Does GMC Sierra 1500 Denali with Adaptive Ride Control Ride Smoothly While Towing?

MrLeadFoot · October 12, 2022

This forum has no place for 2022 and up trucks, so as a newbie to this forum I'm posting in this sub-forum, if that's ok. If it's not OK, Moderators, please feel free to move this post to the proper place, scold me, and I won't do it again.

I have a 2000 Suburban with auto-ride suspension and, although this particular 5.3 and 4 spd. tranny combo is a dog on inclines, it rides smooth while pulling my 20' 1" Viper Coral with Mercury ProMax 300. The Suburban also has coil springs.

I've also pulled my boat with my friends' 2016(?) Short Box Silverado 1500, and later model GMC 2500 and 3500. The 3/4 and 1 ton suspensions seriously don't feel the weight of the boat at all, to the tune that I have to be sure to remember that it's even back there! But,while the powertrain of my friend's Silverado 1500 is plenty strong, on the freeway it rides like it's contantly going over short dips - boing...boing....boing, like it's oscillating up and down.

I'd really like a truck that will tow my boat, yet is comfortable, so I thought I'd look at the Sierra 1500 Denali. Test drove the baby Duramax, and while it pulls well off the line, it's a real dog at highway speed (no offense to those that got it for MPG), so I'd prefer the 6.2 powerhouse. I originally wanted standard box, but short box is easier to come by. Will the Denali ride like crap with my boat behind it, like my firend's Silverado, or will the electric shocks make it smooth like my Suburban? I DO realize his Silverado is older, and that my even older Suburban is heavier in the back and has coil springs. Or, do all 1500 trucks ride just ride worse, in generral, than a Suburban?

Oh, and I also thought the longer the wheelbase, the smoother the ride. Is that not true? Because when test driving the Short Box Denail with 147" wheelbase, I noticed that it doesn't ride as smoothly has my 130" Suburban. Will the 157" standard box ride better than the short box?

Will I need to do any suspension mods, if they're even possible to do on a Denali, to accommodate towing the average approximate 4000 lbs. bass boat rig?

While feedback from anyone with experience towing with a newer Sierra 1500 Denali would be appreciated, any feedback would be most welcome, because I am a bit apprehensive about spending $70k+ only to find out later that my 22 yr. old Sub rides nicer.

Edited October 16, 2022 by MrLeadFoot

redwngr · October 13, 2022

Mine (3.0, std box, 4wd) happily tows 3500 or 4000 lbs of tandem axle enclosed trailer.

No mods and no porpoising.

I tow a boat with it too, but only 2 runs per year -- about 25 miles each. No porpoising pulling boat either.

Different ball sizes (on different ball mounts), but both ball mounts with the correct offset so that the trailers tow flat.

Fwiw, electric brakes on tandem, surge brakes on boat trailer.

bwoodsmn · October 14, 2022

So, I tow a 4500 pound RV. Back in the day, I had a 2005 Suburban, standard suspension. I then went to a 2019 Silverado Crew Cab Short Box, with the standard suspension, There was just a little proposing, with a weight Distributing hitch. I understand thats not an option with a boat. I then went to a 2021 Silverado Crew Cab Short Box with the adaptive Suspension. The 2021 has much better road manners all the time, it is much smoother with, with less rear hop, with or without the trailer. I attribute that to the upgraded suspension. Is it better than the old Suburban? Well, its no worse. The Suburban has an advantage unloaded because of the added weight of the back glass and roof, while the pickup has open space. That makes a difference in the ride quality, for sure. With towing, depending on how you load your hitch weight, i suspect you could dial in the correct weight easy enough to help eliminate the porposing. When I am in town and running the trailer back and forth to storage, I don't bother with the weight distributing hitch, and the ride is still fine.

So, my takeaway is that you will get a smoother towing experience with the upgraded suspension. There are some guys out there that have done airbags with the adaptive suspension - etrailer has one, for example, so there are some modifications available. I don't feel at 5000 pounds I need to do that.

MrLeadFoot · October 14, 2022

On 10/12/2022 at 8:54 PM, redwngr said:

Mine (3.0, std box, 4wd) happily tows 3500 or 4000 lbs of tandem axle enclosed trailer.

No mods and no porpoising.

I tow a boat with it too, but only 2 runs per year -- about 25 miles each. No porpoising pulling boat either.

Different ball sizes (on different ball mounts), but both ball mounts with the correct offset so that the trailers tow flat.

Fwiw, electric brakes on tandem, surge brakes on boat trailer.

Thanks for the reply. What size and weight boat?

MrLeadFoot · October 14, 2022

7 hours ago, bwoodsmn said:

So, I tow a 4500 pound RV. Back in the day, I had a 2005 Suburban, standard suspension. I then went to a 2019 Silverado Crew Cab Short Box, with the standard suspension, There was just a little proposing, with a weight Distributing hitch. I understand thats not an option with a boat. I then went to a 2021 Silverado Crew Cab Short Box with the adaptive Suspension. The 2021 has much better road manners all the time, it is much smoother with, with less rear hop, with or without the trailer. I attribute that to the upgraded suspension. Is it better than the old Suburban? Well, its no worse. The Suburban has an advantage unloaded because of the added weight of the back glass and roof, while the pickup has open space. That makes a difference in the ride quality, for sure. With towing, depending on how you load your hitch weight, i suspect you could dial in the correct weight easy enough to help eliminate the porposing. When I am in town and running the trailer back and forth to storage, I don't bother with the weight distributing hitch, and the ride is still fine.

So, my takeaway is that you will get a smoother towing experience with the upgraded suspension. There are some guys out there that have done airbags with the adaptive suspension - etrailer has one, for example, so there are some modifications available. I don't feel at 5000 pounds I need to do that.

So, I guess what you're saying is that there is some porpoising when towing with your truck, similar to what you experienced in your Suburban (that had no autoride like mine has)?

So, the coil springs vs. leaf springs isn't really a factor, and it's really a weight thing? Maybe when not towing, sandbags might help make it even smoother?

dieselfan1 · October 14, 2022

I tow a 6000 lb 25ft travel trailer with my 22 LTD High Country 6.2 with adaptive ride control.

I think it rides great towing this. No porpoise.

With a boat your size, I would imagine it would ride like it's not even there.

BTW I have a 22 LTD LTZ Z71 and the difference between the two is very noticeable. The High Country has a better ride hands down.

MrLeadFoot · October 14, 2022

3 hours ago, dieselfan1 said:

I tow a 6000 lb 25ft travel trailer with my 22 LTD High Country 6.2 with adaptive ride control.

I think it rides great towing this. No porpoise.

With a boat your size, I would imagine it would ride like it's not even there.

BTW I have a 22 LTD LTZ Z71 and the difference between the two is very noticeable. The High Country has a better ride hands down.

Thank you so much for thew reply. Happy to hear I'm going in the right direction. For clarity, are you saying you have 2 trucks?

JP642 · October 14, 2022

I have the '22 1500 pre-refresh 6.2 Denali and it tows fine. I pull a two horse trailer with an 800# pony chub scout and don't have any issues. I feel the weight on pulling off the line but no issue with acceleration or hills and all the cameras are a nice touch

Edited October 14, 2022 by JP642

MrLeadFoot · October 14, 2022

1 hour ago, JP642 said:

I have the '22 1500 pre-refresh 6.2 Denali and it tows fine. I pull a two horse trailer with an 800# pony chub scout and don't have any issues. I feel the weight on pulling off the line but no issue with acceleration or hills and all the cameras are a nice touch

So, you don't feel any "porpoising" - constant up and down "oscillation" (when not hitting bumps and dips) when going down the road?

Edited October 14, 2022 by MrLeadFoot
spelling

dieselfan1 · October 14, 2022

4 hours ago, MrLeadFoot said:

Thank you so much for thew reply. Happy to hear I'm going in the right direction. For clarity, are you saying you have 2 trucks?

Yes

JP642 · October 14, 2022

Nope - nothing - I don't do anything special other than put in trailer mode and let the trans pick its gear

bwoodsmn · October 15, 2022

13 hours ago, MrLeadFoot said:

So, I guess what you're saying is that there is some porpoising when towing with your truck, similar to what you experienced in your Suburban (that had no autoride like mine has)?

So, the coil springs vs. leaf springs isn't really a factor, and it's really a weight thing? Maybe when not towing, sandbags might help make it even smoother?

No - porpoising is not really a thing, it damps out in 2 oscillations at the most, the suspension cleans it up. Yeah, I'd say the rear weight of the suburban helps with smoothness but at the expense of payload capacity. The 2022 suspension is much more advanced than what you had in your old suburban.

I have never considered adding sandbags when I'm not towing. Its plenty smooth for daily driving when empty.

MrLeadFoot · October 15, 2022

1 hour ago, bwoodsmn said:

The 2022 suspension is much more advanced than what you had in your old suburban.

Thanks for the reply again.

I'd sure like to hear more, if you care to share, because my 2001 C5 Vette also has electronic suspension. It has the F45 package which adjusts valving, and they later did away with that technology and replaced it with magnetic ride in which the fluid is elctronically charged, which was supposed to be better. I'm pretty sure my Suburban uses the same valve adjusting in the shocks, but my Suburban also has automatic leveling via airbags in the electronic shocks. From what I have been able to ascertain, the ARC on the Denali is based on adjusting valving, but does NOT have the air leveling. If the valve adjusting technology was usurped by fluid charging technology, why is the Denali using the older technology? And, why not use the air leveling, too? This is actually why I asked my original question. Maybe I heard wrong, but I sure hope in 20 years they made that valve adjusting technology much better. Sure sounds like it, from what you are saying.

Edited October 15, 2022 by MrLeadFoot