First Towing Experience 2021 Yukon Denali - 5300lb trailer, with and without stablizer

[tagexpcom]

Either way, I appreciate the post and information, but I would check that trailer, either how you are loading it,

@swathdiver is making this point.

or something may be loose. I don't think you should get sway under 60 with those weights.

I have a jack + knowledge and can check wheels/bearings for looseness.

 

[intheburbs]

Too much weight out back will most definitely induce sway, regardless of tongue weight.

@swathdiver is correct - if you have sway, you need more tongue weight. Period. Hard stop.
Yes, 13% is just about ideal, but like anything else, there's always an exception to the rule. I'm guessing a few things - short wheelbase tow vehicle, short wheelbase trailer, and lots of weight out back are all mitigating/contributing factors.

This is the behemoth we used to tow - racked up about 20,000 miles all around the US including Continental Divide passes and the Eisenhower Tunnel (11,000' altitude). Driving on both I-25 and I-80 in Wyoming (arguably some of the windiest stretches of highway anywhere in the country) it was dead-stable. I've never been above a 3 out of 10 on my white-knuckle scale.

Look closely - no WD, no sway control. 8600 lbs, 1120 tongue weight (13%). Parked at Wall Drug in South Dakota.

 

[tagexpcom]

Wow - nice tow (above)!

Unless I find something else I'm going to go with 'bad loading' trailer -> camper build out - namely front/back loading has amplified sway.

Funny, I've watched (literally) 100 youtubes on trailer builds but don't recall anyone mentioning this. And it's natural to do front/back because the axles are in the way of water tanks under the floor (for example). Also, it's coming to mind how bedrooms (lighter) are at the front / back ends on a lot of trailers - maybe there's a reason

The original empty weight of my trailer is 2,200lbs which means I've added 3,000lbs of build-out + supplies - way more than I would have guessed when I started. Fortunately it's a 7,000lb trailer so all is within design specs.

Front build-out - water + grey tanks under the floor + kitchen stuff (pans, cans of food)


Rear



Good news is the weight distribution / sway hitch works well and makes towing smooth AND...

I absolutely LOVE the Yukon - what a pleasure to drive/tow with

Thanks so much for all the comments!!

 

[Geotrash]

Wow - nice tow (above)!

Unless I find something else I'm going to go with 'bad loading' trailer -> camper build out - namely front/back loading has amplified sway.

Funny, I've watched (literally) 100 youtubes on trailer builds but don't recall anyone mentioning this. And it's natural to do front/back because the axles are in the way of water tanks under the floor (for example). Also, it's coming to mind how bedrooms (lighter) are at the front / back ends on a lot of trailers - maybe there's a reason

The original empty weight of my trailer is 2,200lbs which means I've added 3,000lbs of build-out + supplies - way more than I would have guessed when I started. Fortunately it's a 7,000lb trailer so all is within design specs.

Front build-out - water + grey tanks under the floor + kitchen stuff (pans, cans of food)
View attachment 408245

Rear
View attachment 408246


Good news is the weight distribution / sway hitch works well and makes towing smooth AND...

I absolutely LOVE the Yukon - what a pleasure to drive/tow with

Thanks so much for all the comments!!

I pull a 7500 lb, 32' long camper behind both of our Yukon XL Denali's (2007 & 2012) and can confirm what the others are saying regarding how the weight is distributed through the trailer. When you have heavy items like propane and a generator behind the axles, it adds to the inertia in that area, even if your tongue weight falls within the rule of thumb. Hence the sway. That and the fact that a cargo trailer is basically a brick so it's especially prone to feeling the bow wave from passing trucks. I know you masked it effectively with a WDH, but I'll bet that moving that generator toward the front of the trailer would eliminate much of the sway you felt before adding the WDH.

Wonderful conversion, by the way!

 

[Dillicious]

Thought I'd share our first experience towing our 5300lb 7 x 14 dual axle trailer -> camper on a 400 mile round trip over 5800ft mountain and back.

We have a 2021 GMC Yukon Denali 6.2L with middle package 22" wheels but no air suspension. Installed a Curt brake controller.

Starting with ordinary hitch. Tonque weight ~650lbs. Rear sunk from 33" to 32" (ground to top of wheel well) and you can see the front is 'up' a bit.
View attachment 408099
We got SWAY!!! at anything >57mph. It would drive normally but then for no reason start swaying - I could see the trailer swaying in the mirror - maybe 2" back / forth looking in mirror at front of trailer. I've towed about 4,000miles - some experience but not a lot. Even a little sway causes me to tighten on the steering wheel as it moves unnaturally - doesn't feel like I can correct and have to slow down immediately! Not a pleasant drive. Not sure if there's any safe amount of sway.


Heading back we put on the Blue Ox anti-sway, weight distribution hitch that we bought for our previous vehicle (2004 SRX V8 in pic above). The Yukon seems level (pic below) and had no sway up to 70mph cruising. The Curtis break controller worked well to give me good stopping capability.
View attachment 408103

Not pushing weight distribution / anti-sway, just sharing our hands-on experience. 5000lb trailer seemed like it might be light enough but turned out to be absolute game-changer for 65/70mph travel. Made a tense drive into a boring drive.

Don't understand what causes sway. This trailer is top heavy with solar panels and 7ft tall - maybe that contributes?


FYI - Ambient was 70F to 80F and went over 6000ft mountain without a care. Transmission temp was 185F tops. Acceleration was 'normal' for merging, passing even, like no trailer in a slower car. Very cool.
View attachment 408107

Before purchase we did a 107F ambient test up over 4,300ft mountain with this trailer - https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thr...200-210f-engine-and-199f-transmission.143309/

Really like the vehicle for our towing needs and sooo much room for camping/traveling.

I live in the Canadian Prairies where the weather is one extreme to the other. I had a 2022 Yukon Denali (short) and towed our 24x8 enclosed trailer through a blizzard and tons of valleys. It was at this point I realized this truck didn't have the Max Tow package so no trailer brakes. Even then I didn't feel like it was overloaded. I was passing semi's in slippery conditions. But, I went straight back to the dealer and traded it for a 2023 Yukon Denali WITH max towing. Also came with the sensors my 2022 was missing, added the power sliding console and the fancy auto running boards. Straight trade.

 

[tagexpcom]

I live in the Canadian Prairies where the weather is one extreme to the other. I had a 2022 Yukon Denali (short) and towed our 24x8 enclosed trailer through a blizzard and tons of valleys. It was at this point I realized this truck didn't have the Max Tow package so no trailer brakes. Even then I didn't feel like it was overloaded. I was passing semi's in slippery conditions. But, I went straight back to the dealer and traded it for a 2023 Yukon Denali WITH max towing. Also came with the sensors my 2022 was missing, added the power sliding console and the fancy auto running boards. Straight trade.

I was thinking we needed max towing as well - but our main concern is overheating going up mountain grades since we live in Southern Oregon and no matter which direction we have 4,000-6,000ft (10mile long) 6% grades within 50miles in any direction.

The dealer agreed and it was a hot week so we tested at 107F ambient going up one of our local mountain passes - and no hint of trouble with 6.2L and 5,300lb trailer.

The vehicle/6.2L shows no strain pulling this thing - feels like a good decision to go with the Yukon. I agree it was pretty smooth stopping without the brake controller during our test - but the trailer has brakes so we installed the Curt 51170 break controller and it works great / looks nice. Now it stops almost as if there's no trailer at all.

I agree - it would be fun to have the full, integrated setup, and even the see-thru-trailer feature and happy you were able to trade

 

[Onlyone]

I pull a 7500 lb, 32' long camper behind both of our Yukon XL Denali's (2007 & 2012) and can confirm what the others are saying regarding how the weight is distributed through the trailer. When you have heavy items like propane and a generator behind the axles, it adds to the inertia in that area, even if your tongue weight falls within the rule of thumb. Hence the sway. That and the fact that a cargo trailer is basically a brick so it's especially prone to feeling the bow wave from passing trucks. I know you masked it effectively with a WDH, but I'll bet that moving that generator toward the front of the trailer would eliminate much of the sway you felt before adding the WDH.

Wonderful conversion, by the way!

View attachment 408367

Bad ass! Great looking units!

 

[dbphillips]

Too much weight out back will most definitely induce sway, regardless of tongue weight.

@swathdiver is correct - if you have sway, you need more tongue weight. Period. Hard stop.
Yes, 13% is just about ideal, but like anything else, there's always an exception to the rule. I'm guessing a few things - short wheelbase tow vehicle, short wheelbase trailer, and lots of weight out back are all mitigating/contributing factors.

This is the behemoth we used to tow - racked up about 20,000 miles all around the US including Continental Divide passes and the Eisenhower Tunnel (11,000' altitude). Driving on both I-25 and I-80 in Wyoming (arguably some of the windiest stretches of highway anywhere in the country) it was dead-stable. I've never been above a 3 out of 10 on my white-knuckle scale.

Look closely - no WD, no sway control. 8600 lbs, 1120 tongue weight (13%). Parked at Wall Drug in South Dakota.

3/4 ton Suburban? That's kind of cheating.

 

[swathdiver]

Wow - nice tow (above)!

Unless I find something else I'm going to go with 'bad loading' trailer -> camper build out - namely front/back loading has amplified sway.

Funny, I've watched (literally) 100 youtubes on trailer builds but don't recall anyone mentioning this. And it's natural to do front/back because the axles are in the way of water tanks under the floor (for example). Also, it's coming to mind how bedrooms (lighter) are at the front / back ends on a lot of trailers - maybe there's a reason

The original empty weight of my trailer is 2,200lbs which means I've added 3,000lbs of build-out + supplies - way more than I would have guessed when I started. Fortunately it's a 7,000lb trailer so all is within design specs.

Front build-out - water + grey tanks under the floor + kitchen stuff (pans, cans of food)
View attachment 408245

Rear
View attachment 408246


Good news is the weight distribution / sway hitch works well and makes towing smooth AND...

I absolutely LOVE the Yukon - what a pleasure to drive/tow with

Thanks so much for all the comments!!

Love the interior carpentry! That door reminds me of a boat's. I can see now what's causing the sway, all that stuff behind the rear axles. If you get into weighing the tongue weight and each axle, consider also weighing each side or pair of wheels, the left compared to the right.

 

[tagexpcom]

At the risk of going on too much - one of the features listed for the 2021 Yukon Denali w/Premium package is "Trailer Sway Control"....

Obviously it can't fix 'bad trailer loading' but I wonder how effective this is. And I don't know how to tell if the vehicle actually has this feature. For example, our old vehicle got sway (on same trailer) at ~53mph and the Yukon is ~58mph - so maybe this higher mph is partly due to ~7% additional stability due to this feature?

Interested to understand more about how much this can compensate. Its it more of a minor marketing point or something more.

I ask because I slowed down IMMEDIATELY at the first sign of sway... that 2" back/forth visible in the mirror. Clearly one should not continue driving under this condition. But just for the sake of understanding, would the traction control keep sway from becoming a catastrophic wreck more than I was thinking or was that 2" back/forth in spite of the anti-sway control and as dangerous as I'm thinking?