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2011 GMC 5.3 1500 w/HD Cooling towing

10K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  bchboy1206 
#1 ·
I know there was some debate awhile back on how these new 2011's would handle a load so I wanted to share my experiences so far. I'm a pipeliner and live out of 28 foot Gulf Stream Emerald Bay travel trailer when I am away from home working. My rig has one slide out on it and weighs 6952 dry and around 7800-8000lbs all loaded up. Anyway I am from flat land Oklahoma and am working in north central Pennsylvania. Now my truck is a 1500 crew cab 4x4 with the 5.3. It does have the HD cooling package and is rated at 7000lbs on the door/9500lbs with the cooling package. I run my electric brakes on full gain and do not lock the trailers brakes at all. Also have a weight distribution hitch to help level me out.

Where I am working at currently is about 20 miles into the appalachian foothills with 8.5-9% grade hills up and down. I can definitely tell the trailers back there when hitting those big hills, but I can gain speed up them if I want. Going down them is not too bad as long as my electric gain is on 10.0. Otherwise I can feel it push me some when braking. On the flat lands it still lets me know it's behind me, but I can easily pull a steady 65-70 running around 2000 RPMs. I only get about 8MPG in the big hills but maintain a nice 11-12 MPG out of the hills and climbs. Being the idiot I like to be sometimes I have slammed on my brakes just to see what she'd do and I am happy to say that it shut her down pretty fast. Take off requires you to rev on up, but once you hit your target speed it maintains well. In the hills I had to manual shift down to 3rd gear to gain speed....4th gear maintained it at a elevated rev.

Overall I am happy with the way my new truck tows. It truthfully doesn't tow this load much worse than my 2003 6.0 Dually did.
 
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#2 ·
Sounds like you are right at the high side of the towing capacity of that truck, glad to hear it is doing well. Having the 6 speed and being able to lock it in gear I have found is a very nice option the few times I towed a 4 place snowmobile trailer.

I have a few fishing trips planned this next time home and will be pulling a friends river boat for a pretty good distance, looking forward to how my rig handles that.
 
#4 ·
I posted a bit about my recent towing experience under the Trans temp. thread, but I will make a comment here, too.
I have the same set up as the OP. When we are fully loaded (18.5 foot Sea Ray, 4 people, and a weeks worth of gear and groceries) I probably top out about 5,000 pounds. So, not super heavy by this trucks standards.
I towed a total of about 500 miles. Because the manual says to use the tow/haul mode only when towing 75% or more of the rated vehicle capacity, I did not use it. Our highway speeds were around 70 MPH, and used cruise control 95% of the time.
Fun Facts:
I averaged 14.8 MPG.
Tranny temps were in the 160-170 range. Max I saw was 181.
Tranny shifted in and out of 6th gear in some rolling hills. It was not excessive, and since the tranny was not getting hot, I did not worry about it.
The truck shifted down to 4th on 2 or 3 occasions, only when pulling a really long, steep incline. No sweeter sound than that V8 growling at 3500 RPM's while pulling that load up the hill!

Overall I am extremely pleased with the performance, MPG, and comfort of towing with this truck.
 
#5 ·
Just drug her 1200 miles home to Oklahoma and saw around 10.4 MPG....I was actually up around 11.1 but when I hit this heat wave my MPG started to drop. Tranny temp played anywhere from 185-205. It really shot up when I would stop for gas and putt around the station at low speeds and on take offs. I'd run at 195 and shoot to 205 in 30 seconds. But once on the road it cooled back down to 195ish on average I'd say. Take into consideration it's 105+ in Oklahoma. I am still impressed by how well the half ton hauls this big trailer. I jumped on the scales at a Pilot and weighed in at 14,600 lbs.....400lbs shy of my CGVW. The trailer hit 8000....my bed was loaded up with a bunch of stuff from my apartment in PA. So on a normal run I estimate to be about 400-500 lbs lighter, as well as losing 2 other passengers who rode home with me.
 
#7 ·
Kyle thanks for posting your towing experience. I'm looking for a toyhauler in that weight range and glad to hear your truck did such a good job towing. I feel a little more at ease to pursue what I am looking at.
 
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