Towing advice

[Anthony]

We are searching for a pre-owned airstream for our family of 5 (1 preschooler, 2 grade schoolers). Looking at 28+ lengths. Trying to identify if our Suburban (02 5300 4wd) is up to the task. Also curious about feasability of adding bunk beds. All advice welcome! Thanks.
The suburban owners manual states GVWR: 7200lbs, max trailer wgt: 7500lbs, GCWR: 13000lbs. What about Sway control? CWR and Hitch weight? How do you determine what you can tow?

[Silvertwinky]

Anthony,

Concerning the bunk beds, we built a set in our previous A/S. We had a 27’ 1975 International Overlander and we removed the vanity and closet in the middle section to build the bunks.

It may look a little bit like something that "Red Green" would do (duct tape) but it worked fine for us. After we sold it the people who purchased it removed them and rebuilt the closet.

You can view pictures of it on the Vintage Airstream site.


http://www.vintageairstream.com/

Go to their archives page and click on 1975 Overlander. That is the A/S we previously owned.


Bill

[jcanavera]

Originally posted by Anthony
The suburban owners manual states GVWR: 7200lbs, max trailer wgt: 7500lbs, GCWR: 13000lbs. What about Sway control? CWR and Hitch weight? How do you determine what you can tow?

Anthony,

I assume you understand GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of your Suburban. That's the maximum load that the Suburban can carry. An important figure that many ignore is the GCWR (gross combined weight rating). You will notice that if you add the GVWR of your Suburban and the max trailer capacity, you now exceed the GCWR of the Suburban. For maximum life of your tow vehicle you should not exceed the GCWR figures.

Technically to be sure, you need to figure out how much cargo and passenger weight you will carry, add the weight of a full tank of gas, and add that to the unloaded weight of the Suburban. Subtract that total weight from the GCWR and you will now find out the maximum load you can tow.

Jack

[Silvertwinkie]

I found on a different car forum that the GVWR of a car, specifically on a GM car is on the driver's door. This is the total weight of the car including all possilbe passengers (average weight), gas, etc.

I'll use my car for an example:

1996 Caprice Classic GVWR 5396lbs

The 5396lbs is if the car has 5 passangers, full tank of gas, spare, jack, fluids full plus a very small bit of cargo in the trunk. If the car only has 2 adult passengers, and all the rest, you can take about 500-600 lbs.

I always thought before I got piled on by about 10 guys on the car forum that the GVWR sticker was what the car weighed period without people, cargo, gas.

Eric