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towing with a 2500HD

22K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  elkhornsun 
#1 ·
hey all,
new to the forum, i dont acutally have the truck yet, but i wanted to get some insite before purchasing one. right now i am looking at a 2008 Sierra 2500 HD, crew cab 4X4 (6.0L gasser). I'm gonna be towing two horses with a living quarters trailor. The estimated tow weight with the 2 horses and trailor is going to be between 12,500 lb and 15,000 lb depending on the weight of the trailer (i know for a fact the weight of the horses are 2400 lb combined).

I have been doing a lot of reading and i have seen that the 2500 with the 6.0 gasser can pull 12,500 but im wondering about the upper range of 15,000 lb. I'd like to not have to get a diesel if possible as the going prices of those are $10,000 - $15,000 more expensive.

can anyone give me any insite as to weither or not im going to have to get a diesel with the extra weight to tow
 
#4 ·
I never towed that much but I think you are getting real close if not over the limits of what you can do with the 6.0L motor.

Looking at a trailer payload chart for 2010 models
2500 HD, crew cab 4X4 (6.0L gasser) 13,700 lbs is the max and you never want be at the max. If it was a diesel it would be 14,700.

I think its a no brainer, you need a diesel or a 3500 4x4 and then you can reach 17,000 with srw or 22,400 with a drw (dually).

Note - 2wd drives can typically tow more than 4wd.
 
#5 ·
The truck will pull the 12,500 fine. When you start getting heavier than that you could be really pushing limits on the drive train. I mean the truck will hook up to it and will pull it to a certain extent. you will start to put a lot of strain on the truck with 15,000 on it. The most ive pulled with my 2010 6.0 is 12,000 and the truck did pretty good. The 6.0 will scream and work as hard as it can to pull it but mine still pulled good. At 9mpg it was nothing impressive compared to the 8.1 i had but for todays technology it does great. I would put a max for the truck at 14,000. Any more than that i dont think anything good could really come out of it. A diesel would be a really good investment. You could look into a 2006 or 2007 Classic LBZ duramax and it will pull forever. From 2006-12 are all great diesels and the duramax is your best choice.
 
#7 ·
I'm with Z15, you should never tow to the max rating of the truck. If you really think you are going to exceed the 13,700lbs that the truck you are looking at is rated, then I would get a larger truck/motor. Honestly a duramax sounds like the way to go for you. You'd put to much strain on the drivetrain of the 6.0L gasser in my opinion.

-Eric
 
#8 ·
thanks for the replys guys, this info has really helped me out. with having a set budget of about $20,000 for a truck (i would like to get something a little newer) im just going to have to down grade my trailer.

another question, the trailers im looking at are goose necks, is there anyways to tow a goosneck with a lifted truck without have the trailer tilted backwards? say with a 4" lift?
 
#10 ·
well i was looking more into trailer weights and i was WAY off. im looking at a 2 horse trailer with living quarters and i was thinking that they were going to be around 10,000#, i was totaly wrong. i found one localy that only weight in at 5600# so with the two horses im only looking at about 8000# combined weight, so by the looks of it the 2500 HD gasser should be more then enough.
 
#13 ·
The tow capacity with the 4.10 rear end is 30% greater than with the 3.73 rear end on the gas powered trucks so be sure to get a truck with the 4.10 differential.

I was looking for a used diesel powered truck last fall and the prices were about $5000 higher for a given year and trim level and cab type than for the gas version. Diesel Chevy trucks were $3,000 more expensive than comparable Ford diesel trucks with the same mileage, year, cab type, and trim level.

In my case when I could only find 2008-2010 diesel trucks with under 60K miles selling for on average $35K I decided to buy a new diesel truck (for $42K) instead. The problem seems to be that way too many people pay full retail for their diesel trucks and then 3 years later still owe $35K and then need to sell them for at least that amount to get out from under the payments.

Auto manufacturers make more money on the average pickup truck then they do on their luxury sedans. Huge amount of profit margin exists and plenty of room to negotiate if you make the effort and take the time. I will spend days to get the best deal I can and my last truck took a couple weeks but I saved thousands of dollars. The money that stays in my pocket the less I need to earn and the less I need to hand over to the tax man (and unlike Mitt Romney I pay a lot already).
 
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