Suspension enhancements for trailer towing

[intheburbs]

Personally, I think the stock one is fine. I read somewhere that these trucks were designed to tow through Death Valley.

A good friend of mine is a transmission validation engineer at GM. He works at the Milford Proving Grounds. When he was first hired, the first transmission he worked on was the 6L80/6L90 validation for GMT900.

I was concerned about seeing the occasional 235-240° trans temp when pulling long grades in the Rockies. I asked him if I should be concerned, and if I need to modify the truck in any way. His exact words were, "Don't worry about it. We did much worse during validation."

I beat the snot out of my truck - heavy towing, driving it like I stole it, etc. 185k miles, original engine and transmission, still functioning perfectly.

 

[drboyd]

Bonus question, how is the transmission cooler included with the K5L HD towing package. It looks a little small, should I replace it with a bigger one?

 

[drboyd]

First of all - yes. You want the biggest transmission cooler you can buy. Even the biggest one is much cheaper than a transmission.

Second - with the correct hitch setup, you shouldn't have the rear end sag more than the front end. You need an anti-sway load leveling hitch.

I pull a 4000# Airstream with my Tahoe. It's not the fastest going up hills, but I'm also not in the contest to see who blows up their motor first.

Don't just buy a trailer, plop it on the ball and hope for the best. You'll be much better off (and much more safe) doing your research on the best hitch setup.

I personally have a Reese Straitline hitch, and I'm not even interested in trying anything else. I have no suspension upgrades whatsoever, other than poly swaybar bushings and Bilstein shocks all around..

 

[jamoody]

I have a 2017 Yukon SLE and added a transmission cooler (https://www.etrailer.com/Transmission-Coolers/GMC/Yukon/2017/D13503.html?vehicleid=2017749849) inline and downstream of the existing cooling. I'm pulling 3700 lb trailer through the Rockies at the moment, up and down 6-8% grades with no issues. Transmission temps get to 200 max.