fully loaded. I would tow any car behind the deuce with the right trailer/gear as long as I am within the weight rating. It's not exactly the perfect truck for the job, but it will still do the job very comfortably. The deuce is extremely comfortable to drive long distance when loaded up.
Make sure you've got a good solid stabilizer set-up for the trailer as well. Don't get cheap and buy the dangly chain set-up, pay extra and get the good solid bars from the hitch to the trailer---it's very well worth it.

[MVR 155]

I towed my Z06 on a very heavy equipment trailer a few times when I had my 2006..... total trailer weight was over 6000lbs. It pulled it pretty good but remember Im in Illinois and its flat as can be here. I definately knew the trailer was back there but in no way did the truck struggle. I also have a Haulmark low hauler (low roof profile) enclosed trailer with dual axle and it measures 8x13 for hauling motorcycles and whatever else. That trailer also pulled very nicely behind the 2006.

I can without doubt say that my 2008 is much better suited for towing. My buddy's Duramax had an issue with it's brakes last year so we used my truck to haul his 32' twin big block offshore boat on a triple axle trailer down to Lake Michigan.... we figured loaded with 110 gallons of fuel, gear, boat and trailer was tipping the scales near 9,000lbs. The H2 pulled it very well to the point I was actually very surprised. It was about 100 miles round trip and I still got 9+ mpgs which isnt bad in my opinion for a trailer with that weight. It was the middle of summer and we hit some downtown Chicago stop/go traffic with the A/C cranking and the tranny or engine temps never shot above normal operating range.

Keep in mind its not just the weight when you talking about a high profile travel/camper trailer, you have to figure in a lot of wind resistance and that is the killer at highway speeds as it can make your trailer much heavier than it actually is to pull.

I think you will be OK with your rig providing that you take it easy while in tow, use your tow/haul setting and keep a close eye on your trans/engine temps. I would also install an external trans cooler to help keep the trans temps lower.

[2010_5thgen]

Originally Posted by vandy0090

can i ask why that is? from my understanding (and correct me if im wrong) is this truck is basically a 2500 tahoe with a body kit? from what i can find is its 5 inches wider and about 1400 lbs heavier than a tahoe with a 6L and an HD trans. the rear air suspension is questionable for me, but ive also put a HD rear air bag in.

ive towed once with it with an 18foot steel bottom car hauler and my mustang on the back and she did great (until my power steering pump issue). i now tow with my k5. its got a 200k mile tbi 350 and a short as hell wheel base and it tows fine. i know ur camaro is a fat pig, but my mustang isnt exactly "light weight". id imagine your H would do great.


that said i know an 8k lb travel trailer is a totally different beast than a open car hauler

i guess it it based more on my ride there and the highway i take, than actually not towing. where i take my car ( mid ohio), its a very hilly, highway. just driving there in the hummer with no load, its constantly shifting in and out of gears and running through gas pretty quickly. adding a trailer to that would make me have to stop and get gas again before i even get there. these things are just so damn heavy, they have a hard enougj time chuggin themselves up hills....i wouldnt trust myself to tow my car behind it. i have a 01 2500 silverado with 264K on it that i would trust towing my car , more than the hummer.....well, i cant really say that. but i would pick the silverado to tow it if i had to choose.

[twinmill28]

Originally Posted by 2010_5thgen

i guess it it based more on my ride there and the highway i take, than actually not towing. where i take my car ( mid ohio), its a very hilly, highway. just driving there in the hummer with no load, its constantly shifting in and out of gears and running through gas pretty quickly. adding a trailer to that would make me have to stop and get gas again before i even get there. these things are just so damn heavy, they have a hard enougj time chuggin themselves up hills....i wouldnt trust myself to tow my car behind it. i have a 01 2500 silverado with 264K on it that i would trust towing my car , more than the hummer.....well, i cant really say that. but i would pick the silverado to tow it if i had to choose.

Dude, are you talking about an H3 here? You've got your deuce sounding like it can't pull it's own weight--which it can. I had an 06 H3, you want to talk about chugging up a hill? That thing sucked so bad I traded it for the 2, which can tow.

Every time I'm scaling a hill at speed in the deuce I'm amazed that it's doing it so effortlessly while still trying to give more, I've got to slow it down. Are you sure you don't have a sick deuce because we can't be talking about the same thing--mine's also an '07

Here's a pic while driving across America this summer--hanging with the big boys....


Hauling down the interstate.....

[guruerror]

Originally Posted by twinmill28

Love them roadtrips!

[vandy0090]

Twinmil sounds like ur who I need to talk to. We r looking at a coachman also ill get the specs on it soon (we have looked at several)

Basically what I'm getting from you and past threads I've thumbed thru. My truck pullin g a 6500-8k lb rig with a weight distribution hitch trailer brakes an external trans cooler and some hitch/towpackage reinforcement I should be good for the area of the country ill be rolling around in.



Any other mods short of a blower I should look into? Maybe find a wrecked duramax/Allison. Setup lol

Thanks for ur help

[cgalford]

i use my 08 to tow 5-6k quite a bit and its great, barely know the trailer is there on everything but the steepest hills. the engine and trans change their behavior in tow haul mode, especially when braking. the trans will automatically downshift to match your braking with engine braking and then keep it there until you use the gas again so going downhill i only use the brakes once to set engine braking, even on the grapevine. i keep the dic on trans temp and the highest i've seen is 209.

[kalantar]

I tow a 27 ft toy hauler with my h2, it weight about 7k dry and with the rzr, atv and other excess I am sure it is around 9k+. I dont tow that much probably less than 300 miles a year or so now. I have 37s and upgraded gears, steel braided brake lines, brake controler and air bags.

I was going back and fourth for a very long time on buying a dually, diesel etc. See what your needs are, how much you will tow, alot of hills etc. You can always buy an older beater 2500 gasser for under 8k (possibly cheaper) and use that as your designated tow vehicle.

I have out grown my trailer and I am considering buying a 40 foot , triple slide and pay the tow company to tow it out to the desert for me vs buying a truck. It is much cheaper this way since I only camp in the desert.

Another point make sure your toy hauler tires are properly inflated, for the first year mine were substantially under inflated and the h2 had a hard time. I inflated them to the proper 65 lbs and I was getting about 9-10 mpg (seriously).

[vandy0090]

OK here are some specs on what we are looking at
Hitch Weight 865 lbs. (392 kg) Base Weight 6,890 lbs. (3,125 kg) GVWR 9,900 lbs. (4,491 kg) Cargo Carrying Capacity 3,010 lbs. (1,365 kg) Exterior Length 35' 7" (10.8 m) Exterior Height 10' 9" (3.3 m) Exterior Width 96" (2.4 m)