Grrrh! Used Car salesmen. OK, I've got a 22 ft CCD and I've pretty well decided I want to tow it with a Suburban. I know I need a 4.1 rear end as well as extra cooling on the brake and transmission fluids and extendable towing mirrors. I'm sure I'll have to add the brake controller myself.
I'd far rather buy a used one than a new one and I'm aware of the piston slap issue so I'll be very careful. Trouble? Not one sales guy I've talked to has any idea HOW to tell what rear end is in any given vehicle. Knowing this forum is the source for ALL useful knowledge, please tell me so I can check for myself. Is there something in the VIN number or on the manufacturing plate that I can check?
I'm about ready to try E-Bay (yuck) and traderonline.com.
On my Ford van you can decode it off the door sticker. The manual has instructions on decoding.
Never trust used car dealers. They know NOTHING! I once spent twenty minutes watching a Chevy salesman try to figure out how to open the trunk on a 68 vette. Here's a hint - 68 vettes don't have trunks! He just kept saying, 'hold on, I've almost got it'....
Grrrh! Used Car salesmen. OK, I've got a 22 ft CCD and I've pretty well decided I want to tow it with a Suburban. I know I need a 4.1 rear end as well as extra cooling on the brake and transmission fluids and extendable towing mirrors. I'm sure I'll have to add the brake controller myself.
I'd far rather buy a used one than a new one and I'm aware of the piston slap issue so I'll be very careful. Trouble? Not one sales guy I've talked to has any idea HOW to tell what rear end is in any given vehicle. Knowing this forum is the source for ALL useful knowledge, please tell me so I can check for myself. Is there something in the VIN number or on the manufacturing plate that I can check?
I'm about ready to try E-Bay (yuck) and traderonline.com.
Thanks, Tin Lizzie
It is my understanding that the codes below would be of most interest for trailer towing on post-2000 Suburbans (there would be differences in the 1999 and before as they were of the older body style):
Both of my GM SUVs have the optional equipment coding sheets on the inside of the glove box door ('99 GMC K2500 Suburban and '94 S-10 Blazer).
My '99 is the first Suburban that I have owned, but it is my second large SUV (the first was an '84 Jeep Grand Wagoneer -- full-size prior to downsizing). I find the station wagon style body to be so much more useful than the two pickups that I owned - - I doubt that I will ever purchase another pickup.
Good luck with your search!
Kevin
__________________
Kevin D. Allen WBCCI (Lifetime Member)/VAC/Free Wheelers #6359 AIR #827
1964 Overlander International/1999 GMC K2500 Suburban (7400 VORTEC/4.11 Differentials)
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre/1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible (8.2 Liter V8/2.70 Final Drive)
Hmmm,
Let's see, original post made at 12:26 p.m. and good answer made at 1:07 p.m. Not bad at all.
__________________ Craig
AIR #0078
'01 2500hd ext. cab, 8.1 litre gas, 5 sp. Allison auto
3.73 rear end
Mag-Hytec rear diff cover
Amsoil Dual by-pass oil filtration system
Amsoil synthetics all around
265 watt AM Solar, Inc. system
The codes mentioned in the one of the other posts are RPO (regular published option) codes. There is typically a sticker in the glovebox with these codes.
You don't need the 4.10 rear to pull your 22 ft trailer if you can find a 3/4 ton. I have a 03 Suburban with the 6.0 and 3.73 rear, pulling a 25 ft. Sovereign and it works fine (well within the tow rating). Fuel economy runs 11.5 - 12 mpg towing.
I never imagined that I would end up with a burb. I test drove the pickups as well as the full-size van, and the burb came out on top.
Well I just talked to a nice man in Kitty Hawk North Carolina who has an '04 DuraMax Crew Cab with 31,000 miles on it for $33,848. That's probably a pretty good deal, but is more than I really want to pay for a tow vehicle.
Says he can't find a Suburban with a tow package anywhere and he's hooked into the Chevy network.
Not gonna give up though, I'll just expand my search area.
That's approximately what I paid for my burb new. The markup on trade ins is substantial. Use online guides such as Kelly or Edmunds to help set a value.
It's 115 miles away and has the 6.0L engine. It's a 3/4 ton (not that you need that much for a 22') at Witmore Chevy Olds
__________________
Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 11/91
Well I just talked to a nice man in Kitty Hawk North Carolina who has an '04 DuraMax Crew Cab with 31,000 miles on it for $33,848. That's probably a pretty good deal, but is more than I really want to pay for a tow vehicle.
Says he can't find a Suburban with a tow package anywhere and he's hooked into the Chevy network.
Not gonna give up though, I'll just expand my search area.
sigh, Tin Lizzie
If you haven't already discovered the GM Certified Used search tool, you can access the GM Certified Used vehicle inventory of every GM dealer via:
Quick Links
Suburban as Tow Vehicle 
What's a man good for? 
Overlander64 
Sniff... boo hoo... 
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