Adding Additional Equipment to Tow Trailer

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stevem4134

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stevem4134
Hello,

I am new to the forum. I have searched the forums for ideas and answers to my many questions. I have found many answers and want to thank the individuals providing those answers. But one question remains.

My truck is rated for a trailer GVWR of 7000 lbs. I would like to buy a trailer with a dry weight between 5000 and 6000 lbs. This way I should be able to travel into the mountains.

My truck is an 08 Avalanche with a 5.3 L engine and 3.73 gear ratio (hence the 7000 lbs). It has a factory receiver and the trailer pigtail along with the wiring to add a third party brake controller. My question is:

Should I perform the following modifications to my truck:
Add an aux transmission cooler?
Add an engine oil cooler?
Replace my OEM receiver?
Add a second battery?

Is there anything I may have left out?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Steve
 
I doubt if any of those things are necessary, especially the replacement receiver and second battery. You can always add an aux cooler later if needed, but the pick-ups usually have a pretty decent cooling system anyway.

To travel the mountains regularly, you should decrease the tow rating by about 20% to leave yourself room for passengers in the truck and some reserve power. You can't tow the full 7000 lbs and also have a load of passengers and gear at the same time. Your 5.3L engine is also going to be short of low-end grunt power, so staying well within its rating is advisable if you will be seeing steep grades (anything over 4%). I'd recommend a trailer with a dry weight in the 4500-5000 lb range.
 
Hello Steve and welcome to The RV Forum.  We think it is the friendliest RV forum on the internet, and it sounds as though you have figured that out already.  Please join any of our discussions that are of interest, too.

Welcome aboard!
 
I was in a very similar situation, but I took a slightly different approach.  I was really set on a floor plan that weighed in at about 6,000 dry.  That put the gross trailer weight up around 8,200, which most people told me to prepare for.  My Ford truck too was rated to tow a trailer at just under 7000 with a 5.4L engine.  Since my truck was in really good shape, and I figured I would be trading it many times over before trading the camper, I opted to change the gear ratio from a 3.73 to a 4.30.  This increased my tow rating by about 2000 pounds according to Ford's tow guides.  It cost me about $1,500 to do it, but I knew the vehicle I had was very well kept by me.  If I traded for a used vehicle with a bigger engine, I figured I may end up spending well over the $1,500 to fix the reason the last guy got rid of it.  My next vehicle will definitely be prepared to comfortably tow my TT, but I believe this should get me by for now.  I couldn't afford a new truck and a new TT at the same time, and doubt I would have ever got what I really wanted in a TT if I didn't get it the first time.  I didn't even want to THINK about trying to get THAT passed congress.  :)

Good Luck!
 
Also as someone pointed out to me, if you decide to take the route I took, make sure your truck can "legally" tow more weight with a gear ratio change.  You can find this out by seeing if your vehicle had the option to have a 4.10 gear ratio in the year of truck you have.  It will show what the tow rating is with that gear vs the 3.73 you have now.
 
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