A friend has a '99 1/2 ton suburban with a 350. He is looking at a 27' travel trailer weighing 8K. He's concerned he's over his max weight. I've never pulled that kind of trailer long distances with a 1/2 ton. My enclosed sled trailer is as tall and wide but loaded weights 5K. When I pulled it with my Z71 350 truck in drive I'd get 7.5 mpg and didn't have a problem. He doesn't plan on putting too many miles and staying in the flat lands, MN, WI, and SD. I told him definatley pull only in drive and you'll get 6-7 mpg but I'm not sure if the tranny is up to it. Knowing already he's borderline do you think the Burb can handle it?

He might want to check his hitch capacity also. Most factory hitches are not even set up that high even with wd.

Used to pull a 25' Toy Hauler with my '01 Tahoe, 5.3, before I got my Duramax. I had even gone so far as to re-do rear end gears, and could still only pull 20 mph up a local mountain road to the desert. Tahoe had exhaust and a Hypertech programmer also. Dry weight of trailer is 5,700 lbs. but probably weighed closer to 8,000 lbs. with toys and gear.

Bottom line: I wouldn't do it again! The Duramax doesn't even know I have anything behind it on the same roads now.

What gears in the Sub? Hitch should be fine, at very least I would install large tranny cooler. Sub will probably pull the trailer fine except for speed and mileage, after all, thats what first and second gears are for on a gasser.