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pulling trailers
Where are all you Chevy guys, they are also good for pulling trailers. I have a 99 Silverado Z71 4x4 extended cab that I use to pull a 14 foot dual axel trailer with my jd4200 usually with the fel and blade or 5 foot finishing mower and it does not have any problems pulling it. The 5.3 engine is a very good performing engine.
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pulling trailers
My '97 GMC Suburban 2500 with 454 pulls pretty good too. And seats 8. And has a killer CD player. And 4wd.
How's that?
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pulling trailers
Anyone know how much a Z71 ex cab chevy 4x4 shortside truck can pull.I am pulling a two horse bp horse trailer and want to get a bigger trailer but don't want to put too much stain on my truck.Really want a gooseneck and steel ones are more in my price range, but don't know about weight.My truck is 1993 with a 350 in it.Has 131000 miles but still runs great.
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pulling trailers
Becky
I would think around 7300 lbs trailer and load maximum,you will want an electric break set up on the truck and trailer,for your best bet-check the back of the owners manuel or the sticker on the drivers door or pillar it will tell you the max.capasity,gear ratio and trans type make a difference so you want to check the specks for your exact truck,I had a 98 gmc silverado 350 4x4 extra cab short bed,I would pull a 4500lbs tractor and a 2000 lbs trailer on a reciever hitch,A goose neck is the way to go if you can swing it,they ride and handel better than the same weight trailer on a reciever type hitch
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It's not my area of expertise since I made a decision to get a utility trailer and road the tractor rather than trailer the tractor with my highway 1/2 ton. I did come to understand some issues though. There some issues here to think through, although some have more to do with safety than stress on the truck.
I believe every vehicle has a max weight rating, which is the combined weight of vehicle, trailer and load. It would be good if separate ratings were stated for vehicles with and without factory tow packages.
What is hard on a truck depends on how it's set up. A tow package has things like stronger springs, bigger brakes, TX oil cooler, lower gearing and a heavy-duty alternator for the brakes. Heavy loads and hills heat up TX’s and an automatic with highway gearing often just won’t cut it.
Heavier loads of course require tandem axle trailers and brakes on one or more axles. Somewhere in the archives is a rule of thumb for relating towed weight as a percent of vehicle weight to trailer brakes. I also believe that trailer brakes may be good, but for heavy loads they are not substitutes for the larger vehicle brakes found in tow packages. Another rule of thumb gives tongue weight as a percent of load. One of the things that should limit towed weight is that applying the tongue weight rule starts exceeding the hitch rating.
Around here fairly ordinary trucks towing 2-horse trailers are seen all the time. I don't know if larger trailer means more space, steel or more horses. 2-horses probably works easily, but more starts sounding a bit heavy for a highway 1/2-ton. I know that balancing loads to achieve desired tongue weights is important when towing max loads. I suspect that the horses might resent being 'arranged' to achieve an optimal tongue weight, but then I really don't know. Ballasting might be required especially if carrying something like 3 in a 4-horse trailer.
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You can check with Chevy on the tow ratings if you dont have a owners manual. Most half tons are overloaded with two people and a tool box. Z71 gives you larger tires and different gears which will help but you will find if you put it on a scale you exceed the axle ratings of the truck. normally if you tow move up to a bigger truck. Chevys web site has tow ratings for the new truck line and you can use that for reference.
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The math for figuring hauling/towing capacities is pretty simple, really. Look at the GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) for your truck and subtract from that the total weight of the truck with all fluids, fuel and occupants. The difference is the total amount you can haul/tow.
A 3500 model might carry a GVWR of 10,000 lbs. The truck with fluids, fuel and occupants might weigh 4,800 lbs. Your hauling towing capacity is then 5,200 lbs. Assuming you load properly (either truck or trailer or both) that's the rated number. You can haul 5,200 and tow nothing, tow 5,200 and haul nothing or any combination thereof. I hope this helps.
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Gary, sorry to differ with you, but you're mistaken about the tow ratings. The GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) statements you made are correct for the total capacity for hauling (of course, you sometimes also have to have the weight distributed properly between the front and rear axles). However, there is also a GCVWR (gross combined vehicle weight rating) that will be higher than the GVWR. It is the weight of the truck and all of it's contents PLUS the weight of the towed vehicle (trailer). I used to be a full time RVer, and in fact was towing a fifth wheel trailer with a C3500 Chevy with a GVWR of 10,000. I've forgotten exactly what the GCVWR was but it varied on those trucks depending on the engine/transmission/rear end ratio. I had the 454 engine with 4.10 rear end, but you could get it with a 4.56 rear end and a GCVWR of about 19,000 lbs. I believe mine was 15,000.
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I have been looking hard at the new 3500 from chevy. I like the dmax allison combo. My truck now is a 72 chevy c30 1wd 402 bigblock auto custom camper longhorn with 150k miles needs work its just tough to see a price tag of 40000 for a new truck. Around here they are talking about pollution testing again and the 72 would be exempt so I might just put in a crate engine and some body work for about 10k and pretend it is a new truck. The auto is the only thing holding me back if I could get a 4 speed auto or an overdrive for it it wouldnt be a question old metal rules in my book. I get 12mpg now on the highway at 55 and around 10 in the backroads, still better than some peoples 350 autos getting 9 on the highway. The truck empty weighs 5280 and has a gvw of 9000. In pa it costs 153 a year for registration if I got a new truck I would register it for 10000 gvw even though the truck is 11,400 gvw because state forest and game land you need a special permit to go on them if the registation is over 10000. From time to time the state police will get a bug and check weight and class stickers. just my thoughts
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David, if having an overdrive auto transmission is the only thing keeping you from rebuilding the truck you now have, you might consider something like the Gear Vendors Overdrive. You can click on the link below to read about them; not cheap, but a pleasure to drive. I used to have an '89 C3500 dually, 454 engine, 4.10 rear end when we were living and travelling full time in a 5th wheel. It didn't seem to help fuel economy very much when pulling the trailer, but was about a 25% increase in fuel mileage when we weren't pulling the trailer. I won't go into all the details (you can read them on their web site), but without the trailer, we just used it as an automatic overdrive, and with the trailer, as a gear splitter to make that 3-speed auto into a 6-speed. I'd actually rather have that than any of the newer automatic overdrives. After we traded the truck and trailer for a motorhome, I installed a U.S. Gear overdrive unit on the motorhome (had a source to get it a lot cheaper) and it worked well, but was not nearly the ease and pleasure to drive that the Gear Vendors was.
Link:
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