2012 Yukon/Yet another camper question

[Chughart]

Hey guys I know this has been asked several times but I just wanted to see if I have my numbers correct. (12 Yukon xl Denali)

I’m looking at buying a 23 grand design transcend 235bh camper. It weighs 5700ish lbs dry and has a gvwr of 6995. Is 26ft and 4in long. And a hitch weight of 530ish.

My payload according to the sticker is 1398. So I would have 800-900lbs of payload left. There’s 6 of us (4 kids under 10) so with my weight (170lbs) my wife’s (110lbs) and I figured 300 lbs for the kids and all their stuff. That’s roughly 580-600lbs that leaves me with about 200-300lbs of payload left correct?

My other question is should I be concerned at all about pulling this camper? I already tow a 22.5ft camper that’s roughly 4500lbs and it does just fine but I’ll be towing 2k lbs more didn’t know if I should be concerned or not. Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Chughart]

Also looking at a jayco jay feather micro 199mbs (23ft and 5700lbs gvwr and 690 hitch weight) but it’s not as big of an upgrade as the transcend and figured if we’re going to get a new camper might as well make it really worth while to do

 

[swathdiver]

Hey guys I know this has been asked several times but I just wanted to see if I have my numbers correct. (12 Yukon xl Denali)

I’m looking at buying a 23 grand design transcend 235bh camper. It weighs 5700ish lbs dry and has a gvwr of 6995. Is 26ft and 4in long. And a hitch weight of 530ish.

My payload according to the sticker is 1398. So I would have 800-900lbs of payload left. There’s 6 of us (4 kids under 10) so with my weight (170lbs) my wife’s (110lbs) and I figured 300 lbs for the kids and all their stuff. That’s roughly 580-600lbs that leaves me with about 200-300lbs of payload left correct?

My other question is should I be concerned at all about pulling this camper? I already tow a 22.5ft camper that’s roughly 4500lbs and it does just fine but I’ll be towing 2k lbs more didn’t know if I should be concerned or not. Thanks in advance guys!

The Yukon XL Denali can handle that all across the country at those weights. She'll be heavy but as long as your brakes and suspension and steering are in good form she'll do it no problem.

@Geotrash

 

[Geotrash]

The Yukon XL Denali can handle that all across the country at those weights. She'll be heavy but as long as your brakes and suspension and steering are in good form she'll do it no problem.

@Geotrash

I agree 100%. No problem at all with that camper. To the OP, I think you’ll find that tongue weight to be a fantasy. It’s likely going to ring in at 200 lbs more when all is said and done, loaded for camping. You’ll definitely want a weight distributing hitch (I use a Camco Recurve R3 and love it). But as long as your axle weights are okay as verified with a CAT scale, then no problem.

 

[intheburbs]

I think you've got a good handle on it. Should be good. Couple of points, more geared to longer trips...

Get in the habit of weighing at CAT scales every trip. Just to confirm nothing's overloaded. It's cheap insurance to make sure nothing breaks. And bring a 2-3 foot-long stick - to reach the call button. Trust me.

Re-weighs are free - play around - weigh with and without the trailer, with and without the weight bars.

Rear axle weight should be your biggest concern; it's usually the first to be overloaded on an SUV. Especially for longer trips.

Plan for the future - your kids are gonna grow. Mine are now in their 20s, but my twin boys reached 6 feet tall and 190 lbs each in high school. One of the reasons I upgraded to the 2500 - mine has a 2088-lb payload rating.

Lastly- you're going to be feel the urge to crank your bars to reduce that rear axle weight. Realize that tongue weight/rear axle weight is directly proportional to stability and sway. More rear axle weight equals more stability and less sway. Again, the other reason I upgraded to a 2500 - my rear axle weight rating is 5500 lbs. Crank your bars too much, and you'll increase the propensity for sway.

 

[Geotrash]

I think you've got a good handle on it. Should be good. Couple of points, more geared to longer trips...

Get in the habit of weighing at CAT scales every trip. Just to confirm nothing's overloaded. It's cheap insurance to make sure nothing breaks. And bring a 2-3 foot-long stick - to reach the call button. Trust me.

Re-weighs are free - play around - weigh with and without the trailer, with and without the weight bars.

Rear axle weight should be your biggest concern; it's usually the first to be overloaded on an SUV. Especially for longer trips.

Plan for the future - your kids are gonna grow. Mine are now in their 20s, but my twin boys reached 6 feet tall and 190 lbs each in high school. One of the reasons I upgraded to the 2500 - mine has a 2088-lb payload rating.

Lastly- you're going to be feel the urge to crank your bars to reduce that rear axle weight. Realize that tongue weight/rear axle weight is directly proportional to stability and sway. More rear axle weight equals more stability and less sway. Again, the other reason I upgraded to a 2500 - my rear axle weight rating is 5500 lbs. Crank your bars too much, and you'll increase the propensity for sway.

Truth. My camper is 7500 loaded for camping, and it’s super stable on the highway because I set my hitch up right, exactly as you say. The Denali’s stock rear air shocks work like buttah for taking up the remaining sag.

That said, if I took mine to the cat scale on every trip, we’d never get on the road. I’ve weighed mine twice (3x each time) - once with just me in the truck and a mostly empty camper, and once with my wife, both kids and the dog with a fully loaded camper with full fresh water tank to capture a bracket of best and worst case scenarios. All good in both instances- safely within the truck’s limits.

 

[Chughart]

Well thanks for the replies guys! Leaning towards the transcend 235bh. But gotta get the wife to check it out and make sure it’ll work for our needs.

Also we don’t ever travel with water and I empty the tanks after every trip so there’s “extra” weight there lol

 

[Geotrash]

Well thanks for the replies guys! Leaning towards the transcend 235bh. But gotta get the wife to check it out and make sure it’ll work for our needs.

That’s a nice one! We have an Alpha Wolf 26DBH-L that we love. It’s the perfect setup for a family.

Pulled it to Cape Hatteras today and I’m so used to pulling it there were times I forgot it was behind us. Gusty crosswinds once we got south of Nags Head but she stayed steady.

Pic from another trip…

 

[EGTroup]

The rear axle weight rating is likely to be the one to watch. You can minimize the load on the rear axle in two ways:

1. Using a weight distribution hitch to transfer force off the rear axle onto both the front steering axle and back onto the trailer. The goal is get the Yukon to swat evenly front and rear without the air suspension helping. Remember that too little weight on front axle causes steering and braking problems.

2. Adjust your load plan to keep the hitch weight near an actual 10-12% of actual trailer weight. The hitch weight tends to run 200-400 lbs heavier than advertised.

Since you will be at the upper end of weight capacity for the Yukon, a very good anti-sway system is essential. I have switched to the ProPride. Used to have a Curt TruTrack WDH with 1,000 lbs friction bars but decided it was better to have Anti-Sway and Weight Distribution function completely independently of each other. The ProPride does that and is known to make trailer sway virtually impossible.

Below is our Yukon with a 27 foot Airstream.

CanAm RV has excellent videos of setting up a WDH and the importance and benefits of doing it correctly.

Towing Expertise | Towing Videos - Airstreams | Campers London | Travel Trailers for sale

View and share these videos of, occassionally extreme, RV towing combinations.

www.canamrv.ca

 

[NavyLCDR]

Re-weighs are free - play around - weigh with and without the trailer, with and without the weight bars.

Reweighs at CAT scales are at reduced price, but not free.

 

[Foggy]

Correctly set up weight dist hitch.. New fluids and filters....
Watch your trans temp gauge. Make sure your trans is serviced recently.
You'll be just fine.
I tow 9000lb camper.. I'm very particular. It's fine -but i'm modified for it.

 

[Chughart]

so going to bring back an old thread. but we decided to wait on buying the camper in question and i got an email stating the place that we were looking at put the camper (grand design transcend xplor 235bh) $13k cheaper then we were looking at 5 months ago. so we ended up buying it this weekend.

my question is is there anything i should do to "prepare" for towing this thing since it is bigger then the one we traded in? for context we had a 2021 Forest River salem fsx 179dbk (22ft bumper to ball, 7.5ft wide and weighs approx. 4500lbs loaded) the new on is 26ft 4in long, 8ft wide and weighs approx. 7000lbs loaded.

i have a weight distribution hitch (andersen weight distribution hitch and aftermarket brake controller.

any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks!!

 

[Geotrash]

so going to bring back an old thread. but we decided to wait on buying the camper in question and i got an email stating the place that we were looking at put the camper (grand design transcend xplor 235bh) $13k cheaper then we were looking at 5 months ago. so we ended up buying it this weekend.

my question is is there anything i should do to "prepare" for towing this thing since it is bigger then the one we traded in? for context we had a 2021 Forest River salem fsx 179dbk (22ft bumper to ball, 7.5ft wide and weighs approx. 4500lbs loaded) the new on is 26ft 4in long, 8ft wide and weighs approx. 7000lbs loaded.

i have a weight distribution hitch (andersen weight distribution hitch and aftermarket brake controller.

any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks!!

Good news! It's indeed a great time to buy a camper. Prices are falling through the floor and inventory is high. Your Yukon will be fine with that camper with the stock radiator and coolers, provided they're all in good shape. How many miles on it now? As a radiator ages, for example, passages will slowly clog and its efficiency drops. If all that's good, I would take a good look at the rear air shocks. Check the rubber air bladders for cracks and any sign of leakage. Make sure the compressor runs its self-check successfully after you start the engine.

Other than that, the only thing that will give you trouble in the months ahead is the torque converter on the transmission. They're good for anywhere between 120K and 170K +- depending on how they're driven. It's the weakest link in the whole drivetrain. I shelled out $1400 and had a billet TC with a stronger lockup clutch put in mine shortly after I bought the camper we have now.

 

[Chughart]

well good news for both of those issues then, as when i bought the yukon in January the torque converter was replaced (at the gm dealer i bought it from), the rear shocks and compressor were replaced, the engine was replaced with a jasper unit (3yrs/100k warranty), the trans lines, oil lines, motor mounts, spark plugs/wires were all replaced.

i guess the only issue im worried about is the coolant temps but everything ive read is its normal for the coolant temp to climb to 220-235 when going up steep grades which i did have the temp gauge climb to about 220ish but never got higher and came back down on its own once i got done climbing the grade.

 

[Chughart]

oh and the yukon has 105k on it and i bought it with 96k

 

[Geotrash]

oh and the yukon has 105k on it and i bought it with 96k

Send it! And that's a real nice looking camper! Just checked it out on their website.

 

[petethepug]

Congrats on getting the ‘12 Denali. I remember you we’re looking at a ‘09 back in Jan. Nice move getting a dealer service / prep’d truck.

New motor, new TC, a warranty as well as the first year of
electronic trailer sway control and hill start assist. You’ve got the updated HDD Navi with USB port, hard drive, Live radio pause/ record, XM Weather & Traffic.

You can add the module from Crutchfield for integrated BT streaming music now. If you download the gas buddy app you can plan a route to run e85 100 octane for 1/2 price fill ups.

Towing on the 20’s with the meatier tires, autoride and rear bags is the best ride your ever going to find. You’ll love pulling on grades with e85. Do your research for the tow set up and look into a drop hitch for fine tuning the level on the trailer. You did good. Did you truck come equipped with the integrated brake controller?

 

[Chughart]

Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch I 3350 4" Drop/Rise Weight Distribution Hitch

Want an Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch? Buy this affordable 3350 4

bumpersuperstore.com

 

[Chughart]

That is the hitch/weight distribution setup I have. It was bought when we got our current camper and it’s extremely light and works rather well. And the Yukon does not have the factory brake controller unfortunately

 

[Chughart]