Try to decide on a tow rig

[WillEngineer]

I think you will be much happier with a Suburban towing a trailer as opposed to a cabover camper. You will have far more interior room.

You are probably right regarding having a Suburban/Yukon 2500. I could sell my 06 Odyssey and use it as our 3rd vehicle (behind the MDX and F150) to help justify its existence.

 

[Flash1976]

Sorry, no comparison. 2500 trucks are just beefier. They're built for towing. The half-ton trucks are meant for occasional towing. There's a reason why my 2500 weighs almost 1000 lbs more than its half-ton siblings.

I agree 100%. I have a 2000 5.3 Tahoe 4x4, and 2003 2500 Yukon XL 6.0. My tow is 8000 lb. of boat, trailer, and gear. The Tahoe can handle this on the flats and minor grades, but anything like the I-15 East Cajon pass, the I-5 South from Grapevine, or the grade to Desert Center from Palm Springs on I-10 East, would certainly be a death sentence to the Tahoe. But the Yukon does just fine. These are steep grades with temperatures routinely over 100 F. Palm Springs was 121 F yesterday, so you see lots blown cooling systems on I-10 east from Palm Springs to Desert Center.

The toughest grade to date is from Bishop to Reno on Hwy 395 (7% at times going from 4000 ft to over 8200 ft) and Hwy 18 going from the high desert to Big Bear Lake, which starts and 4000 ft, going to nearly 7000 ft, much of which is 10% grade. I have upgraded the radiator and tranny cooler, as the stock units were running hot. I normally average 8.5 to 9.5 mpg on my tows. The 6.0 rev's are smooth, and study. That engine sings! The Yukon has 3.73 rear, with 33" tires, so I would gear down to 4.11 if I had heavier loads.

You can't beat the Chevy's for reliabity. I have 488,000 miles on the Tahoe (original engine, one tranny at 170,000 miles) and I have 160,000 miles on the Yukon. These certainly are better built than any Ford's trucks I have been around.

 

[Larryjb]

You can't beat the Chevy's for reliabity. I have 488,000 miles on the Tahoe (original engine, one tranny at 170,000 miles) and I have 160,000 miles on the Yukon. These certainly are better built than any Ford's trucks I have been around.

I'm not sure I agree with this, at least for the GMT800 platform.

I have been disappointed with my 2002 Tahoe. I'd still get one because of the ease of access and relative simplicity. But, comparing my 2002 Tahoe and 2008 Explorer:

2002 Tahoe, 5.3 flex (250000 km)
intake manifold gasket
heater hose T broke
cylinder head cracked (never overheated)
multiple coolant leaks (thermostat, waterpump)
shocks
steering box, tie rods
oil pan gasket
rear main seal, rear cover gasket
nearly every interior dash/switch bulb
ABS module (yet to be fixed)


2008 Explorer, 4.6L
multiple coolant leaks, Y pipe
wheel bearings
radiator

Yes, there will be more on both trucks as they age. My 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis didn't start dripping oil until it got to be over 300000km. Even my 1999 LeSabre had intake manifold leaks. More recent GM engines seem to be very leaky. My father's 1997 5.7L seems good though.

I got the Tahoe because it was short enough to fit in my garage, but could still tow a decent amount for me. True, I'll never tow a 33' camping trailer loaded with gear, but it tows more than a dinky little tent trailer. I can fit 4' wide material in the back.

If I were looking at a GMTK2xx or GMTk1xx, I'd probably just get thw Suburban because even the Tahoe grew too long for my garage with the GMT900 platform.

 

[avalonandl]

6.2 will handle anything....

do not try this at home...12k

 

[WillEngineer]

6.2 will handle anything....

do not try this at home...12k View attachment 252388

Haha...or ONLY try this at home [and don't leave].

 

[WillEngineer]

Man, I thought I struck gold. My neighbor fixes and resells cars and has probably 10-12 cars on his property. Yesterday, one of my turkeys flew over there and he flagged me down. I saw two Suburbans parked next to one another in his fix it fleet. I was thinking, "could it really be!?!?".

Nope, 1500s. Wasn't that easy. I may still talk to him about keeping an eye out. He gets cars delivered there all the time. He's got some connection.

 

[Flash1976]

6.2 will handle anything....

do not try this at home...12k View attachment 252388

Almost any rig will work in the flats.. Just don't try it on a 10% grade in the desert...

 

[BG1988]

Everybody I know who owned a V10 said it was a POS.
The 6.0 is good if it's bulletproofed, as described above. I've always wondered, though, about how great an engine is if all of these things need to be done to make it durable?
A 7.3 Excursion is a unicorn. Very hard to find, and very expensive if you do find one. Yes, it's basically a medium-duty truck engine, but it's so damn heavy that it actually reduces your rated payload and towing capacity by a not small amount.

Yes, as James mentioned, I've towed some beasts into the Rockies, including Powder River Pass (9666') and the Eisenhower Tunnel (11,100'). You won't be winning races, but you won't be a menace either because you'll still be able to go faster than the big rigs. The 6.0 loves to rev, so let it eat.

This is approaching the Eisenhower Tunnel with a GVW of just over 16,000 lbs..

My current rig, parked at Wall Drug:

that transmission is not going to last very long at 241F.. you should get some upgraded cooling for it or at lest turn on the heater full blast with the windows open

 

[intheburbs]

that transmission is not going to last very long at 241F.. you should get some upgraded cooling for it or at lest turn on the heater full blast with the windows open

Well, 202k miles, still the original transmission, in fact the entire power train is original, I guess I'm just lucky., right? Should probably go out and buy some powerball tickets because my transmission didn't blow up near the Eisenhower Tunnel or Powder River Pass.

And actually, when that picture was taken, we had the A/C blasting because, even at that high of an altitude, it was still hot outside.

Or maybe, just maybe, along with good/frequent PM, the engineers at General Motors actually built the cooling system to do what it's supposed to do?

Nah, all the shade tree mechanics on here know a lot better than the guys designing/building/validating these components.