Chevy Suburban Towing 5K Trailer

[Jp_it_bikeco]

I have a 2011 Chevy Suburban with the stock 5.3L, I'm towing about 5k worth of trailer. I'm looking for some more torque here in Colorado, the SUV does well on the flat highways, but bogs down in the hills with the trailer. I've install a K&N cold intake, but its still not enough. What have others done with a Chevy 5.3L? Thanks

[Bryan2503S]

What gears do you have? 3.73 or 4.10 ratio is going to give you the biggest bang for the buck. I have 3.42 or something like that and I notice it on these things we call "mountains" in Pennsylvania. I can't even imagine hauling in Colorado. My dealer said they would charge like $700 to change them without voiding warranty.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Jp_it_bikeco

I have a 2011 Chevy Suburban with the stock 5.3L, I'm towing about 5k worth of trailer. I'm looking for some more torque here in Colorado, the SUV does well on the flat highways, but bogs down in the hills with the trailer. I've install a K&N cold intake, but its still not enough. What have others done with a Chevy 5.3L? Thanks

Cheapest fix is use the gearshift. Plays heck with mileage but it's easier on the Suburban and your hip pocket.

[garbonz]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Cheapest fix is use the gearshift. Plays heck with mileage but it's easier on the Suburban and your hip pocket.

X2. down shift until you can hold 2500-3000 rpm and hold it in that gear till you over the hill. Not much else you can do. Take it easy, no worries...

[Gizmo0706]

Originally Posted by Jp_it_bikeco

I have a 2011 Chevy Suburban with the stock 5.3L, I'm towing about 5k worth of trailer. I'm looking for some more torque here in Colorado, the SUV does well on the flat highways, but bogs down in the hills with the trailer. I've install a K&N cold intake, but its still not enough. What have others done with a Chevy 5.3L? Thanks

Do you have the 3.08 or 3.42 gears? I had looked at several burbs and it was real hard to find the 3.42's. If it was a 2wd burb I would consider a gear swap as I'm sure it would help.

[Jp_it_bikeco]

Looks like i have 3.42 gears per the specs on my Suburban. Thank you for the info.

[bikendan]

you should have the 5 spd. trans.
i'm surprised you are having issues.
i'm pulling my 5000lbs. loaded Roo 23SS with an '07 Avalanche, basically the same vehicle. but i have the old 4 spd. trans but do have the 3.73 rear end.

i have no problems towing over the Sierras, Cascades and Siskiyous. i've even towed thru the Rockies and always had plenty of power.

not sure if you're expecting more than what's normal.
but there's only two of us in the truck, while your Burb may be loaded to the gills.

[Jp_it_bikeco]

I wonder if those gears make that much difference, if you have a 23SS, that is a little heavier than mine and you are able to haul just fine. Thanks Dan.

[OldCoot]

Use the gearshift and limit rpm to 3600, try to hold 3000 min and just keep downshifting, the ones behind you will either pass you or tolerate you.

[raspivey]

They do make a good bit of difference in low end torque and may get you around 2 mpg better while towing. Depending on how you drive, it might cost you that while not towing. The thing is to balance the cost of a swap vs. how many miles you would have to tow to offset it. I just recently looked into it for mine and decided it wouldn't pay (around 3k miles towing if it got me 2 mpg) with the amount I tow per year. Cheaper to just take the mileage hit while pulling for me. I may reconsider when I see if mine struggles with the new trailer in hilly country. Until then.....downshift and stay out of the gas.

And this:

Originally Posted by OldCoot

the ones behind you will either pass you or tolerate you.

[beerjay]

Just had the same experience on a 4000 km trip to PEI and back with a 5100 lb. trailer.

Wind and hills were brutal on the 2009 Suburban. No problem on 'regular' roads at 100 k/h and no issue with transports passing. And guess what, I never passed another vehicle in 2 weeks while towing ...

I have the 5.3 L, 6 speed, with 3.43 rear end. Even with a 3.73 or 4.1 rear there is not enough guts in the 5.3 L for big hills or fighting 40 mph headwinds towing 5K. Kept Tow-Haul on most of the time to limit shifting and ran at 2500-3500 rpm and watched the gas gauge as the tank quickly went down. I got 10-14 mpg (UK gallons) at each fill up. My TV computer indicated 50 litres /100 km current fuel efficiency on some hills. I added a transmission oil cooler before the trip. My highest trans temp was 200 F at a 90 F daytime temp towing.

Looking for a Sierra 2500 Duramax Allison ...

Bryan

[Campwell]

Been in exactly the same boat as you have. We pulled a Jayco 27BH that was about 5k lbs with a half ton suburban. Living in Montana we have the grades to climb and descend and needed more power. After a year of over taxing our tow rig, we traded it in on a 2009 3/4 ton suburban with the 6.0 L gas engine. What a difference! Worth every penny when going up and down those big grades. The transmission with the tow-haul and +/- buttons was great as well. The suburban came with an integrated trailer brake and the Big extending mirrors and was a towing machine. The only reason we sold it was to get a diesel truck so we could pull a 5th wheel.

[Jp_it_bikeco]

Thanks guys. Bryan, how much is gas per gallon in the UK?

[beerjay]

Originally Posted by Jp_it_bikeco

Thanks guys. Bryan, how much is gas per gallon in the UK?

Sorry for the confusion. I am in Ottawa Canada and we used the British system until some politicians introduced metric here. So my mileage numbers are referenced in "miles per UK gallon". A US gallon is about 20% less.

Gas here is sold in litres, current prices in Eastern Canada are $1.30 to $1.45 per litre, and 1 US gallon is 3.8 litres, so $4.94 to $5.51 per US gallon for gas here.

Bryan