Can I tow this with my 2007 Avalanche?

I am in the market for a travel trailer and have my eye on a 29 foot used Hi-Lo Classic. I have a 2007 Chevy Avalanche to tow it with, but I have the feeling it's not man enough for the job.

I have done tons of homework, but need the teacher to grade it. So here goes...

2007 Chevy Avalanche 5.3L V8 Axle Ration 3.73. Manufacturer specs are...
UVW (Unloaded Vehicle Weight) = 5750
Max Loaded Trailer Weight = 7250 (GCWR - UVW)
GCWR (Total Allowable Weight of Loaded Tower & Trailer) = 13000
GVWR (Total Allowable Weight of the Tow Vehicle) = 7000

The private party seller took his truck and the trailer to a CAT scale. The Hi-Lo company specs the trailer weight is 5750 dry and without optional accessories (Rough guesses - 50 for an A/C unit and 100 for an awning = 5900), that puts 4700 of that CAT scale weight on the trailer axles, and leaves 1200 of it loaded onto the hitch/rear axle of his vehicle. That's 20.34% of the trailer weight pushing on the rear of the vehicle at the hitch, which appears to be the norm. (However, this doesn't account for the weight distribution hitch that will be included which adds more weight...not sure how much though.)

My truck can only allow 7000 on both of it's axles. If I put 4 passengers in my truck (500), have a full tank of gas (186) and add some of the gear I need (50)...that puts my total truck load at 6526 before you add a trailer to it.

Put the 1200 from the trailer on my hitch, now I am up to 7726 on my truck...which is 726 over my GVWR of 7000. The sad part is, that means I can only accommodate 474 pounds of hitch weight...ever. At 20% of trailer weight, my maximum total trailer weight is 2370. Not sure what I can trailer with that?

Now from a different perspective...towable weight. My max is around 7250

Take 5900 for the trailer, then I add 80 for 2 full propane tanks, and 200 for gear, that's 6180 without water in the tank. 6180 is under my max of 7250, but as many people online suggest, you should stay within 80%, which puts my max at 5800. Now I am 380 over my max. If I fudge it a little bit and say 85%, then I am dead on.

And finally, my GCWR (Total Allowable Weight of Loaded Tower & Trailer) is 13000.

If I take my loaded truck weight of 6526 and subtract that from my GCWR of 13000, that gives me 6474 for my trailer. The trailer with all the options and loaded with everything I need for a trip puts me at 6180. So I am 294 under, which is good, but again, if I allow a 20% buffer (max now at 5179), I am now 1000 over.

Am I doing this right? If so, it looks like my truck can't handle this thing. We expect to do some driving up into the northern Arizona mountains, which will put strain on my truck?

So go...or no go?

The trailer hitch weight that you quoted sounds way too high. Maybe someone with a similar trailer can chime in here. Having said this, your TV is limited by its GVWR and how little capacity you have left for trailer hitch weight. I don't think that the real hitch weight of this trailer will be low enough to work with your TV.

I agree with Norton Rider, you won't like towing in the mountains. I towed the 95, 21ft with no problems but the 2209 is another 500lbs heavier and it puts my Explorer very close to the max.
I can tell you first hand that it works but not well in the mountains and requires a lot of manual shifting of the auto trans to keep it from overheating. I had planed on getting a truck but that didn't happen, but plan on having one by fall. I would say either pass on that trailer and get a smaller one or get a better truck.

I forgot that if you get another truck be sure it has the factory tow package, some give you a bigger radiator, a trans cooler for towing, along with the hitch. These items give you maximum towing capacity.

I hear you. The unfortunate part is that I bought my Avy 5 years ago knowing that I would be towing something, so it has the factory tow package. I originally thought I would be towing a wakeboard boat, not a huge trailer. Plus I didn't know anything about truck and trailer weights at the time.

I know now.

Just leave the passengers behind

Norton Rider said:

Just leave the passengers behind

Click to expand...

Thanks for the stress relieving option.

Oddly enough it just so happens that I am the private seller in question. So here is my information to help in understanding the weights for the buyer.

First I have looked at the 1999 brochure and it lists the UVW at 5750 but the same exact model listed in the 2000 year brochure lists the UVW at 5250. Not sure if there is any big difference since all the options are relatively the same. Also it seems to correspond more to what I have weighed my trailer at.

I weighed my truck and trailer at the CAT scales yesterday. Front axle truck on first platform at 3060 lbs Drive axle truck on second platform at 3800 and the trailer with both axles on the last platform at 4700. The Gross weight is 11560 lbs.

About a year ago I had weighed the truck and trailer but I think I did it incorrectly, because I had both axles of my truck on the first platform and the weight was 6700 on the steer axle weight on the form, and I had the front axle of the trailer on the second platform at 3240 and the second trailer axle on the last platform at 1540. Gross weight is 11480 lbs. Which is only 80 lb difference, and I think it is possible that my 5th grader was not in the vehicle when we measured it then.

My truck is a 2008 Toyota Tundra Crewmax 4x2 towing capacity of 10,400 lbs. So for me I was fine with the weights.

To help understand more, on my truck the GVWR is 7000 lbs and a Cargo Capacity of 1400 lbs. So that would mean my truck UVW is approx. 5600.

If you add in the weights for 2 adults and an average 5th grader I guessed at 440lbs, (220+140+80).

That puts my truck weight at 5600 + 440 = 6040

If you add in weight of gas, I looked this morning I was just at 1/2 tank. Full tank is 26.4 gals. So 1/2 tank (13 gals) at 6lbs a gallon of gas would be 78 lbs. I will just use 75lbs. Truck weight 6040 + 75 gas = 6115 lbs

Next, if you take the Gross weight 11560 minus the TV weight 6115 that gives you 5445 left. If you deducted the AC and awning that was referred to earlier around 150 lbs, not sure that is accurate though, it would come close to the 5250 UVW of the trailer, which is what I think it really is due to the weights I am seeing.

Also as Norton said the TW seems to be high, and that is correct. The brochure lists it at 775 lbs.
If you look at my steer (front) axle truck weight at 3060 and take the drive (rear) axle truck weight at 3800 it comes to 6860 then deduct the TV weight I have of 6115 it comes to 745 lbs TW, which is close to what the brochure stated also and not at 1200 lbs as thought. I have the equalizer hitch with bars rated for 1000 lbs also. So, for me it is rated correctly.

Now for your values you have a max tow rating stated of 7250 and if you want to keep at the 80% value that would be 5800.

If you take the 5800 minus 5445 that leaves 350 lbs cargo capacity on the trailer from what I measure. I have unloaded everything from my trailer this morning and I would say that I did not have anywhere near 350 lbs of cargo loaded on it.

Now if take 5400 instead of the 5900 lbs you calculated for the trailer weight (the 500 lb diff from UVW of 5750 to 5250) and add the cargo weight you are suggesting added for propane and gear of 280 lbs that comes to 5680 which is under the 80% value of 5800 lbs.

Hopefully this will help in explaining or understanding a little more. To me it looks like it should be within your limits, but of course I have a vested interest. As the seller, I am trying to be as helpful as possible and honest in the disbursement of information as possible. I am sure others will add in there take and help the buyer to make a determination if they feel comfortable pulling this trailer or not. Thanks

Welcome to the party PappaP...if that's your REAL name! LOL

How did you know that it was me? jk, I knew this was a forum you visited...I saw your post for sale. Didn't realize you were a "Senior Member" though!

Actually, I am glad you chimed in here. I was going to send you my original post at some point after I got some "third party" opinions via these forums and hash this out. I obviously need some help with these numbers to make sure I am not "pushing it" with this truck. (I love my Avalanche and don't want to part with it.)

Let me soak in what you have added here...at first glance, it makes better sense to me than what I came up with. Would love others who are experienced also to chime in as well as to what they think as to what PappaP responded.

OK...I had a feeling that my TW calc was just ludicrous. So let's start there.

Brochure listed TW is 775, but by PappaP's calculation it's closer to 745, so let's use real numbers.

Now I need to validate the weight of my truck. By PappaP's method, if I take my GVWR of 7000 and subtract the Cargo Cap of 1361, I get 5639. However, as I read elsewhere, the cargo cap assumes a full tank of gas, so I will subtract 186 for that, and get 5453 as the UVW of my vehicle.

Now, let's find out what the truck will weigh loaded. I will add 540 for passengers, 50 for cargo, and 186 to put the gas back in it. That's a GVW fully loaded of 6229.

Now add the 745 for the actual TW of the trailer, and I get 6974, which is just below my 7000 GVWR by 26 pounds.

Is there any need for a safety buffer here? I don't think so, just for the total tow weight...right?

The closest CAT scale to me is 30 minutes away...perhaps it's worth taking a drive to get real numbers for my TV here too.

DancherBoi said:

Is there any need for a safety buffer here? I don't think so, just for the total tow weight...right?

The closest CAT scale to me is 30 minutes away...perhaps it's worth taking a drive to get real numbers for my TV here too.

Click to expand...

I would definitely weigh your truck. Fill the tank just before you do it, so you minimize the calculations.

I have towed for a number of years including a lot of mountain and desert towing. Both of my previous TVs (89 Chevy C1500, and 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee) were very close to their GCVWR with my previous trailer. So I did not apply any safety factor and never had a problem. Even though I did not apply a safety factor, I did stay within all the weight limits.

Now let's talk trailer weight and the two capacity of my Avalanche.

What's very interesting is that my Avalanche GVWR is exactly what PappaP's Tundra is at 7000. And, his cargo capacity is 1400 which is very close to my 1361. But his towing capacity is 10000+, whereas mine is in the 7000+ range. What this says to me is that my truck can take about the same weight capacity on it, but can't pull as much. So I should be less worried about TW since my setup is very close to his, and more worried about Trailer Pull Weight since they are so different.

So here goes...My maximum trailer weight rating is 7100 or 7200. It depends on where you read that from. Manual says 7100, TrailerLife.com says 7200.

Based on PappaP's actual values and math, we are looking at the trailer UVW at 5445. Add 80 (probably less since he most likely had some propane in the tanks when he went to the weigh station) for propane and 200 for estimated cargo ready for a trip (food, drinks, packs, toys, etc). We will let the water tank be dry while traveling. That's 5725. As per the manual, 20% of 7100 is 5680, which puts me over by 45 pounds, which can be avoided by only carrying one of the propane tanks full. And of course, if we go by TrailerLife's posted max trailer weight, I am well under the safe zone by over 100 pounds.

Again, does this seem a legitimate way of thinking here?

Norton Rider said:

I would definitely weigh your truck. Fill the tank just before you do it, so you minimize the calculations.

Click to expand...

Will do. Looks like I am taking the wife and kids out for a fun night...to Love's!!!

Norton Rider said:

I have towed for a number of years including a lot of mountain and desert towing. Both of my previous TVs (89 Chevy C1500, and 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee) were very close to their GCVWR with my previous trailer. So I did not apply any safety factor and never had a problem. Even though I did not apply a safety factor, I did stay within all the weight limits.

Click to expand...

That is comforting...Thanks.

So I had a family date night tonight...went for pizza, then to Flying J.

After doing some re-math before I went based on PappaP's post, if you can believe this, the actual weight of my truck on the scale was within 1 pound of my new calculation.

My truck weighed 5640 with a full tank of gas, no cargo and no passengers. Add 550 for me and my other 3 passengers and 745 for the trailer tongue, that gets me to 6935. Subtract my 7000 GVWR, that leaves 65 pounds for cargo. Which for me might just mean to put all my cargo in the trailer as we tow it.

What makes me feel better about this, is that PappaP (it's silly having to call you this here since I know you by your real name...but want to protect your privacy, LOL) mentioned that his vehicle also has an identical 7000 GCWR, and his truck weighs nearly what mine does (5600 for his). So pound for pound we are even, except he has one less passenger (100 pounds difference). If his truck can handle the weight on the rear axle, then I am sure mine can. And he is from around here and goes to the types of places I plan to.

I think I am in a better place when it comes to vehicle weight capacity...do you agree?

The next step is getting 100% on towing the trailer. But I think I am getting there.

DancherBoi said:

So here goes...My maximum trailer weight rating is 7100 or 7200. It depends on where you read that from. Manual says 7100, TrailerLife.com says 7200.

Click to expand...

Most auto manufacturers have a separate towing/trailering guide available. Here's the one that covers a 2007 Avalanche: http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Chevy/specs/gmcl_trailering_brochure_02_EN.pdf.

Norton Rider said:

Most auto manufacturers have a separate towing/trailering guide available. Here's the one that covers a 2007 Avalanche: http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Chevy/specs/gmcl_trailering_brochure_02_EN.pdf.

Click to expand...

That's awesome...I didn't know that. Thank you.