Avalanche for towing?

[kellijaebaeli]

I get conflicting responses all across the board on this. We bought a travel trailer that we were told could be towed just fine by our 2002 Chevy Avalanche (1500). Now we're not so sure. We're considering finding a cheap 1/2 ton or 3/4 --but we weren't expecting to buy another vehicle for towing, so we have a very limited budget on that.

Anyway, various sources (The sticker on the door, dealers, other truck owners, various spec websites, etc) say that Ava can tow 7100-8100lbs. I believe the trailer is about 6k; it's a 2001 KZ Sportsmen 2604 (bumper-pull). We are remodeling the inside, and it will probably be much lighter than factory when we're finished, as we are removing a bunch of heavy things we don't need. Either way, i don't want to be in dangerous territory, nor put too much strain on the Avalanche. She did well pulling it back from the dealer over curvy, hilly roads; although we are hearing some scraping sounds that might be the brake pads (?) and of course, we didn't have the braking controller at the time. (We will be getting a sway bar, and a brake controller before any other towing). For now, it's parked in a storage area where we are doing the renovations. Would love some insight from those of you who have used a 1/2 ton truck--especially an Avalanche for towing.

[jrhanbar98]

Just sold a '03 Avalanche I used to tow a 7200lbs trailer. Towed great no sway and it rode great. You have to pack smart, we have 3-4 in the cab, but nothing in the bed. We don't carry water either. Most of our stuff in the trailer was over the axels. We only towed 4-5 times a year so a 3/4 was not worth to me imho. Everyone packs differently but the Avalanche was a great tow vehicle for us. Put it in 3, click on the Tow Haul and listen to it sing!!

[Dave-Sparky]

We just got back in January from a 3700 mile trip from Washington, south to Arizona for Christmas and to LA for the Rose Parade, then home.

My AVI (rig and trailer in sig) did very well in all of the wet weather and snow we had on the trip. We had no issues but did drink the gas. Just under 10 mpg for the trip.

Dave

[bikendan]

I've been towing our 5000lbs loaded HTT for over 10 years now.
The Avy is a Suburban with a bed. So it has lower payloads than a Silverado.
That 8100lbs amount is for an Avy with 4.10 rear end, which wasn't common.
My 2007 has the factory tow package, towing max of 7200lbs and a payload capacity of 1357lbs.

You need to post your Avalanche's specs and payload capacity.
Where did you get the trailer'so 6000lbs weight?
Also get a WDH with sway control to tow with, NOT just a sway bar?

And the dealer did you a multitude of wrongs. Letting you drive off without a brake controller and a WDH was a biggie.
And never believe anything a dealer tells you without checking it first.

[Shal36]

I towed 5,500# on a 29' trailer with a 2011 Avy LTZ. Not a good experience. Power wasn't a problem (I had a 3.73 put in and had a tuner) but the soft air ride suspension just didn't work well. There are better tow rigs out there but moving to a shorter, lighter trailer should help you a lot. Your older Avy has the four speed and hopefully you have the 4.10 rear. But with only 4000#, you should be fine. From my experience, maxing out on payload with the Avy isn't a good idea. Check your door sticker for you payload. Mine was 1,060#.

[kellijaebaeli]

thank you everyone SO MUCH for your replies. I appreciate the insight! Right now, the plan is to sell the trailer we have and buy a smaller one, so hopefully we might be able to do this with Ava, no problem after that. Thinking if we had about a 4100 lb trailer, that would make a big difference. I look forward to learning from everyone in this forum 🙂

[garyemunson]

We used an Ava for several years with a similar weight trailer with no issues. I feel we were at the limit, though, and would have gotten a bigger truck had we stayed with TTs instead of getting a MH. The earlier Avas were also available in 3/4 ton but that is long gone.

[Grit_dog]

Telling someone to buy a bigger truck is easy when it's not your money....
To the OP, if the Avy is in good mechanical condition then it shouldn't have much issue with a 7000lb trailer if everything is properly set up, trailer brakes, wd hitch in your case and I'd reccomend an additional transmission cooler if it doesn't have an external cooler and a trans temp gauge.
All that said, there are a lot of variables that none of us know about with a 15 year old truck and your particular trailer.
That's a lot of trailer if the Avy is ragged out, high miles, needs work.

But by your admission, you thought it towed well and acknowledge that you need to get it setup right and the brakes? Fixed on the Avy, so with all that it sounds doable to me.

This coming from a guy who just hooked 14klbs to my Silverado 1500 a couple days ago. It was just a short jaunt though.

[horton333]

kellijaebaeli wrote:
I get conflicting responses all across the board on this. We bought a travel trailer that we were told could be towed just fine by our 2002 Chevy Avalanche (1500). Now we're not so sure. We're considering finding a cheap 1/2 ton or 3/4 --but we weren't expecting to buy another vehicle for towing, so we have a very limited budget on that.

Anyway, various sources (The sticker on the door, dealers, other truck owners, various spec websites, etc) say that Ava can tow 7100-8100lbs. I believe the trailer is about 6k; it's a 2001 KZ Sportsmen 2604 (bumper-pull). We are remodeling the inside, and it will probably be much lighter than factory when we're finished, as we are removing a bunch of heavy things we don't need. Either way, i don't want to be in dangerous territory, nor put too much strain on the Avalanche. She did well pulling it back from the dealer over curvy, hilly roads; although we are hearing some scraping sounds that might be the brake pads (?) and of course, we didn't have the braking controller at the time. (We will be getting a sway bar, and a brake controller before any other towing). For now, it's parked in a storage area where we are doing the renovations. Would love some insight from those of you who have used a 1/2 ton truck--especially an Avalanche for towing.

I don't have any direct experience, these are just general comments from experience.

The fact you said it towed well, without even being setup properly, is valuable information. To me that would say set it up properly and then try it some more more specifically looking for issues before you run out for a newer truck.
A quick google says that trailer has a fair amount of front weight, 780# and you need to add battery and propane to that and your truck's payload (1380?) is low for a 'half ton' so you likely will be over the listed carrying capacity specification there (unless you have an empty truck). Is that a problem, the answer varies by vehicle and how much you have to carry in the truck and I don't know this truck so no comment there. You will find that spec is more important to some people than others, which likely resulted in the wide disagreement on if this is a suitable setup you have already seen. This also makes getting the weight distribution correct even more important, and don't forget the more weight you move forward the less total weight is on the truck.
Don't try to get it too light on the front being obsessed with the trucks carrying capacity when renovating, you want it in the 12%+ range and lower will make things worse.
I'm surprised you didn't notice swaying without sway bars, that too is a good sign but it definitely needs that added given the numbers on that combination and the brake controller ..... don't leave home without it again!

[Old-Biscuit]

1st off you have a 1500 so 'payload' (cargo carrying capacity) is LOW
The weight of ALL passengers, stuff inside (all that stuff in door pockets, consoles, seat pockets, under seats, on seats, bags, backpacks etc), hitch must be subtracted from that payload number and then have enough left for trailer tongue weight.

2nd...you will run out of payload, GVWR and be up against RAWR/Rear Tire Max Load Ratings LONG before reaching that magical marketing max tow number (stripped model with 150# driver and 20# cargo)

3rd...that trailer has a DRY weight of 5960# with a DRY tongue weight of 780#
It has a GVWR of 10,000# and at 12% (a low tongue weight percentage)that would be a wet tongue of 1200#

4th......buy a 250/2500 truck to tow with!!!!