Towing "HEAVY" Questions

UNSTUCK · August 3, 2021

I'm considering a 3000 mile move and wondering what my options are. I first looked at Uhaul. They want $8000 for a one way rental. So my next thought was buying a 24' enclosed trailer making the move with my 2021 GMC 1500. It has the 6.2, Max tow package, 7300 GVW, frame to axle air bags. I got this one because it was set up for the heaviest towing ability. I have towed a 9000 boat several times, before I sold it, and it did fine. I don't believe boats have the same towing effect as an enclosed trailer might have though. The trailers all seem to be 10k gvw with about 7k in load weight capacity. We wont be bringing a lot of heavy stuff with us. No couches, appliances, ect. I have no idea what a typical house full of stuff weighs. The Uhaul truck is 26k gvw, so I'm sure it can hold more weight than my trailer would.

Anyways, assuming I load it full to 10k and 24' long, what should I expect? Anyone run a TT that long and heavy? How does it do?

Thanks.

kenac · August 3, 2021

23 minutes ago, UNSTUCK said:

Anyways, assuming I load it full to 10k and 24' long, what should I expect?

8mpg

I tow up to my ~4000lb bass boat, ~5000lb pontoon boat, and occasionally a ~9000lb travel trailer and they all do fine. They're all over 30' in total length.

WDH hitch is a must for the TT and probably for your application too.

YYC-SIERRA · August 3, 2021

A few months ago, we moved from Calgary AB to Lincoln NE. We sold most of our bigger stuff, except for 1 bedroom set. I bought a 7x16 cargo trailer with a gross of 7000 lbs. My truck has the 5.3L V8 gas with 3.42 axle, so it's good to 9100 lbs towing. I took the trailer on a CAT Scale when fully loaded (it was FULL), it was around 6500 lbs.

We drove over a variety of terrain thru Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska.

MPGs were between 8-11 most of the time, sometimes could get up to 13 on the flat sections with favorable conditions. But I wouldn't count on anything above 10 for the average.

Engine coolant and transmission temps were always good, even across Colorado on I-70, albeit she was a slow long pull up over Eisenhower Pass, i could not go above 50mph under full throttle.

Only upgrades were E rated tires, Timbren Bump Stops, and a 14000 lb Equalizer Hitch.

Moral of the story, we made it, the gas V8s do the job, but you'll REALLY wish you had a diesel for this kind of job. My truck is in storage at the moment, but when we get back from our year of travelling, I'm probably going to look at trading for a Duramax.

Alex

@inclined2travel

KARNUT · August 3, 2021

I’ve always towed heavy. Gooseneck trailer 3/4-one ton trucks. I did since the seventies up to the 2000s. The most important is the trailer brakes. Stopping itself and the load. The next is centering the load to the trailer. I usually sag the truck about an inch in the back. I would sometimes pull parts to customers with a half ton truck and trailer. 6 to 10k wouldn’t be traumatic. Same thing good trailer brakes and loaded appropriately. I never had any temperature problems. Air the tires to the max cold temperature. Just figure in more braking time and pay attention.

Phantom 4D · August 3, 2021

Recently towed my 20' enclosed with around 7,000 gross. I have a 2019 Sierra SLT 5.3. No issues. Towed over mountains and flats. As was said, trailer brakes on both axels, which most enclosed trailers have anyway. Proper tire inflation on truck and trailer. Proper hitch weight and balanced load. I used the trailer mode. Gas averaged 11 mpg.

UNSTUCK · August 3, 2021

1 hour ago, YYC-SIERRA said:

A few months ago, we moved from Calgary AB to Lincoln NE. We sold most of our bigger stuff, except for 1 bedroom set. I bought a 7x16 cargo trailer with a gross of 7000 lbs. My truck has the 5.3L V8 gas with 3.42 axle, so it's good to 9100 lbs towing. I took the trailer on a CAT Scale when fully loaded (it was FULL), it was around 6500 lbs.

We drove over a variety of terrain thru Alberta, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska.

MPGs were between 8-11 most of the time, sometimes could get up to 13 on the flat sections with favorable conditions. But I wouldn't count on anything above 10 for the average.

Engine coolant and transmission temps were always good, even across Colorado on I-70, albeit she was a slow long pull up over Eisenhower Pass, i could not go above 50mph under full throttle.

Only upgrades were E rated tires, Timbren Bump Stops, and a 14000 lb Equalizer Hitch.

Moral of the story, we made it, the gas V8s do the job, but you'll REALLY wish you had a diesel for this kind of job. My truck is in storage at the moment, but when we get back from our year of travelling, I'm probably going to look at trading for a Duramax.

Alex

@inclined2travel

How much stuff did you put in there? We have 4 bedrooms with the usual stuff, a nice dining set, some cabinets. We will dump the couches and chairs that are in the living rooms. I have a few tool boxes, welder, plasma cutter, steel work benches, bolt bins...lots in the garage. I wonder if I could get by with a smaller trailer?

I'm not so concerned about fuel. A Uhaul would be just as bad, if not worse.

redwngr · August 4, 2021

Stuff listed as 'in the garage' will be the where the weight adds up fast.

Any chance you have a buddy with a trailer (or maybe rent one locally) that would let you roll on a bunch of that stuff to take to a weigh scale? Might give you an idea of how big a problem you are facing.

Finding out on moving day that the trailer/load is way heavier than expected would really mess up the plans.

What was the rated carrying ability for the 26k gvwr U-haul?

If it's way more than you need, perhaps they have something smaller for less money?

Did you ask them about just renting a trailer?

Edited August 4, 2021 by redwngr

YYC-SIERRA · August 4, 2021

8 hours ago, UNSTUCK said:

How much stuff did you put in there? We have 4 bedrooms with the usual stuff, a nice dining set, some cabinets. We will dump the couches and chairs that are in the living rooms. I have a few tool boxes, welder, plasma cutter, steel work benches, bolt bins...lots in the garage. I wonder if I could get by with a smaller trailer?

I'm not so concerned about fuel. A Uhaul would be just as bad, if not worse.

That's the thing, we sold off most of our household furniture and bigger items, because we were moving countries and eventually we'd like to build new, so we're planning on purchasing a bunch of new household furniture and goods. Many of the items we had were used, or hand-me-down from family when we were first married 12+ years ago.

Had we not sold off the stuff, we would never have gotten everything in the 7x16. Our trailer was absolutely maxed out in volume, and we packed it in a very organized way, haha. I'm pretty sure you'd need at least a 20 foot trailer by the sounds of it.

Another subject --- we planned to travel abroad for 1 year or more, so our decision to buy the trailer instead of doing UHaul was influenced by the fact we could park the trailer on some family property and use it as a free storage unit for the next year. If we just did a one-way simple move, I probably wouldn't have used our own trailer.