3.0L Duramax Towing?

[semperfidevil]

We have a 22 Tahoe 3.0 with Max Trailering and air suspension. Travel Trailer is a lighter, 4,900lbs dry, unit but with a family of five gets loaded pretty well. Never weighed it to see but my guess is after bikes and everything probably close to 6k. Oh and it’s 31’ ball to bumper. I had plenty of trailering experience before this and I’m the previous tow vehicle was a 2020 Ram EcoDiesel. In my opinion the Tahoe is better than the Ram I every way for towing so far. The air ride smoothed everything out for a more planted and controlled feel (and yes it auto levels itself once you drop the trailer on). The transmission is far superior to the Ram and never seems to be guessing what gear to be in.

But in regards to whether or not it will safely handle that specific trailer has a lot to do with the driver and how driven. Sure the Tahoe can handle but how comfortable are you on long trips. Our longest trip to date in the Tahoe is 250ish miles each way at 70-75mph through northern Arizona which isn’t the easiest terrain and my wife, who gets very anxious when we tow, had no issues.

Oh and last point, the short length may not be the best for towing however what a turning radius! I’ve gotten into and out of spots I never would have considered in the Ram. HOWEVER, watch out for jack knifing, I’ve had 2 close calls forgetting how tight to Tahoe can pivot.

Good to hear! I am trying to figure out if a 21-23 Suburban 3.0 with Max Trailering & Air Suspension can handle our travel trailer, 5,810lbs dry, with a family of six & two dogs. The current tow rig is a 2018 Lexus LX570 (tow capacity: 7,000 lbs.) with Active Height Control. With some towing experience behind my back, I feel very safe and comfortable towing our travel trailer up and down the California Coast. The LX570 lacks leg and cargo room and I hope that the Suburban 3.0 can handle our family's needs. I can get a six-seater truck, but prefer the passenger comfort the Suburban provides. @ItIsWhatItIs Does the 3.0 with 10-speed do a good job towing? Was there a need to use the manual shift buttons to change gears for whatever reason? Thanks~

 

[StephenPT]

That’s a lot of payload. Your trailer loaded could easily have 800lbs of hitch weight. Family of 6 + 2 dogs and gear could easily be another ~700lbs? That puts you just under the payload capacity of my Yukon XL diesel (1583lbs). Mine is an SLE spec, which is going to have a higher payload. As soon as you add 20” wheels, sunroof, etc. etc. that payload number goes down.

 

[Geotrash]

Good to hear! I am trying to figure out if a 21-23 Suburban 3.0 with Max Trailering & Air Suspension can handle our travel trailer, 5,810lbs dry, with a family of six & two dogs. The current tow rig is a 2018 Lexus LX570 (tow capacity: 7,000 lbs.) with Active Height Control. With some towing experience behind my back, I feel very safe and comfortable towing our travel trailer up and down the California Coast. The LX570 lacks leg and cargo room and I hope that the Suburban 3.0 can handle our family's needs. I can get a six-seater truck, but prefer the passenger comfort the Suburban provides. @ItIsWhatItIs Does the 3.0 with 10-speed do a good job towing? Was there a need to use the manual shift buttons to change gears for whatever reason? Thanks~

You’ll likely be over the payload rating by 100 lbs or so, as Stephen suggested. A couple of things you can do: make sure your WDH is set up right, and that any gear goes into the camper.

I pull a 7500 lb camper (loaded) plus my wife, 2 kids and a large dog with a 2012 Yukon XL Denali and it does great, but I’m just under the max payload by 100 lbs or so, according to the cat scale.

I wouldn’t hesitate to do what you’re thinking with ours.

 

[ItIsWhatItIs]

Good to hear! I am trying to figure out if a 21-23 Suburban 3.0 with Max Trailering & Air Suspension can handle our travel trailer, 5,810lbs dry, with a family of six & two dogs. The current tow rig is a 2018 Lexus LX570 (tow capacity: 7,000 lbs.) with Active Height Control. With some towing experience behind my back, I feel very safe and comfortable towing our travel trailer up and down the California Coast. The LX570 lacks leg and cargo room and I hope that the Suburban 3.0 can handle our family's needs. I can get a six-seater truck, but prefer the passenger comfort the Suburban provides. @ItIsWhatItIs Does the 3.0 with 10-speed do a good job towing? Was there a need to use the manual shift buttons to change gears for whatever reason? Thanks~

I think it’s a fantastic combo, way better than the Ram. And nope never had to manually shift, and the built in exhaust brake has worked wonderfully on some of the steep descents we’ve traversed in northern AZ so far. All in all couldn’t be happier.

 

[semperfidevil]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences and for all the input.

 

[dbphillips]

Whew. I couldn't do 6.2L fuel economy. 200 mile range? Heck, our GLS450 got 10 MPG towing, until it burned our garage down. We're at 12 with the 2022 Tahoe RST Duramax with tow (no air suspension) and hoping Banks tuning improves that a little and looking for a wind deflector to get us to 14 MPG.

The Benz and the DMax tow our Grand Design 2600RB just fine with a 12,000# Equalizer hitch. No unreasonable sway, plenty of grunt to pull it. Unfortunately, yes, about an inch of sag at the rear and 1/4" of lift at the front wheels without air suspension. The Benz sat level. Air suspension failures are rare, but when they happen are a nightmare, so I think I'm happier keeping it simple.

The Suburban/XL lose capacity to the shorter wheelbase variants, so I'd call it a wash. That said, when we rented 3/4 ton pickups between the fire and receiving our DMAX we didn't need the WDH.

I agree with the comment to put the load in the trailer, not the truck, especially with a family of 4.

 

[Geotrash]

Whew. I couldn't do 6.2L fuel economy. 200 mile range? Heck, our GLS450 got 10 MPG towing, until it burned our garage down. We're at 12 with the 2022 Tahoe RST Duramax with tow (no air suspension) and hoping Banks tuning improves that a little and looking for a wind deflector to get us to 14 MPG.

The Benz and the DMax tow our Grand Design 2600RB just fine with a 12,000# Equalizer hitch. No unreasonable sway, plenty of grunt to pull it. Unfortunately, yes, about an inch of sag at the rear and 1/4" of lift at the front wheels without air suspension. The Benz sat level. Air suspension failures are rare, but when they happen are a nightmare, so I think I'm happier keeping it simple.

The Suburban/XL lose capacity to the shorter wheelbase variants, so I'd call it a wash. That said, when we rented 3/4 ton pickups between the fire and receiving our DMAX we didn't need the WDH.

I agree with the comment to put the load in the trailer, not the truck, especially with a family of 4.

I'll be interested to see how the 2021+ generation of rear air suspension holds up over time. The factory air setup on the GMT900 (2007-2014) is holding up remarkably well and is easy to repair. I've replaced the factory shocks on both of mine and the compressor on the 2007 for about $1100 for parts (total for both). 230K on the 2007 and 132K on the 2012, and the systems work as good as new. Takes 100% of the sag out for our camper.

Has anyone found a set of helper bags for the current generation of these trucks yet?

 

[StephenPT]

I'll be interested to see how the 2021+ generation of rear air suspension holds up over time. The factory air setup on the GMT900 (2007-2014) is holding up remarkably well and is easy to repair. I've replaced the factory shocks on both of mine and the compressor on the 2007 for about $1100 for parts (total for both). 230K on the 2007 and 132K on the 2012, and the systems work as good as new. Takes 100% of the sag out for our camper.

Has anyone found a set of helper bags for the current generation of these trucks yet?

Can't do helper bags as the strut is inside of the coil spring.

As far as aftermarket air struts, I found these from X2 Industries.

2021-2023 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Denali, Avalanche Rear Air Suspension, Strut Kit (No Fittings)

2021-2023 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Denali, Avalanche Rear Air Suspension, Strut Kit (No Fittings). This Air Ride Assembly is for the rear axle only, & does not include fittings. Your vehicle may use air Struts, Cylinders, or airbags depending on

www.x2industries.com

 

[OBSSSD]

Has anyone towed with the 3.0L Duramax yet or have general towing knowledge? Specifically looking at the ‘21 Yukon SLT 4WD 3.0L Duramax w/max trailering package. We also have a weight distributing hitch. We have ran into a deal on a travel trailer that is VERY hard to pass up. However we are pushing it as far as the max tow rating goes with this trailer. Curious what y’all think and if it’s safe tow? It’s just me and my partner so no kids to add to the car and we plan to tow empty as far as water goes to be on the safe side. Specs on the trailer: dry weight - just under 6k lbs. GVWR - 7,800. 24ft long. 610 tongue weight.

I tow 7,000 boat about 1 hour round trip to the lake, seems to handle it just fine with no issues.

 

[altona]

Just towed 1400 miles from FL to NY. 3.0 Yukon Denali 4x4 without max tow or air ride. Pulled a 4800 +/- lb loaded 18ft cargo trailer with a trike and a sport bike nose to tail as well as a couple hundred pounds of other stuff. Trailer was slightly nose heavy due to trike up into the V nose, but the rest of the the weight was moved slightly rearward. The Yukon squatted a lot more than I liked.. Only had a 65# dog in the rear, 2 people and 50lbs of stuff in the center.

If I was to do it again, and it was available, I would absolutely get the air ride.

MPG varied from a low of 11.9 in North Carolina with the cruise on to 15.9 in PA area without cruise. No real difference in wind speed or direction that day. Towed well and used about 4 gallons of DEF.
Keep an eye on oil level towing. Used a quart in 1400 miles both last and this year.

 

[BobHolthaus]

Just did 580 miles from St. Louis to north of Green Bay Wisconsin. 2023 Denali with max tow and air suspension. Pulling my 5200 lbs boat. Had cruise set at 80 mph the entire way, one hand on the wheel. Not a single issue of any sort, not a sway, nothing, even blowing by 18 wheelers. This thing tows like a dream. Like the boat wasn’t back there. Pic is from last night when we stopped; I think we averaged about 10.5 mpg at 80. Today we did 82 for about 3 hours as well.

We did go through a half a tank of DEF though at 333 miles. That was surprising. I had topped it off before we left. I had the same experience today at 82 mph for 3 hours (not a full half tank, but a lot!)

 

[MrMike1289]

Just did 580 miles from St. Louis to north of Green Bay Wisconsin. 2023 Denali with max tow and air suspension. Pulling my 5200 lbs boat. Had cruise set at 80 mph the entire way, one hand on the wheel. Not a single issue of any sort, not a sway, nothing, even blowing by 18 wheelers. This thing tows like a dream. Like the boat wasn’t back there. Pic is from last night when we stopped; I think we averaged about 10.5 mpg at 80. Today we did 82 for about 3 hours as well.

We did go through a half a tank of DEF though at 333 miles. That was surprising. I had topped it off before we left. I had the same experience today at 82 mph for 3 hours (not a full half tank, but a lot!)

Nice! Yeah we blow through the DEF when we tow. Learned the hard way when the system suddenly told me I was critically low in the middle of no where LOL luckily we found a gas station that carried it fairly quickly.

 

[steiny93]

Used a quart in 1400 miles both last and this year.

Are you seeing oil consumption when not towing?
Are other seeing similar consumption? I'm not seeing the same behavior.

 

[altona]

Yes, daily mix of highway and local is about a quart every 1500 miles

 

[BobHolthaus]

Oh boy, I didn’t check the oil. I don’t think I’ve checked oil in my cars for the last 10 years (not kidding). These things are really taking a quart every 1500 miles?

Note: i oil change to the specs; this isn’t because of ignorance. I didn’t think newer cars really needed to be checked, but if someone is telling me to do it, esp while towing, I’ll be sure to do it.

 

[MrMike1289]

Oh boy, I didn’t check the oil. I don’t think I’ve checked oil in my cars for the last 10 years (not kidding). These things are really taking a quart every 1500 miles?

I haven’t personally experienced oil consumption. Honestly I haven’t checked? But after 34k miles and maybe 5-6(?) oil changes, no one has expressed concern with the oil level. Not sure if this is normal? However now I’m curious to check though

 

[Rangerdeepv]

That is going to be a hard sell for me. Rule of thumb is keep total trailer weight to under 75% of the top rating. Have owned a couple vehicles in the past where the trailer towing was near the max towing capacity and it was white knuckled to say the least.

 

[BobHolthaus]

I checked the oil; no loss at all over 1200 miles of towing.

DEF was crazy: gauge showed 50% and then 10 minutes later we got the “132 miles left” warning. I took it down too .4 gallons in the DEF tank. Plan on getting fuel at truck stops if possible while towing, as they have DEF “on draft” as my GF says.

 

[Geotrash]

That is going to be a hard sell for me. Rule of thumb is keep total trailer weight to under 75% of the top rating. Have owned a couple vehicles in the past where the trailer towing was near the max towing capacity and it was white knuckled to say the least.

This has not been my experience with our ‘07 or ‘12 XL Denali’s. They are rated for 7800 lbs and I’m pulling a 7500 lb camper plus kids and dog. It’s extremely stable and I’ve pulled it all over the mountain west and up and down the east coast with no problems. I’ve made some modifications to the cooling system but that doesn’t do anything for handling stability. In my experience, it has more to do with WDH hitch setup and loading than anything else. These are a great towing platform.

 

[MrMike1289]

I checked the oil; no loss at all over 1200 miles of towing.

DEF was crazy: gauge showed 50% and then 10 minutes later we got the “132 miles left” warning. I took it down too .4 gallons in the DEF tank. Plan on getting fuel at truck stops if possible while towing, as they have DEF “on draft” as my GF says.

This was exactly our experience. On longer trips we now bring a few boxes of DEF just in case!