Towing questions GMC ACADIA

Hi  I HAVE A 2015 GMC ACADIS WITH TOWING PACKAGE  5000 LB TOWING CAPACITY    GVWR IS 6459LBS  WEIGHT OF VEHICLE IS 4835  WE HAVE A 2013 TRAVEL STAR 187TB HYBRID CAMPER THAT WEIGHS 3814LBS  CAN CARRY 600 LBS IN TRAILER  JUST CAME BACK FROM TRIP  3 HOURS EACH WAY  TOWED FINE  WEXEPT ONCE OR TWICE TEMP GAUGE WENT UP 10 TO 15 DEGREES UP FROM WHERE IT ALWAYS IS  AM WONDERING WHERE I AM AT AS FAR AS TOWING SAFELY?  FAMILY WEIGHT IS ABOUT 750LBS AND WE HAD ROUGHLY BETWEEN 400 AND 500 LBS OF WEIGHT IN TRAILER  AM HOPING TO GO CROSS COUNTRY IN ABOUT 4 WEEKS AND THAT WILL INCLUDE MOUNTAINS AND HEAT ALSO  ANY HELP WITH THESES QUESTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED  THANKS JIM

Jim, Welcome back to the forum.
Just a little tip, don't use upper case letters in your entire post. Some people feel that you're shouting at them. We can do very well reading with lower case letters and an occasional upper case.  Safe travels.

Note: I can't help you with your questions but others will probably have an answer soon.

Sorry about that  usually forget to capitalize where i am supposed to so just left it

OK, here we go!!

Your vehicle payload is  GVWR  6459  minus  vehicle wt  4835  =  1624#

Max camper wt is 4400#, so tongue wt is between 440# (10%) and 520# (12%)

The car is carrying 750# of people, 520# of camper tongue wt and 80# hitch = 1350#

You have 275# still available for cargo carried in the Acadia. 

Your GCW is  6459 + 4400 - 275 - 520  = 10,064#    ( vehicle + camper - excess payload, not used - tongue wt, counted in both vehicle and camper wt)  Verify this is less than your Acadia GCWR.

The overheating probably occurred  when going up a long grade or a steep grade, making the engine work harder, thus generating more heat.  Solutions include a larger radiator,  or slowing down on the hills.  If the car gets too hot, pull over and let the engine idle, circulating coolant through the engine while the radiator cools things off.  DO NOT TURN ENGINE OFF!  When you arrive at a destination, make sure to allow the car to idle until it is running at normal temps.  If you do not, when you shut the car off, the engine will continue to heat (expand) the coolant and likely overflow the reservoir.  When things cool back off, the coolant level may be low.  20/20 hindsight.

Thank you  have been looking for that magic GCWR all day  where do i find that?    did not see that number on inside of door  thx again

ok  think i found it in owners manual  it says GCWR for my truck is10450    so i am close but good right??

Look on the door pillar. There should be a yellow sticker with all the "magic" numbers on it that are particular to YOUR vehicle as it was built at the factory. Those numbers do NOT include the weights of any options/accessories added by the dealer, so you may need to check your factory/dealer window sticker if you have it for any dealer added options.

Other help with the heating is to turn off the air conditioner and also turn on the heater.

"close" and "good" don't really belong in the same sentence.  Getting close to the max weight limit means everything is stressed somewhat, so not surprising you saw signs of imminent overheating. You will probably see it again on long grades or very hot days. Be prepared to slow down, or pull over and fast idle to cool it down some.

I owned an Acadia for 7 years. It's an excellent vehicle but not really a heavy hauler, so be caustious up around the limits.

Thanks for the advice  going as light as possible  going to try and find a place to get truck and trailer weighed before i go to make sure i have some room

BoomerD said:

Look on the door pillar. There should be a yellow sticker with all the "magic" numbers on it that are particular to YOUR vehicle as it was built at the factory. Those numbers do NOT include the weights of any options/accessories added by the dealer, so you may need to check your factory/dealer window sticker if you have it for any dealer added options.

Click to expand...

The yellow label does not include GCWR.

ok  thanks for the help  went to cat scales and weighed truck and trailer today  front axle was 2640  rear axle was 2920 and trailer axle was 3720  for a total of 9280  daughter was in truck so 9180 really  according to owners manual GCWR IS 10400  family weighs of 5 about 750pounds  so am figuring i can put about 300 pounds in camper and truck still correct??    not sure if it matters  trailer axle was a little under dry weight  and truck axles were about 500 pounds over    i think tounge weight comes into play here but not sure where or how??    any help will be greatly appreciated  thanks again

You really need to locate the yellow sticker on the door pillar and find the CCC, (cargo carrying capacity). This is the weight you can carry, not the weight you can pull. It is the weight of everything and everyone in the vehicle as well as the weight of the hitch and the tongue weight of the trailer. It is usually the first weight limit to be reached.

You need to load up your car and camper as you will be using it and get a cat scale of the weights. You should read up on how to weigh it so that you have real numbers for tongue weight. Search here for using a cat scale. There is a procedure to use that will give you accurate numbers for all the weights which involves weighing the trailer and tow vehicle separately as well as connected and weight bars on and off. Until you do the full procedure you are just guessing and since you are clearly very close to maxing out your vehicle it is even more important to do so.

The crossover SUVs can do alot of things but they usually are not great tow vehicles and are more car than truck. You need to think about what happens when your trailer brakes fail and your vehicle is now trying to stop double the weight it was designed for. Getting the weight moving is far easier than controlling and stopping the weight in an emergency. A safety margin of 10 to 20 percent of your  vehicles capacity is a good margin for safety. And make sure your tires are rated for the weight as well.

Good luck, hope it all works out and you have a great trip.

Sounds like you are marginally OK, but do not assume you will like the performance or handling as you get near the 10,400 lb GVWR. What the Acadia can do is not necessarily what it is comfortable doing. And operating at its extreme limits is also high wear & tear.

Since you weighed with the trailer hitched to the Acadia, the portion of the trailer weight that rests on the hitch (the tongue weight) was included in the Acadia's weight (mostly on the rear axle). The trailer axles were only carrying about 90% of the actual trailer weight. If you want to know what the trailer itself weighs, you would need to unhitch it on the scale and weigh just the trailer.  Or unhitch the trailer and leave it off the scale, weighing the Acadia by itself and subtract that from the combined car & trailer number.  You will likely be surprised if you do that, too. The trailer always weighs more than you think.

ok  just got back from weighing the acadia  going to sit down and try and figure it out