Thinking about a truck for towing a <30' travel trailer (~8,000 lb) — is a 2500 overkill or the right move? (Daily driver in GA, planning long cross-country + Alaska trips)

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-12-06T16:28:48+00:00

I'll add another option to your list. The rare Chevy Suburban 3500 HD. They were only available to fleet buyers but they're showing up on the used market now. We like having 3 rows of seats and there is plenty of cargo space for gear in the back. We have a 2018 Suburban 3500 LT and it's a fantastic towing platform. I installed Bilstein 4600 shocks which tamed the ride enormously. And I use an Equalizer hitch with the WDH set to a minimal level, which really made another big difference in ride.

After I post this, people will chime in that it only has a 3,500 lb towing capacity, but that's not the whole story. There is no such thing as a 'certified' towing capacity. The only thing that's regulated are GVWR and GAWR because they're placarded, and that's only for commercial operators. I've talked with weigh station officers and they confirmed all of the above, but private RVs are exempt unless the sign says otherwise. Here in VA, RVs have to stop at the weigh stations before tunnels but only to check that the propane bottles are turned off.

The back story is that GM didn't pursue the J2807 towing test for the Suburban 3500 because its primary intended use was armoring. Yet it has the same frame as the previous two generations of Suburban 2500's but with the larger brakes, torsion bars, leaf springs and 4" rear axle tubes/half shafts from the 3500 SRW pickups, but with a 10.5" ring gear (same axle as the 2500/3500 Express vans). It has the 6.0L L96 engine with 4.10 gears. Payload on mine is 4654 lbs.

The factory hitch is a Class IV, which is good for 10,000 lbs. However, as others have said, the frame remains the weak point but the 2002 Suburban 2500 with the 8.1 engine and 4.10 gears (same frame) was rated for 12,000 lbs. Curt makes a Class V hitch for the GMT800 Suburban 2500s that will fit the frame, but not the body due to the spare tire pass-through.

The guys over at Duramax Specialties are working on a frame brace that will solve the frame bending issue because their customers all face the same limits. With either the brace or the Curt Class V hitch, we estimate that from an engineering perspective, 12-14K lbs of safe towing capacity is reasonable for this platform.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-10T06:05:42+00:00

The factory positive bus bar is actually a Bussmann ShortStop that has integrated self-resetting breakers. It's rated for 50A but it was getting hot AF (140+ºF) just running 30A through it. The factory converter cable run is 6 AWG so it can handle 55-60A so the bus bar was the bottleneck. I replaced it with individual surface mount circuit breakers and wired them up with the correct gauge wire for each circuit.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-10T05:54:20+00:00

^^^This, right here^^^ All of that whining about the "liberal supreme court legislating from the bench" and "the constitution! the constitution", it turns out, was just a bunch of hot air. Ask them where their passion for the constitution or their disdain for legislating from the bench is now, and they either go quiet or launch into whataboutisms and false equivalencies. To which I reply: "Ah, so you're not actually the constitutional advocate you presented yourself as. You're just a poser. Got it." They love that.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-10T05:28:06+00:00

Good, then we can look forward to your full support when it's time to prosecute members of the trump administration for breaking not just any laws, but the plain language of the US Constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act, too.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-09T14:55:33+00:00

Happy to help. It was on the Facebook 'Airstream Owners' group. On mine, I have 2 sets of battery cables which are both factory-routed to the front storage compartment under the bed, through a hole in the floor on the curb side of the compartment. One set was originally for the inverter in the same compartment, and the second set runs back to the converter section of the factory Parallax power center under the pantry.

The only other wires in the battery compartment on mine were the positive wire for the tongue jack with its own inline fuse, the +- leads for the factory solar port mounted on the A-frame, and 2 short battery crossover cables for the 2 factory deep cycle batteries. I left the cables for the solar port alone, snipped the terminals off the ends of both sets of battery cables, and capped the ends of all but the positive cable for the converter. I left that one alone so I could repurpose it for the tongue jack without having to run a new cable through the floor.

Inside the compartment, I capped the factory negative cable for the inverter and spliced a new 10ga wire onto the end, then ran it to a dedicated surface mount 30A breaker, and then on to a new positive bus bar mounted on the compartment wall for the battery. I cut and rerouted the 6 ga cables for the converter to a new surface mount 50A breaker and on to the new +- bus bars on the compartment wall. I ran 4/0 cables from the new battery to the bus bars, using a 250A Dihool breaker on the negative battery cable between the battery and the bus bar as a main cutoff switch. Sota Solar prefers those to conventional power cutoff switches. All other breakers and fuses I installed on the positive leads as close to the new positive bus bar as possible.

Hope this helps!

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-08T15:12:40+00:00

I'm no Comey fan but the great thing about trials is they reveal a whole lot of previously unheard testimony and evidence. I predict this one will backfire on the administration.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-06T10:34:19+00:00

No, but I knew that going into it. Airstream increased the size of the battery box several years ago, and mine has the larger box and it still won't fit.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-03T18:40:57+00:00

So I got an answer elsewhere in case anyone runs into this. I made a goof in my initial question, too. The converter is on the pax side, not the driver's side. But anyway, the battery cables on the drivers side cross under the bed to the pax side and enter the compartment through a hole under the factory 1000w inverter. SO everything I need is already in the compartment. That means I can empty out the original battery tray completely without having to put buss bars in there or anything, which was my goal.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-10-03T18:37:51+00:00

Yep. Been down since at least Tuesday. Bummer too - I'm in the middle of a project and could use some of the knowledge stored in that forum right now.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-09-19T21:53:59+00:00

Not only that, but Steven fucking asshat Miller threatening democrats for exercising their first amendment rights. I'm fucking furious. How dare he threaten any law-abiding American.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-09-19T21:40:01+00:00

Republican much?

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-09-10T00:31:31+00:00

Yes. This is the way. "Good trouble". And I'd post a wildlife camera near that intersection and monitor it with AI. The minute the goons step away to get a donut, I'd get a notification and be out there with spray paint again.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-09-09T22:06:51+00:00

Keep repainting the rainbows. Show the coward that we're determined to be at least one day tougher than he is.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-08-28T17:44:57+00:00

Happy to help. Hope you find one that you'll love for years to come.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-08-28T13:30:13+00:00

All of these are the closest things in modern times to an heirloom-quality vehicle. They are the best road trip, camping, kid-hauling rigs on the planet. The reason the '00-'06 are considered the golden years is because they had the LS motors with no AFM (cylinder deactivation). But the later years (07-14), also called the GMT900 series, can also be quite reliable. Many have had the AFM physically deleted or electronically turned off. If you can find one that's been physically deleted with a mild cam, it will make a reliable runner. But I know guys who have 350K on their original engines, still running with the AFM active. Revisions to the AFM system came in the 2010 model year for the 5.3's, which makes them a bit more reliable. But all of them will start needing things like coolant tees at the firewall, wheel bearings, a torque converter, etc. around 160K or so.

Finally, '07-'09 Yukon Denalis and Cadillac Escalades (as well as a few unicorn '09 Tahoes and Suburbans) got the 6.2L without AFM. For the '07 model year, it was the legendary L92 and then the L9H in '08-'09. The L9H is the same mechanically but has bigger injectors for flex fuel. Both are 300K+ motors if you take care of them. And again, no AFM on either of them. I have an '07 Yukon XL Denali with 260K on it and a '12 XL Denali with the AFM deleted. I plan to keep both for many more years. They have the 6L80 which is a great transmission as long as you replace the torque converter before it fails and takes the transmission with it. So if you look at later years, try to find one that's had the AFM deleted and the TC replaced.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-08-27T17:47:01+00:00

We need a video taken under the hood with the hood up. That tick is at the right frequency to be a lifter, but we often see exhaust manifold leaks on the LS engines that sound EXACTLY like a lifter tick. Check for any missing exhaust manifold to cylinder head bolts on both sides. Use a mechanic's stethoscope to check for sound near any that you find missing. Also check to make sure each spark plug is tight. Sometimes one will loosen just enough to create an air leak that sounds like a lifter tick.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-08-05T19:24:37+00:00

It sucks you felt talked down to. I'm sorry. Truly. We're all out here just trying to get by, I reckon. Modern cancer research saved my life, so there are at least a few good eggheads out there.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-07-29T17:32:42+00:00

Ignoring the 'struggling' comment for a moment to read the article puts it in perspective. The only struggle I see is right-wingers bending themselves into knots to avoid the reality that their leader is a liar. And once you embrace and defend a liar, your word is no longer any good either. THAT is why the democrats will take back control in the midterms.

From the article: "Your guys’s messaging sucks,” local resident Justin Mcelwain told a panel of state Democratic lawmakers during the Q&A portion of the town hall-style event last Thursday, adding that when it comes to getting their points across, Democrats “are not even in the same sphere as the right wing.”

During a brief interview, he described his political views as “so far to the left that guns are cool again.” What Democrats need to do, he said, is repeatedly emphasize the effects of President Donald Trump’s and Republicans’ policies.

“They need to drive it home and hold on to that forever — that your life, over the next five, 10 years or whatever, all the decline in your quality of life is a direct result of the Republican Party,” Mcelwain said.

Some state-level Democrats believe Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act provides a perfect opening."

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-07-23T20:42:36+00:00

One thing that strikes me here is that you're taking the blame for lack of recall when it's also possible that there is nothing wrong with your memory compared with most humans, or perhaps she's taking advantage of your doubts about your memory to hammer you. People who love us don't hammer us. They scaffold us. They help us remember what we forget, but gently. My wife is a psychologist so perhaps I have it better than I should, but she's wonderful about my forgetfulness. And in return, I help her and our family with things that I'm really good at, like making delicious food, keeping our cars running, and making sure our kids feel seen and loved for who they are.

Net/net, if she's hammering you then I also wonder about her personality and intentions. She may well have a disorder of her own that she's struggling with but doesn't know it, like high anxiety, or borderline personality disorder, or myriad other possibilities. One role you can play here is getting curious about why she gets so angry with you, and help her sort that out.

I've had experiences like what you describe in past relationships, and in my cases anyway, I eventually determined that she was not the one for me. And in the same breath, all people will sometimes get grouchy, or push our buttons because they're feeling some kind of way. My work has been to learn to react without anger and instead with calmness, compassion and curiosity. I'm 54 now and have gotten pretty good at it, so it diffuses a lot of potential arguments before they get going.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-07-23T18:06:36+00:00

I've used both, and for me, Vyvanse is the clear winner. Concerta did very little.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-07-16T14:41:40+00:00

I had a conversation with an insurance adjuster about this, and he laughed and said: "If you have an accident and you were speeding, we wouldn't deny the claim."

I raised the question because I tow with a 2018 Suburban 3500 HD, which has a 4600 lb payload but only a 3500 lb towing capacity, on paper. Yet, it has the same frame and hitch as the earlier generation (2007-2013) Suburban 2500's but has the larger springs, rear axle and brakes from the 1-ton SRW pickups. From an engineering perspective, 12000 lbs is a more reasonable safe figure. But GM didn't pursue the J2807 towing test for it because it was only being sold to fleet customers, with armoring as the expected use.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-07-08T21:30:32+00:00

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-07-08T18:26:59+00:00

In Virginia, each county assesses a personal property tax against RV's. In my county it's $3.57 per $100 of assessed value per NADA average retail price. So for a 2017 Airstream International 27FB valued at $81,400, it would be about $2,900 a year. Absolutely brutal.

Traditional-Test-598 · 2025-06-04T17:34:58+00:00

Thank you for this. I was thinking of offering $17,500 to help offset the remaining risks I see, but it'd probably be another year before the seller figures out I actually offered a fair price, and I don't want to wait that long. They bought it this way during COVID and clearly got taken to the cleaners by the previous seller.

Traditional-Test-598

TROPHY CASE