[A/S] Re: Tow 34' wide body with 6 liter GMC

["Maurice Riggins" <maurice.riggins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A non-slide 34' Classic weighs about 8000-8300 pounds dry, depending 
on whether or not it has the Limited package.

You make it "wet" by adding 500 lbs of water (60 gal) and 60-80 
pounds of LP and then it weighs between 8560 and 8880 wet.

It has a maximum gross vehicle weight rating of 9800 lbs fully loaded.

Count on 1200 pounds of tongue weight, so if your Suburban has a GVWR 
of 8600 pounds, it can weigh at most 7400 lbs fully loaded with all 
passengers, cargo, and fuel.  Don't depend on manufacturers specs. 
Get a truck exactly like you're considering on a set of scales, and 
add the weight of the gas it would take to fill it up, the weight of 
the people that'll be in it, and the weight of all the stuff you'll 
be hauling.  If you don't own it yet, you can use the shipping weight 
from on-line catalogs.

Also don't assume you can tow as much as the tow ratings say.  You 
have to subtract the weight of options, people, cargo, etc from 
them.  In other words, they're overly optimistic for most families.

From the Chevy web site:

There is no 6.0L Suburban that's rated to tow 9800 lbs even with the 
overly optimistic ratings.

A 6.0L gas engine has 300 hp, but at a high 4,400 rpm, where it's 
equal to 358 ft-lbs of torque.  It has a peak torque of 360 ft-lbs at 
a high 4,000 rpm.  To make it pull as well as a diesel with 3.73:1 
gearing, a 6.0L would need 4.88:1 gearing AND shorter tires.

The 8.1L Suburban is optimistically rated to tow a bit over 10,000 
pounds with 3.73:1 gearing, and 12,000 pounds with 4.10:1 gearing.

An 8.1L gas engine has 340 hp, but at a high 4,200 rpm, where it's 
equal to 425 ft-lbs of torque.  It has a peak torque of 455 ft-lbs at 
a high (compared to a diesel) 3,200 rpm.  To make it pull as well as 
a diesel with 3.73:1 gearing, an 8.1L would need 4.30:1 gearing.  
This would put its peak hp and peak torque occurring at about the 
same mphs as the diesel's, as well.

I pull a 34' Limited with a Ford F250SD with 7.3L PowerStroke Diesel 
(the same low rpm torque as a Duramax, but not the higher rpm hp) and 
3.73:1 gearing, and with a trailer that heavy, THERE'S NO WAY I'd 
want to have it behind a 6.0L gas engine! I'd say you could get by 
with a 8.1L with 4.10:1 gearing, even though it falls a bit short of 
diesel performance without the unavailable 4.30:1 gearing.

You'd also definitely want the big 37 gallon tank on the 3/4 ton 
Suburban with an 8.1L/4.10:1, which would give about the same range 
as a diesel/3.73:1 with a 26 gallon tank since the fuel mileage on 
the gas engine will be so much poorer.

--
Maurice
WBCCI 5446