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Talk to me about SUV tow rigs

Cameronswmp9

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Raleigh NC
I've been out of the off road scene for a while, and starting to get back into it and looking for a project. Part of a project is moving it, so a tow rig is in order soon.

But I need a family hauler too. 3 kids and their friends too won't fit in a crew cab truck, at least not comfortably. We had a 1500 suburban and absolutely loved it, until a hit and run totalled it.

Project is looking like a full size, at least 3/4 ton truck, gas. So not heavy, but not light either. Family toter has to come first. Will serve DD, road trips, towing, and some light off road (beach, camping, etc). 3 rows is a requirement.

I have been thinking about the 2500 suburban a few years old, but newer half tons are showing the same towing capacity. I haven't looked hard at Excursions, but the Ford gas engines do little to excite me of that vintage, and don't really see the need for a diesel.

I'm not going to buy brand new, but a few years old. Would go older for a better rig, but being a daily and nd family truckster the creature comforts and safety are important.

What should I be looking at, or am I asking something of a rig that's not up to the task?
 
The only way I would fuck with a 3/4 ton Suburban is if you can find one of the older ones with an 8.1 which is a truck I've only ever read about existing and never seen. The also seem to have gone away in 2013/2014 so best case you're looking at a 10 year old rig with possibly the lowest quality interior GM ever gave the buying public. If your towing involves hills or high speeds you'll have to be comfortable with a 6.0 turning some decent RPM to get the job done. No diesel 'Burbs from GM since the 90's.

Only other 3/4 ton SUV is the Excursion and all those are even older. I'm biased (Ford dork) and really prefer them chassis wise over a 3/4 ton GM. They are either cheap because they have a 6.0 or they're a lot of $$$ for a 20 year old rig. at least around here. V10 tows well for a gas job, 7.3 is a 7.3 but they also command a hefty premium.

You really sound like you need a pickup and a mini-van.
 
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TrikeKid said:
The only way I would fuck with a 3/4 ton Suburban is if you can find one of the older ones with an 8.1 which is a truck I've only ever read about existing and never seen. The also seem to have gone away in 2013/2014 so best case you're looking at a 10 year old rig with possibly the lowest quality interior GM ever gave the buying public. If your towing involves hills or high speeds you'll have to be comfortable with a 6.0 turning some decent RPM to get the job done. No diesel 'Burbs from GM since the 90's.

Only other 3/4 ton SUV is the Excursion and all those are even older. I'm biased (Ford dork) and really prefer them chassis wise over a 3/4 ton GM. They are either cheap because they have a 6.0 or they're a lot of $$$ for a 20 year old rig. at least around here. V10 tows well for a gas job, 7.3 is a 7.3 but they also command a hefty premium.

You really sound like you need a pickup and a mini-van.
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Everything you have said (except the minivan nonsense) is what I was thinking too.

Other things I am considering is the 2500 Suburban tow capacity (2013, according to the Googles) is 9600, which is what they are saying of the new Expedition (though fuck that 3.5) Wagoneer, and the Durango is in the ball park. I'm sure the 1/2 ton class is all right there too. So other than E load range tires and 10 years of who knows what, what am I really getting? Somewhat rhetorical question, whereas a newer suburban 1500 or other with the same towing capacity is any better at others things too....
 
Anything with 8lug wheels is going to haul better than a half ton. I like the 2500 Burb idea; vortec big block.

I had an e350 with 7.3psd and do not recommend. 10years ago they had too many miles and hours of neglect to be reliable. Engine work on these is a bitch.
 
If you’re patient then Look around for a newer fleet 3500 suburban. Still a 6.0 though and expensive. Or pay for a duraburb conversion on any gmt800 or gmt900. How much money you got for this?
 
Awful lot of hate for 6.0 in here … I’ve pulled thousands of miles with a skid loader behind a 6.0 with no issues and with cattle and all sorts of other things heavier than any trail rig you’re going to haul . The general public has the mindset now that you’ve got to have a dually to haul a four wheeler.

As someone who currently is swapping out valve springs on a 6.7 Cummins at my brothers farm , I don’t recommend them to anyone that doesn’t absolutely need one . At 150/hr for repairs trending towards 250/hr( peterbuilt and Cummins are already charging this locally) you need to have deep pockets if you can’t work on it yourself .
 
Like you said, daily driving should come first. Second, in my opinion, should come availability. I spend too much time chasing unicorn vehicles. For most people, they would worry too much about that one time they needed to haul 7 people, and end up with a vehicle they didn’t really enjoy or was a nightmare to work on to fit that one time.

For instance, an E350 is rugged and fairly capable. It’s also uncomfortable, with a pretty awful suspension. Go sit in the passenger seat, and tell me how excited you’d be to do a road trip in one.

If your normal use is 4 people, buy a damned pickup. Then that 2 times in the next 10 years that everyone actually comes, have your wife follow along in a car. Don’t sentence her to driving a huge vehicle for the next however many years so you can entertain the neighbor kids twice.
 
OHV Wildcat said:
Like you said, daily driving should come first. Second, in my opinion, should come availability. I spend too much time chasing unicorn vehicles. For most people, they would worry too much about that one time they needed to haul 7 people, and end up with a vehicle they didn’t really enjoy or was a nightmare to work on to fit that one time.

For instance, an E350 is rugged and fairly capable. It’s also uncomfortable, with a pretty awful suspension. Go sit in the passenger seat, and tell me how excited you’d be to do a road trip in one.

If your normal use is 4 people, buy a damned pickup. Then that 2 times in the next 10 years that everyone actually comes, have your wife follow along in a car. Don’t sentence her to driving a huge vehicle for the next however many years so you can entertain the neighbor kids twice.
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Would be my DD. She has a 19 crossover Cherokee, and I like driving the bigger stuff anyway. But I do understand your thought process. An E350 does nothing to stir the jollies in driving. I hate those vans, Chevy Express same thing. But our normal is 5. And our trips range from 1-13 hours, so far. 5 in a full size crew cab for an hour is one thing, for 13 is completely different.

Leadfoot21 said:
Awful lot of hate for 6.0 in here … I’ve pulled thousands of miles with a skid loader behind a 6.0 with no issues and with cattle and all sorts of other things heavier than any trail rig you’re going to haul . The general public has the mindset now that you’ve got to have a dually to haul a four wheeler.

As someone who currently is swapping out valve springs on a 6.7 Cummins at my brothers farm , I don’t recommend them to anyone that doesn’t absolutely need one . At 150/hr for repairs trending towards 250/hr( peterbuilt and Cummins are already charging this locally) you need to have deep pockets if you can’t work on it yourself .
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That's one reason Diesel is out for me. I love diesels, but it's unjustified for me. The last one I had 03 F250 7.3 I got for a great deal but moved my old car trailer once, and pulled a small utility trailer a handful of times, and with things changing now, for my needs a gasser would still work fine.

I agree, a gasser would do the job, but be better when not hooked to a trailer for those DD duties.
 
Buy a fucking Grand Cherokee or any other 3-row unibody SUV. If you're not towing every weekend it'll be fine. I know a guy who hauled ~6000lb of construction material ever week for 2yr with one.

OHV Wildcat said:
For instance, an E350 is rugged and fairly capable. It’s also uncomfortable, with a pretty awful suspension. Go sit in the passenger seat, and tell me how excited you’d be to do a road trip in one.
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Because a leaf sprung excursion is so much better. :lmao:

tracyb said:
you need an econoline.


your thinking burban... for the same reasons my wife drives one. e350 is the perfect rig for your needs.
/thread. your welcome.
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BUT IT dOESn'T HaVE FOur WhEel DrivE
 
arse_sidewards said:
BUT IT dOESn'T HaVE FOur WhEel DrDrivE
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But he wants a project.

Add an axle and a t case, he'll have an easy project and the best rig fur his needs.


I have to have bed space or my camp/ tow rig would be an e350. I don't need a rig to stir my jollies, just get the job done comfortably
 
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What's the budget? I see $5k burbs and excursions mentioned along with $40k expeditions.....

I liked our 01 burb 2500, but it drank a lot of fuel for its performance. Never did any kind of tuning fwiw. The 2015 ecoboost we have now kills it in every way except lug count :homer: I'd vote new expedition if your budget is $35k+, 2nd gen sequoia if you want to spend a little less, then V10 excursion and 2500 burb as fairly equal since either one could be decent or a worn out pos at this point in their life.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
What's the budget? I see $5k burbs and excursions mentioned along with $40k expeditions.....

I liked our 01 burb 2500, but it drank a lot of fuel for its performance. Never did any kind of tuning fwiw. The 2015 ecoboost we have now kills it in every way except lug count :homer: I'd vote new expedition if your budget is $35k+, 2nd gen sequoia if you want to spend a little less, then V10 excursion and 2500 burb as fairly equal since either one could be decent or a worn out pos at this point in their life.
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Would probably land $40K at most. Would not buy brand new, but a few years old. Excursion would be off the table because of age, 2500 Burb 2010+ would be a consideration, but on the older end of the spectrum.

I don't like the way the big vans feel from the drivers seat, the doghouse cramps on my legs, and tow ratings are 7500ish according to the Google, but being built on the HD frames will probably do the job better than 1/2 ton newer vehicle options, same as the older HD SUVs. I should probably be looking at those too, at least drive one.

The market has shifted away from the HD SUVs to crew cab trucks, which means adding to fleet and several cars in a trip or older and expect to rebuild piece by piece.
 
What fortuitous timing…

E29206D4-167E-409C-B8F8-02F636B18536.jpeg


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I don't see where you did how much you'd be towing, but a newer 1/2 ton is equal or better in every aspect than an older 3/4 ton suburban. My 2500 wasn't even full float rear.

Irs does seem like a disadvantage, but I'm not even sure if it is unless you're trying to push the limits of its pay loaf.

I'd rather have a pre 2010 than 2010+ gm.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I don't see where you did how much you'd be towing, but a newer 1/2 ton is equal or better in every aspect than an older 3/4 ton suburban. My 2500 wasn't even full float rear.

Irs does seem like a disadvantage, but I'm not even sure if it is unless you're trying to push the limits of its pay loaf.

I'd rather have a pre 2010 than 2010+ gm.
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irate4x4.com

Towing with a 1/2 ton truck

For the last 20 years I have always had a 3/4 ton truck for towing. I always liked having a truck that was more than capable of hauling the load I needed. Had a Duramax for years. I currently have an 03 Suburban with the 8.1. It is getting a bit tired and rusty and looking for something newer. I...
irate4x4.com irate4x4.com

I was just reading through this instead of doing that honey-do list and seeing a lot of that. And at work I never put it together seeing these new 1/2 tons come in with larger brakes, beefy suspension setups, and more power and stout power trains than those years ago in the 3/4 ton trucks.

On top of that, lightweight trailers help keep the weight down, seeing a 20ft 10K trailer coming in at just over 2000 lbs, but that price tag though (it's been a LONG time since I bought a trailer, in looking real quick it's not too much more, considering how much they have come up in price in the last 20 years). My last new trailer was just a hair over $2000, 20 ft 8K full deck
 
Careful, you're going to get some of the "muh 30 year old 3/4t" mouth breathers all riled up.

In my experience with the 2015 F150, around 7k lbs behind it is great, some air bags would be nice, but haven't needed them. I don't see why a similar Era suv wouldn't be very similar.

Get into 8k-9k lbs, I'd be looking at something else. At least if you want to do it all the time.
 
Cameronswmp9 said:
But our normal is 5. And our trips range from 1-13 hours, so far. 5 in a full size crew cab for an hour is one thing, for 13 is completely different.
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My dad got an extended cab F250 when I was 15 and I was excited as shit to get my own seat. Then a year later the joke was on me because I was back in the regular cab driving my younger brother and sister following my parents in the extended cab.
 
Leadfoot21 said:
Awful lot of hate for 6.0 in here … I’ve pulled thousands of miles with a skid loader behind a 6.0 with no issues and with cattle and all sorts of other things heavier than any trail rig you’re going to haul . The general public has the mindset now that you’ve got to have a dually to haul a four wheeler.

As someone who currently is swapping out valve springs on a 6.7 Cummins at my brothers farm , I don’t recommend them to anyone that doesn’t absolutely need one . At 150/hr for repairs trending towards 250/hr( peterbuilt and Cummins are already charging this locally) you need to have deep pockets if you can’t work on it yourself .
Click to expand...

Since you threw it out there, my mechanic who was a Peterbilt dealer tech for a bunch of years and is also a heavy equipment repair guy, is $90/hr. Fleets take their emissions riddled trucks to the dealer. Any decent owner/operator can either work on his own junk, or have a good independent.
 
KungFooMASTA said:
Whatever suv you pick I would get a weight distribution hitch. It makes all the difference in the world even if you think you dont need one.
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That's some of what I have been looking at, and (while it's been mostly RV and boat forums) loading purposefully. I know with a car on a trailer it can make a difference in inches for tongue weight, which is where a slightly longer trailer comes in. WD hitch and all comes into play there too.

Expedition and Suburban/Yukon XL are tops of the list. Various 3.5 issues (that are obviously blown up on the internets) and the 5.3 DOD/6.2 which have their own issues. Both can be fixed/upgraded, just depends on which way to go. As far as that size, I don't think there's much in that category, everything lines up with the Tahoe size, Sequoia, Durango, Armada, etc, and have lower tow ratings.
 
HillbillyDeluxe said:
Since you threw it out there, my mechanic who was a Peterbilt dealer tech for a bunch of years and is also a heavy equipment repair guy, is $90/hr. Fleets take their emissions riddled trucks to the dealer. Any decent owner/operator can either work on his own junk, or have a good independent.
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He’s screwing himself . Most shops charging 90 an hour are of very limited capabilities or in areas where they don’t know better or too old to care . Good independents are becoming more and more rare honestly almost unheard of . I am a very capable tech and can weed out the bad ones pretty quickly which is most… wish I was kidding … I don’t have enough time to type it all out here but in my
professional life I deal with a ton of independent garages .. the things I have to answer , teach , and usually eventually fire them for would blow your mind . Talented techs are harder and harder to find at any shop. If your guy is that sharp I’m the guy that would pay him more to add urgency to the work I needed and suggest he raised his prices, which I have done before .
 
YotaAtieToo said:
:laughing:

We have 5 and did 1000 miles in one day last October. 4am to 11pm with stops.
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That's how we visited my grandma in Florida growing up. Three kids, one in car seat and two adults and all the luggage in a Honda Civic hatch. Leave the driveway at 3am. We'd be eating dinner in Santee SC at a normal hour. Santee was specifically chosen because it has/had a Best Western with a heated(!) pool right across from a Shoney's. Wake up at a "reasonable" hour, hit the buffet again for breakfast and then a "short" drive to Ft. Myers.
 
Leadfoot21 said:
He’s screwing himself . Most shops charging 90 an hour are of very limited capabilities or in areas where they don’t know better or too old to care . Good independents are becoming more and more rare honestly almost unheard of . I am a very capable tech and can weed out the bad ones pretty quickly which is most… wish I was kidding … I don’t have enough time to type it all out here but in my
professional life I deal with a ton of independent garages .. the things I have to answer , teach , and usually eventually fire them for would blow your mind . Talented techs are harder and harder to find at any shop. If your guy is that sharp I’m the guy that would pay him more to add urgency to the work I needed and suggest he raised his prices, which I have done before .
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Supply and demand. At $90/hr I bet he can fill a 40hr workweek with 80 billable hours of pure gravy. Dude probably hasn't touched a mulit-meter in years.
 
I had the same want/need for pulling my 23' enclosed hauling either 4 snowmobiles and gear or our sxs plus gear on trips of 6+ hours one way. The trailer was just a little too much for a 1/2 ton, mostly due to the way the v-front snowmobile trailers with tall height for sxs's buck the wind.

I bought a 2001 Yukon XL 2500 with the 8.1 in it. It took months but I found one from a private seller with right at 100k miles on it. That was about 4 years ago. It was the perfect tow rig for us but the body was rusting away around us. I sold that and now have a 2009 Suburban 2500 with the 6.0. The 6.0 is definitely a different towing experience, but still does just fine. I do want to eventually swap cams and try to get a little more low end out of it.

There's low mile ex-gov units out there, but they are getting harder to find at a decent price. They have gained a lot of popularity in the last few years it seems.
 
I think the more truck the better. I have a co worker that had a brand new F150 to tow his camper. He did air bags and as many upgrades and he could find and he was happy with it.

Borrowed my 2014 F250 for one weekend. After which he returned and traded his F150 for a F350. He said it was that much better that he would never tow with a F150 again.

My sons both have excursions. One a V10, the other a 6.0, my son with the 6.0 thinks he has it all fixed and dependable but usually once a year it is torn down because it needs something that costs $5k. He is tearing it apart right now for the IPR, Screen is stuck inside, had to tear down to remove screen but I think we have decided it is not the IPR it is probably the high pressure oil pump.

On the other hand, the V10 has like 250k miles and is completely neglected but keeps chugging along working with nothing more than oil changes.
 
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