Anyone tow with an Escalade?

[scweaver]

Just traded in the Aspen and bought and Escalade, rated for 8000lbs which is actually, and oddly, less than the Aspen especially since it is wider, longer, heavier and more powerful than my Aspen. The Aspen towed fine I was just curious is anyone had towed with one of these. I am a bit concerned about how the suspension will hold up as it rides more like a car than a truck. Any feedback or opinions would be greatly received.

[camprat]

I would check in to your wheel base for towing a TT to. To keep the tail for wagging the dog. The suspension is soft for a good ride, but towing need some beef.

[tomjsas]

I tow with an 08 Yukon Denali XL (same basic thing to the Escalade). I think the air suspension in the rear helps level but allows a bit more cush that I would like. I think once the P rated tires wear out (have 23,000 on them now) I'll switch to LTs to give the sidewall a bit more stiffness. Otherwise pretty happy with the set up. Looking at 5th wheel maybe next year...so that would mean getting rid of the Denali and look at one of the GMC HDs.

[Triguy]

My suggestion is to try it out first and see if YOU like the ride while towing. We all have our preferences.

FWIW - I've heard of other Escalade owners needing to eventually replace the pump for that suspension or changing out the airbags for regular shocks/struts, but I wouldn't plan on that until after you've tried if first and after you've upgraded the tires to LT, as tomjsas suggested.

[dezolen]

Had a Tahoe with air ride susp 20"wheels and it towed our 28' Rockwood with no problems.
You have a longer wheelbase and Rolls Royce of hitches. Should be more than adequate.

[Borwick]

As you can see from my profile pic, I "had" an Escalade, with 22" wheels. Although the TT I pull is pretty small, I also had a boat which was 5500lbs dry and had surge brakes. Recently got rid of the boat.

Almost 50% of the use of the Escalade was towing one or the other, since we drive a more economical car for everyday stuff. Never had any mechanical issues over 4 years. We like in Tahoe, which means we are pulling UP or DOWN I-80 to get anywhere.

This little TT loaded up is about 5K, and I had the recommended WD hitch, friction sway bar, and such. After some experimental trips, I gave up on the WD portion, and ended up doing away with the sway controller as well.

The short sidewall on the 22" wheels kept it from having any shimmy, the auto-ride air assist kept it level (about 500-600 tongue), and no matter the hills, speeding trucks or cross winds, the trailer never would swing more than once.

With your larger trailer and sail, I would say keeping the WD and sway system intact will result in no problems to speak of. Since more weight is over the rear wheels, its more stable than a similar wheelbase pick-up.

I just replaced my Escalade with a 2011 Range Rover SP-GT, which has a 7700 lb tow rating. I expect to use the sway system again as this has a 10" shorter wheel-base. No HD allowed since the RR's have computerized air-bags instead of springs.

Cheers.

[scweaver]

All thanks for your feedback!

Borwick thank you also I spent last night reading a bunch of your posts and had me a bit concerned but with my Hensley hitch I am feeling much better. As I said already I had the Aspen and it hauled great so I was fairly confident it would haul well. he air-ride suspension has me a bit nervous but I guess that is what the warranty is for, although I sure this is some disclaimer in the fine print!

[dezolen]

Don't worry about the air ride. Good friends have a 2001 Olds Bravada with 100k on it and had no problems with air ride.
We experienced no problems either but we never seem to keep vehicles longer than 4 yrs.

[zaih05]

I'm new at all this but wanted to share one observation. I'm using a Cadillac Escalade ESV with a Reese Strait-Line Trunnion Bar Hitch with Dual Cam HP Sway Control to pull a Surveyor 303. The only thing I noticed is the auto-leveling suspension seems to fight with the weight distribution function of the hitch somewhat. Even with the 20 minute "time-out" when trying to adjust the weight distribution, seems the auto-leveling tries to be too helpful. Please keep in mind, I think much of my problem might be user created combined with a dealer who wasn't 100% on the hitch adjustment at instillation. I think in the spring I may take the whole rig to HitchMasters and let them go through the entire setup and adjust as needed.

[scweaver]

Zaih05,

Your response was spot on! My auto-leveling suspension was fighting the hitch the whole time. Other than that I liked the way it towed. I have a Hensley Arrow hitch and I spoke with Hensley and they are going to get me a hitch with a 8" drop, I am fairly confident this will stop the battle. I was quite suprised at how much more power the Escalade had over the Aspen (even with the hemi). I expected the additional weight of the full size truck would off-set the power. In fact it towed so well that we are now talking about buying the SV-305. I expect I will take a beating on the one I have today, but I just love the additional space of the super slide!

Thank you everyone for your contributions.