Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

[cdreed06]

Looking to trade our pickup for a newer one, we have a 05 GMC with the 5.3 and have found several 08 GM trucks with the 4.8L Does anyone have any experience with the 4.8 towing? We had a 4.8 in our last truck (a 2000 model) and wasn't happy with the mileage and performance of it. The boat we tow is a 84 20' Celebrity that does seem to tax the 5.3 a bit especially on the hills around here. Anyway I don't want to go backwards as far as towing capacity goes but thought someone here might know. I am looking for towing it well, not just being able to pull it ( I could pull it with my four wheeler ). Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[JB]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

Weigh your boat/trailer/load. Your rig sounds like about 3200lb and must have brakes that work.

Find a truck rated and equipped to tow about 1-1/2 times that much.

A good tow vehicle is a package of chassis, drive train, suspension, brakes, cooling and electrical capacity that all add up to a rated load. NEVER try to rate a tow vehicle on engine alone.

Persons not professionally trained to operate tow vehicles should limit themselves to about 70% of rated loads.

 

[cribber]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

Stick with the 5.3 if you are going to upgrade. The 4.3 and 4.8 both give up power... the 4.3 and 5.3 get the same MPG with greater towing capacity with the V8. Here are the comparison specs I found.

http://autos.aol.com/cars-GMC-Sierra+1500-2008/specs

 

[cdreed06]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

Thanks for the thoughts on this. The boat is pretty heavy and the dealer is trying to tell me that the 4.8 will handle it just as well but I know better. I think for now I'll just keep looking and probably just keep the one I have. Thanks

 

[86RajunCajun]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

Get yourself a HD2500 and call it a day

 

[steddy]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

I dunno... the truck I drive has the 4.8. 1/2 ton 2WD chevy work truck. It tows my 17' Chaparral like its not even there (stopping distance is increased a bit), but the boat doesn't have a chance at jerking the truck around the road. It feels pretty comfortable. I've also towed my 20' Thompson once, it also felt pretty good, although stopping distance got to be pretty long, almost to the point of uncomfortable (no trailer brakes). I pull other travel trailers/fifth wheels as well, and it seems to do OK. Worlds of difference above the 4.3, but not as much as you would think from the 5.3. If you are looking for a new vehicle, don't worry about the 4.3. They don't put that one in trucks anymore. It was replaced with the inline 5 cylinder (I think it's a 4.2????) like they put in the Blazer and Colorado.

 

[jeff_smith_0423]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

I tow a 2500 lb rig with a crew cab 1500 and 4.8. In tow mode, it doesn't even know it's there. Stopping distances\breaking effort are increased. My specific combo is rated for 5000lb capacity and I feel confident that it could be done safely. I wouldn't want to pull cross-country though.

There's not a lot of real-world improvement in gas mileage between the 4.8 and the 5.3. My grandfather runs the same rig but in GMC 4x4 5.3 form. It has a lot more low end grunt, but that is probably the effect of gearing.

 

[nitsuj]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

No offense to anyone who has offered advice, but to the OP, I find the "can I tow X boat with X truck" conversations are pretty useless. There are those who will say "I tow my 40 yacht with a 86 Chevette and it tows great." And there are others who say you need a Duallie diesel to pull anything larger than an inflatable raft.

There are many variables, and what you feel comfortable towing, I may not, and vice versa. After spending years trying to make small and mid sized SUV's like S10 Blazers, and Jeep Cherokees do all my towing, I know I now prefer a full sized pick-up to tow anything larger than a small utility trailer. I have an F150, 5.4 liter, 4wd, 3.73 rear end. My boat on the trailer and loaded up is right around 4000 pounds. I'd not want to attempt to haul it with anything less than my truck. Next week, I pick up another boat. It will weight somewhere around 7000 on the trailer (my guess). Depending on how it feels for the haul home, I may be looking to trade my truck for something bigger. It's well under what I'm rated to tow, but like I said, only the driver can decide what he/she is comfortable with. (Assuming they're using a vehicle rated for the load in the first place.) Just because my F150 is rated to tow what I want to tow, if it feels like it's struggling too much, then I'd prefer to tow with a vehicle more suited to it.

Off topic, but I'll take a bath on my truck. I bought it new when trucks were still selling, in 2007. Shortly after, the market died, gas prices exploded and they were just about giving trucks away. It now has about 9000 miles on it. (Yes, nine thousand in 2 years.) So if I do decide to trade, I'll try to find a diesel a few years older than my truck that the dealer will trade even up for.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

I dunno... the truck I drive has the 4.8. 1/2 ton 2WD chevy work truck. It tows my 17' Chaparral like its not even there

It's a 17' boat...I would hope so!

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Towing with 4.8L GM Truck?

No offense to anyone who has offered advice, but to the OP, I find the "can I tow X boat with X truck" conversations are pretty useless. There are those who will say "I tow my 40 yacht with a 86 Chevette and it tows great." And there are others who say you need a Duallie diesel to pull anything larger than an inflatable raft.

There are many variables, and what you feel comfortable towing, I may not, and vice versa. After spending years trying to make small and mid sized SUV's like S10 Blazers, and Jeep Cherokees do all my towing, I know I now prefer a full sized pick-up to tow anything larger than a small utility trailer. I have an F150, 5.4 liter, 4wd, 3.73 rear end. My boat on the trailer and loaded up is right around 4000 pounds. I'd not want to attempt to haul it with anything less than my truck. Next week, I pick up another boat. It will weight somewhere around 7000 on the trailer (my guess). Depending on how it feels for the haul home, I may be looking to trade my truck for something bigger. It's well under what I'm rated to tow, but like I said, only the driver can decide what he/she is comfortable with. (Assuming they're using a vehicle rated for the load in the first place.) Just because my F150 is rated to tow what I want to tow, if it feels like it's struggling too much, then I'd prefer to tow with a vehicle more suited to it.

Off topic, but I'll take a bath on my truck. I bought it new when trucks were still selling, in 2007. Shortly after, the market died, gas prices exploded and they were just about giving trucks away. It now has about 9000 miles on it. (Yes, nine thousand in 2 years.) So if I do decide to trade, I'll try to find a diesel a few years older than my truck that the dealer will trade even up for.

I agree with all that was said here. I prefer bigger trucks for my towing as well. However, while I have towed up to about 10,000 lbs with 1/2 ton trucks that were not rated to pull over 8,000, I can say that alot of things can be accomplished if you know how to drive a tow vehicle. That said, now I have 2 trucks that are rated for over 10,000 lbs towing and they are great.

Alot of the towing expereince is how the driver feels and what he/she is comfortable with. I will say that if you do not want to go backwards in towing capacity, do not go with a smaller engine. Additionally, consider the gearing, suspension and cooling systems. These play a large role. If you want to not know your load is that, then get a truck with double the capacity of your load.