Towing a trailer

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Bigburb3500

Full Access Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2024
Posts
234
Reaction score
422
I towed a 7000-lb trailer with a half-ton Suburban. I broke stuff. The rear axle. Several times. While on vacation.

The weak link in these half-tons is the rear axle. It's, frankly, just weak. It doesn't like to be at max load, and it gets hot if you're on a long trip.

Are you going to be towing 60 miles up to the lake? Go for it. Or are you talking about cross-country road trips? That would be a big "no."

Unlike a pickup, the SUVs have a lot more weight on the rear axle - lots more body and glass. This in turn ends up overloading the rear axle before you get anywhere near the vehicle's "tow rating." Don't forget, people, pets and gear also add to the rear axle weight.

Look for "half-ton towable" trailers. They'll be light enough that you'll be less likely to overload that rear axle. Personally, I'm less concerned about the length, because there are hitch setups like the Hensley Arrow that eliminate sway, as opposed to a simple friction sway brake.

Last thing - more tongue weight means more stability and less sway. Of course, that runs completely afoul of trying to keep from overloading that rear axle. So it's a bit of a tightrope walk. The main reason I upgraded to my 2500 is because the rear axle can carry DOUBLE the weight of the half-ton trucks. As opposed to being the WEAKEST link on the half-tons, the rear axle is the STRONGEST part of the 2500 powertrain.
Thank you for commenting, I couldn’t remember your handle as I knew you would have great insight!
 

intheburbs

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Posts
859
Reaction score
1,631
Location
SE MI
curious what broke in the rear end?

First time it threw the pinion bearing. Partially my fault. The trailer brakes were not operating at 100% and I was downshifting whenever I needed to slow down. Came up to the Ohio Turnpike toll booth near Youngstown and just as I was downshifting to first we hear a loud bang and then what sounds like bolts in a blender. Got to spend 3 days in Youngstown instead of Washington DC.

Second time was a catastrophic failure from overheating. I don't know if the axle oil cooked off or sprung a leak, but the rear end went into nuclear meltdown and seized just outside Mitchell, SD. Again, got to spend 4 days there instead of Yellowstone and Rushmore. Had to truck in a new axle from Minneapolis. Ended up traveling the rest of that trip at night to keep axle temps down.

Fortunately, we have AAA+rv, so the costs of towing (flatbed for Suburban, pickup for trailer, up to 200 miles) were zero.

That was the gift that kept on giving. I didn't want to waste another day breaking in the new rear for 500 miles before towing. We hitched up and drove away. A year later the axle started chattering and grinding. We replaced the axle under warranty, but labor was not covered.

So that truck just rolled 300k miles earlier this year, has the original engine and transmission, but is wearing rear axle number 4.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
132,471
Posts
1,868,814
Members
97,180
Latest member
YukonATL21
Top