Chevrolet Suburban 3500 Questions

[West 1]

I did not catch. what engine is in your 3500 Suburban? The 5.3L might be limited to 8,000 pound tow capacity but the larger engine, 6.0 or 6.2 I bet is good for more. 3,000 is an mis print or bad information. Maybe they meant 13,000, with 4.10's that is more like it.

 

[West 1]

Curiosity had me searching for information on this. I found this quote. To me it sounds like they just put no priority on Tow Capacity but were focused on Payload capacity, 4400 pound payload. You could park most cars inside and drive off. HA. The article gives the history. Based on the HD Frame, Brakes, Cooling, axles, tires etc. I would be very comfortable towing up to 10,000 with that vehicle regardless of the screwy rating from GM, just don't add 4,000 pounds of armor and then try to tow.


"That said, GM also offered a heavy-duty version of the Suburban, marketed as the Suburban 3500HD, starting with the 2016 model year.

Given the Suburban’s pickup roots, one would expect the Suburban HD model to offer the same powertrain and extra towing capacity of its Silverado HD counterpart, but this is only somewhat the case. The eleventh-generation Suburban HD began sales for the 2016 model year and was offered through 2020. It came with a 6.0-liter gas V8 engine making 360 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque; the same gas engine offered in GM’s line of heavy-duty trucks. No diesel engine was offered. While you’d expect it to offer the same towing capacity as GM’s full-size heavy-duty trucks, this isn’t the case. Rather, the emphasis is placed on increasing the vehicle’s GVWR and payload capacity. This is achieved through things like an upgraded frame, bigger brakes, heavier-duty cooling systems, and 8-lug wheels. In the Suburban 3500HD, this rolls up to a GVWR of 11,000lbs and payload capacity of a 4,405lbs; almost three times that of a regular 2016 ‘Burban. Towing capacity is greatly reduced though, down from 8,000lbs to 3,000lbs. The idea here is that the vehicle comes from the factory ready for upfitting by third parties. Many are armored and bulletproofed for use in tactical settings, though there are certainly other applications for a heavy-duty Chevrolet Suburban as well.

Unfortunately, the 2016-2020 Suburban HD was only offered to fleet customers. While it couldn’t be bought new by a private citizen, it is possible to find a 2016-2020 Suburban HD on the used market, though they’re tough to come by, and generally carry a high pricetag. As I’m writing this, there are just three Suburban HDs listed for sale on Autotrader, with the cheapest being a 2016 model with just under 93,000 miles on the clock and an asking price of $44,685. That’s not cheap, but as GM has stated that it doesn’t plan to offer the all-new 2021 Suburban in an HD guise, expect these unique Suburbans to hold their values quite well going forward."

 

[Geotrash]

I did not catch. what engine is in your 3500 Suburban? The 5.3L might be limited to 8,000 pound tow capacity but the larger engine, 6.0 or 6.2 I bet is good for more. 3,000 is an mis print or bad information. Maybe they meant 13,000, with 4.10's that is more like it.

This thread has all of the answers to your questions, and the reasoning, in detail. TL/DR version: GM didn't pursue the J2807 towing test for the Suburban 3500 because its primary use was intended to be armoring. Yet it has the same frame as the previous two generations of Suburban 2500's with the larger brakes, torsion bars, leaf springs and rear axle tubes from the 3500 SRW pickups. It has the 6.0L L96 engine. So we estimate that from an engineering perspective, 12-14K lbs of safe towing capacity is reasonable for this platform, but since it has a Class IV hitch, 10K is the current engineering limit.

 

[Geotrash]

Curiosity had me searching for information on this. I found this quote. To me it sounds like they just put no priority on Tow Capacity but were focused on Payload capacity, 4400 pound payload. You could park most cars inside and drive off. HA. The article gives the history. Based on the HD Frame, Brakes, Cooling, axles, tires etc. I would be very comfortable towing up to 10,000 with that vehicle regardless of the screwy rating from GM, just don't add 4,000 pounds of armor and then try to tow.


"That said, GM also offered a heavy-duty version of the Suburban, marketed as the Suburban 3500HD, starting with the 2016 model year.

Given the Suburban’s pickup roots, one would expect the Suburban HD model to offer the same powertrain and extra towing capacity of its Silverado HD counterpart, but this is only somewhat the case. The eleventh-generation Suburban HD began sales for the 2016 model year and was offered through 2020. It came with a 6.0-liter gas V8 engine making 360 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque; the same gas engine offered in GM’s line of heavy-duty trucks. No diesel engine was offered. While you’d expect it to offer the same towing capacity as GM’s full-size heavy-duty trucks, this isn’t the case. Rather, the emphasis is placed on increasing the vehicle’s GVWR and payload capacity. This is achieved through things like an upgraded frame, bigger brakes, heavier-duty cooling systems, and 8-lug wheels. In the Suburban 3500HD, this rolls up to a GVWR of 11,000lbs and payload capacity of a 4,405lbs; almost three times that of a regular 2016 ‘Burban. Towing capacity is greatly reduced though, down from 8,000lbs to 3,000lbs. The idea here is that the vehicle comes from the factory ready for upfitting by third parties. Many are armored and bulletproofed for use in tactical settings, though there are certainly other applications for a heavy-duty Chevrolet Suburban as well.

Unfortunately, the 2016-2020 Suburban HD was only offered to fleet customers. While it couldn’t be bought new by a private citizen, it is possible to find a 2016-2020 Suburban HD on the used market, though they’re tough to come by, and generally carry a high pricetag. As I’m writing this, there are just three Suburban HDs listed for sale on Autotrader, with the cheapest being a 2016 model with just under 93,000 miles on the clock and an asking price of $44,685. That’s not cheap, but as GM has stated that it doesn’t plan to offer the all-new 2021 Suburban in an HD guise, expect these unique Suburbans to hold their values quite well going forward."

Looks like you posted at the same time I was writing to answer your questions Glad you found some good information out there.

 

[Geotrash]

Picked up the camper today and stopped by the CAT scales. Got a reading with just the Suburban with a full tank of gas + me with my father-in-law on board, plus some tools in the cargo area. Then got a reading with the camper hooked up. I messed up though and forgot to put it in neutral without the camper attached, so my steer axle is probably 150 lbs high in the first image. I had it in neutral with the camper attached in the 2nd image though, so that should be accurate. Note that I did NOT weigh it without the WDH bars engaged. Clearly they're not doing much right now, which I expected given the increased hitch height of the 3500HD. Doesn't matter though - I'm not even close to either GAWR, which is 4900 lb front, and 6200 lb rear. Doing the math, the trailer is coming in at the exact same weight as the truck itself - 7340 lbs. Subtracting the trailer weight from the trailer axle weight, I calculate 960 lbs. on the tongue, which is about right with all holding tanks empty.




To all of this, we will add about 500 lbs of kids and dog this Thursday to go camping.

 

[Bigburb3500]

Picked up the camper today and stopped by the CAT scales. Got a reading with just the Suburban with a full tank of gas + me with my father-in-law on board, plus some tools in the cargo area. Then got a reading with the camper hooked up. I messed up though and forgot to put it in neutral without the camper attached, so my steer axle is probably 150 lbs high in the first image. I had it in neutral with the camper attached in the 2nd image though, so that should be accurate. Note that I did NOT weigh it without the WDH bars engaged. Clearly they're not doing much right now, which I expected given the increased hitch height of the 3500HD. Doesn't matter though - I'm not even close to either GAWR, which is 4900 lb front, and 6200 lb rear. Doing the math, the trailer is coming in at the exact same weight as the truck itself - 7340 lbs. Subtracting the trailer weight from the trailer axle weight, I calculate 960 lbs. on the tongue, which is about right with all holding tanks empty.

View attachment 436284
View attachment 436285

To all of this, we will add about 500 lbs of kids and dog this Thursday to go camping.

This is great info Geo! Dang, these trucks are heavy.
Not that I want you to be in the same scenario but we had to do a panic stop the other day (no trailer) and for the size, it comes down to a stop FAST. Nose dive is very minimal and you never feel like the truck is on edge. Very planted. +1 for brakes on this thing.

I was re-reading one of your posts and realized you asked how many miles we have on our truck. I think we are at 73k or so. Have a few small things I will be doing over the next couple months, will be doing an oil change when we come back from SC next week. Will top off/check fluids as I am coming to a conclusion the dealer did not check these… and will be order the trans dipstick mod + Rancho xl9000 shocks. I have been going round-and-round on shocks and with the warranty they offer. They seem to be hard to argue with since they are able to be adjusted soft/firm + price point. Full set from Rock Auto is $350 or something. If someone has a VALID point to make as to why NOT to buy them I’m all ears but this is a Burb3500 thread NOT a shock thread. I have been reading up on these vs Bilstein and both camps have extremist opinions.

 

[Geotrash]

This is great info Geo! Dang, these trucks are heavy.
Not that I want you to be in the same scenario but we had to do a panic stop the other day (no trailer) and for the size, it comes down to a stop FAST. Nose dive is very minimal and you never feel like the truck is on edge. Very planted. +1 for brakes on this thing.

I was re-reading one of your posts and realized you asked how many miles we have on our truck. I think we are at 73k or so. Have a few small things I will be doing over the next couple months, will be doing an oil change when we come back from SC next week. Will top off/check fluids as I am coming to a conclusion the dealer did not check these… and will be order the trans dipstick mod + Rancho xl9000 shocks. I have been going round-and-round on shocks and with the warranty they offer. They seem to be hard to argue with since they are able to be adjusted soft/firm + price point. Full set from Rock Auto is $350 or something. If someone has a VALID point to make as to why NOT to buy them I’m all ears but this is a Burb3500 thread NOT a shock thread. I have been reading up on these vs Bilstein and both camps have extremist opinions.

Yeah the brakes are NO JOKE on these. Very confidence-inspiring when towing, too.

I’m looking forward to reading about your shock upgrade! Can’t go wrong either way as far as I can tell. And 73K is a good time to replace the factory shocks on any HD rig.

 

[gtrslngrchris]

I have been going round-and-round on shocks and with the warranty they offer. They seem to be hard to argue with since they are able to be adjusted soft/firm + price point. Full set from Rock Auto is $350 or something. If someone has a VALID point to make as to why NOT to buy them I’m all ears but this is a Burb3500 thread NOT a shock thread. I have been reading up on these vs Bilstein and both camps have extremist opinions.

I have had 3 sets of Rancho 9000s on the front of my 2003 2500HD and they stopped giving me replacements. FWIW they rode better than anything ever has on my truck (especially while lowered) but they didn't last for me. I ended up with Sway-A-Way 2.5" shocks up front and they have been great for several years now.

I've got Bilstein 5100s on the rear of the truck and those have been great for years as well and I've run Bilsteins on my Corvette and other cars in the past but they have never once been my favorite experience just a very solid option and usually well priced for their performance.

 

[Bigburb3500]

Yeah the brakes are NO JOKE on these. Very confidence-inspiring when towing, too.

I’m looking forward to reading about your shock upgrade! Can’t go wrong either way as far as I can tell. And 73K is a good time to replace the factory shocks on any HD rig.

I know this truck was not designed for normal consumer purchasing but I think they missed an opportunity. It’s like a new Excursion without the diesel option.

I will keep you posted. I hopefully will order them in the next few weeks and will install in Oct. Will update you! I agree, the 70k mark is a good time.

 

[Bigburb3500]

I have had 3 sets of Rancho 9000s on the front of my 2003 2500HD and they stopped giving me replacements. FWIW they rode better than anything ever has on my truck (especially while lowered) but they didn't last for me. I ended up with Sway-A-Way 2.5" shocks up front and they have been great for several years now.

I've got Bilstein 5100s on the rear of the truck and those have been great for years as well and I've run Bilsteins on my Corvette and other cars in the past but they have never once been my favorite experience just a very solid option and usually well priced for their performance.

Thank you for the input! How many miles did you put on each set of Rancho shocks? For a full set of 4 it is hard to beat $350-ish.
I just looked up Sway-A-Way and they look great but I am not ready to bite off $2000 for a set of shocks… maybe in the future after I got thru 3 sets of Ranchos lol! I did confirm that front shocks for the 3500 Burb can be lined up with a 2010 Silverado 3500. Have not gotten confirmation for rear yet.