Tow vehicle/daily driver SUV recommendations?

[ATex7239]

It really depends what you’re going to do more of.

If DD aspects are important then I’d say keep what you got and look into modifying with some gearing and/or a tunner. That will have its limitation though. If it’s all about the towing then you need to upsize to 3/4 ton. It’s going have crappy mpg and will likely ride like a covered wagon when unloaded though.

I’ve white knuckled a steering wheels while pulling an oversized load up and down mountains before and it’s definitely no fun.

 

[Fitz98]

Drives really nice on flats...like it's not even there at 2100 rpm at 60 in tow mode. Uphill on 5% grade was down to 45 maintaining decent rpms, but in order to increase speed, rpms went really high. Made me nervous. Something like 4k rpm. Some have mentioned gears swap. Not a bad idea, tranny is 4 speed with towing mode. Extra gears would help. Have special shocks on rear that self level, not air bags though. All in all pretty happy, but need more power or more gears for mountains and something to help deceleration on steep downhills could be an asset. My biggest worry is crawling up a hill and blowing the transmission...if that happens. Also concerned about long term effects of maxing out capacity of 1500. Good recommendations to search an rv forum

 

[Kjmack]

Safety has more to do with the driver than the equipment. Just looked it up and it can tow 7,716 pounds and has a 614 pound tongue rating. Well within the OP's trailer specs. Also, tow ratings in the U.S. are underrated for liability reasons. Plus there is a built-in safety margin so if you go a few hundred over it should be fine. If he has cargo that would raise that weight much more above the capacity, store it in the trailer.

Your 100% wrong in everything you just stated .

 

[atikovi]

Your 100% wrong in everything you just stated .

Everybody entitled to their opinions. Towed probably over 4,000 pounds here with a 4 cylinder 5 speed truck. 30 mph max for a short distance. Exceeded recommended specs but got the job done without incident.

 

[supton]

Everybody entitled to their opinions. Towed probably over 4,000 pounds here with a 4 cylinder 5 speed truck. 30 mph max for a short distance. Exceeded recommended specs but got the job done without incident.

View attachment 84503

Low speed short distance. Huge difference from high speed long distance. And one time versus many.

 

[spasm3]

Everybody entitled to their opinions. Towed probably over 4,000 pounds here with a 4 cylinder 5 speed truck. 30 mph max for a short distance. Exceeded recommended specs but got the job done without incident.

View attachment 84503

That seems fine, but a 6k+ long and tall travel trailer is an entirely different tow.

 

[atikovi]

Yes but he said 100% of what I said was wrong.

 

[DuckRyder]

What was wrong with your gears? Weren’t they howling?

Agree if the Suburban is a known factor and in good shape some upgrades might be a better choice than an unknown 10000 truck.

Gear vendors overdrive and controller? (Not cheap though…)

 

[wwillson]

Also, tow ratings in the U.S. are underrated for liability reasons. Plus there is a built-in safety margin so if you go a few hundred over it should be fine.

You have obviously never been in a court and watched the undressing of someone by a prosecuting attorney.

If you are over weight and nothing happens, then nobody knows the difference. If an accident happens, even if you couldn't avoid it, and you are over any of the placard weights, then you are teed up for a potential financially painful lawsuit. Many people will argue, "what's the chance of getting sued?" I don't know, but I have seen how things work in a court room and I know for sure that I don't want to knowingly take any risks. "Knowingly" is the operative term. Let's say you own the truck, hitched it, loaded it up, put gas in it, you drove it and you were 500 pounds over payload. You get into an accident where unfortunately someone was seriously injured and you get sued for negligence. You have to testify, the opposing attorney will establish that you are the owner of the truck and trailer, you hitched it, you loaded it, you put gas in it, and you drove it on the public roadway while 500 pounds over the placarded max payload. You couldn't stop and you are now negligent. Opposing attorney will say you were a reckless hazard to everyone on the roadway and you did it knowingly. Guilty. Your insurance company can and will say that since you were over the placarded max payload they are canceling the contract you have with them and only cover you with minimum public liability which they are required to do by law. You lose the lawsuit and your insurance only pays out the minimum they are required to do so and the rest comes from your savings, retirement, etc.

I've heard so many people on public forums say, "what's the big deal?" being over any of the weights on your vehicles placard is deadly serious. Don't do it.

 

[Kuato]

After my first road trip towing my 6k lb travel trailer with a tongue load of 600 lbs using my 2003 Suburban 1500, I was quite satisfied with the ride and performance, but it really struggled on the steeper mountain inclines. I am starting to consider other options with higher tow capacity and possibly upgrade my travel trailer in the future. My wish list is an older model vehicle (to try to keep cost down to 10 k range) either king cab pick up which would give me option for 5th wheel in the future, but more ideal is a SUV. I like the space for on the road enclosed storage when exploring my destination and lots of room for 3 plus dog. Thinking of older 2500 suburban or excursion. Would like to get 10mpg while towing. Maybe financing newer vehicle could be an option. Any input, feedback or recommendations? Vehicle would be used in between trips as a daily driver for wife. I realize 10k is probably not very practical, but anything more than that would need to be financed.

When you say "really struggled" what do you mean exactly? Couldn't maintain speed, engine rpm 4000, or was it 10mph on grades? A bit more explanation of the situation would help with suggestions.

Since you are otherwise happy with the vehicle, as mentioned by others why not just put a set of gears in it? There will be a hit on mpg but a big change in performance.

 

[OVERKILL]

If you are looking at an Excursion, finding one with a 7.3L (which are somewhat hard to find) would be the best course of action IMHO.

 

[Fitz98]

Can anyone expand on what is involved in gearing upgrade and what I could expect to improve with regards to performance? To answer 1 question posed, I could maintain about 45 mph on steepest inclines, but if I wanted anything more, rpms went out to over 4k and oil pressure went up with rpms

 

[Kjmack]

Everybody entitled to their opinions. Towed probably over 4,000 pounds here with a 4 cylinder 5 speed truck. 30 mph max for a short distance. Exceeded recommended specs but got the job done without incident.

View attachment 84503

That set up is a disaster waiting to happen . My last post in this thread .

 

[DuckRyder]

Your insurance company can and will say that since you were over the placarded max payload they are canceling the contract you have with them and only cover you with minimum public liability which they are required to do by law. You lose the lawsuit and your insurance only pays out the minimum they are required to do so and the rest comes from your savings, retirement, etc.

Can you provide an example of that happening? It would be a very very strange insurance contract that allowed that scenario. Typically an insurance contract could only be recended for a material mis representation, cancellations are not retroactive…

 

[DuckRyder]

Can anyone expand on what is involved in gearing upgrade and what I could expect to improve with regards to performance? To answer 1 question posed, I could maintain about 45 mph on steepest inclines, but if I wanted anything more, rpms went out to over 4k and oil pressure went up with rpms

A gear upgrade (ring and pinion / ratio change) changes the multiplication and rpm’s which the engine operates at a given speed a gear vendors over drive is a planetary set that can be manually controled or use a controller- it will give you more ratios.

Home - Gearvendors

RACING AND TOWING PERFORMANCEOVERDRIVE ECONOMY The Absolute Highest Horsepower Handling Overdrive you can buy! Gear-Splitting Performance and Overdrive Economy. For RV’s, Trucks, Muscle Cars, Hot Rods, and Racing. The Finest Quality Auxiliary Transmissions. The Ultimate in Horsepower Handling...

www.gearvendors.com

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a freiend about how much better his new 1500 with a 10 speed towed than his 2017 with a 6 speed…

 

[Kjmack]

A gear upgrade (ring and pinion / ratio change) changes the multiplication and rpm’s which the engine operates at a given speed a gear vendors over drive is a planetary set that can be manually controled or use a controller- it will give you more ratios.

Home - Gearvendors

RACING AND TOWING PERFORMANCEOVERDRIVE ECONOMY The Absolute Highest Horsepower Handling Overdrive you can buy! Gear-Splitting Performance and Overdrive Economy. For RV’s, Trucks, Muscle Cars, Hot Rods, and Racing. The Finest Quality Auxiliary Transmissions. The Ultimate in Horsepower Handling...

www.gearvendors.com

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a freiend about how much better his new 1500 with a 10 speed towed than his 2017 with a 6 speed…

What 1/2 tons normally don't have is a oil cooler , transmission cooler , the springs , axles , correct tires , brakes . Vehicles owners manual will point out frontal area of trailer being towed also .
Big difference in towing 3500lb and 6000 lb plus in the mountains like OP was saying .
Sure he could make all those updates on a 18 year old frame . But is that financial prudent ? Doubt it . Never said how many miles on the suburban either .

 

[wwillson]

Can you provide an example of that happening? It would be a very very strange insurance contract that allowed that scenario. Typically an insurance contract could only be recended for a material mis representation, cancellations are not retroactive…

The way I understand it is if you are doing something illegal, then you are a risk of having your insurance contract cancelled should you get into an accident and get sued. Maybe someone in the auto insurance business here can comment on this?

 

[DuckRyder]

What 1/2 tons normally don't have is a oil cooler , transmission cooler , the springs , axles , correct tires , brakes . Vehicles owners manual will point out frontal area of trailer being towed also .
Big difference in towing 3500lb and 6000 lb plus in the mountains like OP was saying .
Sure he could make all those updates on a 18 year old frame . But is that financial prudent ? Doubt it . Never said how many miles on the suburban either .

Not arguing a 1500 is a great choice but probably neither is anything at the 10,000.00 level right now. He’s going to have to put some money in a used truck too more than likely. The devil you know…

Running the SPID RPO codes would be prudent… it it has a towing package it probably has all that stuff… if it doesn’t it might not.

 

[eljefino]

The way I understand it is if you are doing something illegal, then you are a risk of having your insurance contract cancelled should you get into an accident and get sued. Maybe someone in the auto insurance business here can comment on this?

Insurance is pretty well regulated by the states-- companies have to pay out for drivers with OUIs who were committing crimes when they wrecked. A state would not let an insurer just weasel their way out of this sort of thing because it would leave their innocent citizens high and dry. I'm sure there are exceptions but not that many.

If however the insurance found out aiktovi was running a cash-generating business flipping cars then they might have some more weasel room.

As for the original question, look for a conversion van, preferably on a Savana chassis due to the longer wheelbase. There used to be lots of these vans with low miles as they were big enough (and RV enough) to be a second vehicle, not daily driver. The trick will be finding one that isn't weighed down with an additional 1000 pounds of cabinets and shag carpeting.

 

[wwillson]

Insurance is pretty well regulated by the states-- companies have to pay out for drivers with OUIs who were committing crimes when they wrecked. A state would not let an insurer just weasel their way out of this sort of thing because it would leave their innocent citizens high and dry. I'm sure there are exceptions but not that many.

I just read the Illinois statutes on when your auto insurance can be cancelled. There are a LOT of reasons you can be cancelled, including negligence and illegal behavior.