Tow Vehicle Options

[jslayde1]

For what it's worth - we have a Z71 Tahoe (5.7L with offroad package) that we used every once in a while to pull the boat. It pulls fairly good, but you definately know the boat is back there - and it squatts the Tahoe pretty good. It will pull highway speeds, but works it pretty good - and sucks the gas.
My opinion - you can never compete with a diesel with talking about towing. We have a powerstroke as well to pull the boat, and you never know its back there - 5 to 7k is nothing for a diesel......

[What she said]

The new Chevy trucks are just now out, and the Sub/Tahoe's will be out soon. The new 5.3 is claiming to be a great towing engine, and its a V8, not a V6 turbo like the Fords. Im not sold on the Ecoboost!

[What she said]

New Chevy link.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/gm-deta...er-v-8-engine/

[tommy1005]

Ford still has more hp/tq. Heck Dodge Cummins were 6 cylinders for years and nobody seemed to mind. I'd also be impressed to find any new Chevy that truly gets 22mpg. My F150 got 18 averaging 75mph stock. Now with a little lift and bigger tires I get 16-17 driving the same speed. No 4x4 gets even close to rated specs driving at Texas highway speed limits.

[MoneyPity]

We are looking at changing out our tow vehicle from a 2005 2500HD to a 2012 Tahoe. Looking for more room for extra passengers so we don't have to take multiple vehicles on road trips.

Does anyone have any experience using a Tahoe as a tow vehicle for their Tige. What kind of towing are you doing with your Tahoe? Would love to upgrade to a new diesel truck, but wife wants extra room fro kids. Any input would be great.

we tow a Mastercraft 230 Sport with our 08 Tahoe or our 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. If we are taking people with us we use the Tahoe because of seating capacity and 2 air conditioning zones. if it is just three of us and the labs then we bring out the Jeep and put the miles on it. Both vehicles have no problems with the Maristar or the Tige20V I used to have. Between the two the Tahoe LT is more comfortable and rides better but the Jeep wit 120k miles has no problem getting the job done. we will be selling the Jeep later this summer for an economy car that get 37+ MPG highway.

[What she said]

Sorry, i just dont like the idea of towing with a v6 gas truck! I know the ecoboost looks good on paper, and a lot of people love it, its just not for me!

[Joeprunc]

I've towed with both my 2007 6.6L diesel and my parents 2008 5.3L gaser. Not sure what boat you have but they have a 20' I/O that is fairly heavy, I want to say around 4K wet. The diesel is definitely an upgrade, but the 5.3L holds its own. We used to take it up and over the grapevine loaded with gear for a week long get away (my Mom usually packs enough food and drinks for triple the amount of people). When loaded you can feel it struggles more going up hills. The brakes are an upgrade over the Classic Silverado brakes. I've towed my father in laws sail boat up hwy 80 to Tahoe in his F150 5.0L, granted that sail boat weighs more, but his truck struggled...even towing the trailer back my seat of the pants acceler-o-meter was not impressed (but maybe its gearing was more for hwy driving to get mpgs).

The nice thing about the Chevy 5.3L motor is it has the active fuel management system, so empty on the hwy it shuts off 2 or 4 cylinders and you can get 21 mpg. The Chevy 6.0L is very thirsty, I'm not sure about their 6.2L, but I guess it still beats driving two cars to go take the boat out. I do know GM is suppose to incorporate the active fuel management system to all V8s in 2014.

So yes the 5.3L will get it done, but you won't be impressed after coming from a LLY.

[trent]

I tow my z3 with a 2007 Tahoe LTZ. It has the ride leveling option which I think is a must for towing. We also have the transmission cooler with the 4.10 diff. Never actually driven a diesel but I don't really have an issue keeping up with traffic in town or on the highway. Only issue we really have is going over the mountain passes in the area. The engine has got the power at the higher RPM but I get nervous watching the transmission temperature gauge climb past the 200+ mark. My old boat which was a SeaRay 200Br , had no issue at all towing it, was maybe 4000 lbs.

Hope that helps.

[gman]

We originally had a yukon 4x4 with a 5.7l (350ci) engine and 3.73 gears towing a 2005 24v. The Yukon towed well and was strong however we were getting up in miles. Now the boat is towed with a 2007 duramax with 3.73 gears. Tows great hardly ever get out of 6th gear. Make sure your hitch is rated above your trailer and boat weight combined and that the ball also has the proper rating. Many people overlook this. I would not go with anything less than 3.5 gears if I were you. Try to stay at the 3.73 number. GM abandoned the 3.73 gear ratio to get better gas mileage.

[jmhatchett]

I Hear all the time how a small gas engine will tow the boats that are the size they are now. and my vote is yes they will tow them... but why spend a little less to get a vehicle and then have to spend more in repairs later on when something goes wrong.

My personal story strongly influences this opinion. I was towing my 2009 22Ve, which is not as heavy as the 24' ers and what not. I live in texas and during summers we experience 100+ degree days regularly and the asphalt temp is 130+. I was towing my boat with Chevy 1500 5.3L with tow package and everything (Rated to tow 10000 lbs)and had the rear end differential boil out the oil and shatter the gears all while towing the boat down the highway. Messy oil splattered all over the boat and the truck would not drive. I only say all of this for information. My truck would tow the boat but had to work hard to do it and ran high rpm's. I since that time switched to a new powerstroke and now have no problems or run over 2000 rpms towing at 75 mph.

I guess my moral of the story is that overkill is underrated. Always better to have more than enough rather than not enough.

[tommy1005]

Towed my steel deck car trailer (2500 lbs) with my 3500lb mustang on it 70 miles today in my 4x4 Ecoboost, fox coilovers, 305/55/20 Nitto Trail Grapplers, and got 12mpg going 65-70 and sitting in some traffic.

Just saying Ecoboost will tow anything you out behind it and get a little better mileage doing it.

[Duncan]

I guess my moral of the story is that overkill is underrated.

[jmhatchett]

Funny addition to this... i just got back from a rodeo. My family raises professional rodeo bucking bulls and haul them across america. We have been to the NFR and to Cheyenne Frontier multiple times and many other bull ridings, just a fun hobby that has turned into a lot of work and driving. That is where most of my advice on towing comes from, not just from these boats that only weigh 5000-7000 pounds. Granted those are still a load and do require careful attention.

my daily driver is an F250 with 6.4 powerstroke 4" lift, air levelling suspension and 37" tires. I had to have 40 Bulls at a rodeo this past weekend and needed to use this truck to tow a trailer load there. had 4 truck and trailers hauling to the rodeo. The trailer empty weighs approx 5000 pounds, triple axle gooseneck, loaded 10 bulls that average in weight at about 1900 pounds each. I was towing approx 23000-24000 pounds with my daily driver diesel. Before anyone says this yes i know it was overweight for the truck GCWR and also the RAWR but either way the 250 is the same as the 350 just lower ratings for registration.

This was the heaviest load i have ever loaded on my truck and when people say "you don't even know it was there" LIES!!! you should know every trailer is there and this one was heavy. I had no trouble stopping the load as all axles on trailer have heavy duty disc brakes and all gear working perfectly. The truck handled everything as expected, took it a bit of time to get rolling steady, but once at speed had no struggles at all to keep pace. I think im just saying all of this to reiterate that if you are ever worried about being able to tow with a certain vehicle that it is always better to up-size your vehicle or engine or tranny or all in order to keep the work load on all of the running gear to a minimum. running these vehicles to the top of their limits is not the way to keep one out of the shop. I did just run my truck to its top limit on this trip and this doesnt happen often but all of the larger trucks that are only used to haul bulls were actually on larger heavier trailers so we had to use my daily driver to get things done.

[What she said]

gman, GM stopped running the 3.73 in there 1500 when they went to a six speed A/T. Fist gear is lower with the six speed trans.

[forjar]

Thanks for all the input, but we finally decided on a 2013 3/4 ton suburban. Had no problems with the way that my 3/4 ton Silverado did the job, so stuck with the similar vehicle, just more people space.