Our Travel rig (Gilly & The White Top) 2003 Chevy Suburban 2500 8.1 2009 Palomino Puma 31BHSS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ย. 2024
- Welcome to 18 Summers! We are back on the road. In this video, we are talking about Gilly & The White Top II (our truck & trailer). We are stationed for a couple weeks in the mountains of Montana and take this opportunity to answer questions about our rig.
If you are looking to buy a truck, SUV or tow vehicle and or an RV of any kind, make sure to do plenty of research. Below are links to VIN checkers for Ford, Dodge & GM. Each one will give you information on the performance specs, tow capacity, cargo capacity and general information about their specific models.
www.ford-trucks...
dodgeforum.com/...
chevroletforum....
Also, there is great information about towing at www.rvtowcheck.com
Also, be on the lookout for an announcement about the direction our channel is headed and what you can expect from us.
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We are the Khalaf family and we are on a fantastic four year journey traveling to all forty eight contiguous states. We have set out to create memories with our children. Join us as we hit the open road with 4 kids and a dog in a 3/4 ton Chevy Suburban and a travel trailer.
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@18summers Thanks in large part to this very informative video, we decided to buy an 8.1 Suburban with the 4:10 gears. It’s a California truck and is presently enroute to my home in Texas. I spent so much time considering excursions but, as you mentioned, the extra margin of 1000 or 2000 pounds (6.0 or v10 vs 7.3) brings comfort as we plan to rent for now, but eventually buy a 37 foot quad bunk travel trailer. Before purchasing the suburban, we towed using our ‘15 Navigator, which has a 9000 pound tow rating, but when renting 30 and 33’ bunkhouse travel trailers. Using the owners’ distribution/sway set up, not tailored to our truck, was lacking. Realistically 7500 pounds trailer weight was at the limit. This new rig should really do the trick! Thanks again for sharing and in the end, pointing us in the direction we’ve taken. I’ll reach out after our first long tow experience to share how my notes compare. Take care for now and keep up the great work!
Congratulations on the purchase. We have now been of the road for a year (video coming soon) But still have the 8.1 and drive it a lot. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.
Beautiful truck
Thinking about going on the road with my elderly mother. I’m looking at a 7.4 suburban, which is what brought me to the video, not sure what all be pulling, but I’m mostly looking to go out on the weekends. Nothing too serious. But I found this video very helpful and I just want to thank you
WOW! Thanks for the advice - I have the same Suburban and am now looking for a trailer, your words of wisdom sure will help with that search, and I plan to do the same as you did with replacing the interior pieces to suit my needs. Bon Voyage!
Good video and advice. Just bought same truck. Has 215,000 miles, but pulls our 6,500lb Jayco great.
Thank you. The truck is great. Congrats on your new truck.
Three years of it pulling us around the US and it still is all we need.
I had a 2006 Chevrolet Suburban LT 4x4 8.1 liter 65000 miles on it . Never hauled anything was getting 8 miles to a gallon in the city and 17 on the freeway . I loved it but 250 dollars a month in gas limited use about 450 miles a month , I could not imagine what I would spend on gas if I hauled. I loved the vehicle though but my wife made me trade it in
Really great info here! Appreciate the video. Looking into the same truck you have, so this was interesting and helpful. Cheers!
Great info....thanks for sharing your equipment!
Thank you very much!
Thank you so much for this video. I do wonder if you check comments because I would like to ask a couple of questions about older suburban 2500 vs NV 3500. We are not ones to get into a car loan for more than 10k, we do not like to bet on the future. We do not own an RV yet, but we plan to. I know many say to buy the RV then the car, but we need to go ahead and buy a car as we are a one car family.
Hello Christina, we do respond when we can. I (Hal) am available to answer questions to the best of my knowledge. You can email me at hal@gonein18.com with any questions you have.
Great video! I just recently purchased a ‘05 Chevy Silverado 2500hd Duramax and planning on purchasing a Puma 31bhss. Even before I bought my Duramax, I tried hard to find a 2500 Suburban, but it was just tough to find a decent one where I live, in the rust belt of Illinois 😂😅 but I did have a ‘04 Chevy Suburban Z71 and it was great! Hated to get arid of it but wanted something bigger to start camping sometime this year or next year! Enjoyed the video, cheers! 🍻
Thank you! It wasn't easy to find our 8.1 either. I am glad we did though. There is a FB group for the 2500 suburbans. I see quite a few on there for sale, but it is hard to find them in a good solid clean condition.
Great video! We have a 2007 Keystone Springdale 256RL, and our tow rig is a 2007 Tahoe 5.3 4x4. Thinking about buying a dedicated tow rig for our camper. The Tahoe does ok, but it is the upper limit of what it likes. It doesn't hold the weight well either. The camper is around 5k dry curb weight, and around 6000 to 6300 loaded. I am looking hard at the 2500 Suburban/Yukon XL with the 8.1 and 4.10s. The Tahoe only gets around 9mpg towing on dead flat ground, and about 7 to 8 with some hills. What does your 8.1 get while towing, and unloaded? Thanks!
Hi ZJ, Thanks for the comment. The 2500s are great trucks, though fuel usage is an issue. We average 10-12 with normal highway driving. But when it comes to towing we have seen down in the low 6's (though flat lands we get in the mid 7's). Our last trailer was about 10 ft shorter and considerably lighter. With it we were getting between 8-9 if I remember correctly. If you haven't considered a diesel option, there are some great Duraburb conversions coming out of Florida.
Thanks for the reply! Sounds like it is not far off from our Tahoe. The Tahoe's unloaded highway mpg is only about 15.5, so not much worse there. Im sure the 8.1 will pull much better too. Yeah, I've looked at the Duraburb's before, and they are expensive! A clean 8.1 can be had between 10 and 14K. 20 to 30K difference is a lot of gas! LOL It would be awesome though!
Any problems with sway with this setup?
We haven't had any issues with sway. I attribute that to the BlueOx Sway Pro we purchased. It has been great. Our previous trailer was 31 ft and was real squirrelly sometimes. This one has been great.
18 Summers - Thanks! What hitch were you using with your previous trailer?
What are your thoughts on replacing the leaf springs because of age? My 2002 2500/8.1 has worn bushings in the springs and we’re looking to go to a bigger trailer - like yours. My springs looks fine, but I’m worried a heavier trailer will make towing not so fun with the bushings being so old and worn.
What does your RV weigh?
tantrum006 our GVWR on the trailer is 11,050. We have never had it that heavy. I would have to verify our last weigh in, But I believe we were right around 10,247 (I believe). That was heavier than we had been because we picked up some stuff while we were home in Arizona. We have removed a lot since then maybe 400lbs.
I think that trailer would be best suited to be pulled with a truck. You can't ignore the wheelbase limitation of an SUV, which is 130'' for Burb and 137" for Ex. Your average truck is at least 143"+ in wheelbase and crew cabs 6ft beds are 150"+. The wheelbase adds stability in windy conditions and when passing/getting passed by 18 wheelers that are pushing those wind bow waves.
Hey Grizz, thank you for you input. I have no doubt towing would be much better with a long wheel base truck. One of the considerations for us was versatility and passenger capacity. The 2500 series Suburbans do a fantastic job especially with the Blue Ox SwayPro WD hitch. Our shorter trailer had a bigger issue with sway and our old WD hitch. When we upgraded trailers we knew upgrading the hitch would be an absolute necessity.