Pulled the camper out to Elkton, VA for the weekend and dropped it off at our camping spot, then Saturday morning had to drive back to Richmond for our daughter's volleyball tournament. Then out to Luray for our good friends' grand opening on their new wedding venue Saturday afternoon. Then back to Elkton to spend the night, and finally pulled the camper back home on Sunday afternoon. About 8 hours behind the wheel, all in.
Pulling the camper, we took route 33 crossing the Skyline Drive, as we often do. Outside temp was was 87º for the climb on the outbound leg, and the transmission topped out around 190 while the engine coolant temp gauge never moved. Last time I pulled the camper with our 2012 Yukon XL Denali over that route in similar temps, I saw 235 on the transmission and 230 or so on the coolant, so the Suburban 3500 runs significantly cooler when towing.
The other good news is I finally got some unloaded highway miles on with the new wheels and tires and registered 17.9 on average from Charlottesville, to Richmond, driving at 70 mph on I-64. It was a calm wind day so that effect should be negligible. But I got 17.7 on the way back out to Charlottesville, probably owing to the fact that it's slightly uphill westbound vs eastbound as the route climbs up toward the Piedmont of the Blue Ridge.
The bummer was that my wife started to get tired of the rough ride of the 3500 on our way hoe Sunday, so I may need to look into Suburban 2500 springs and torsion bars soon.
Unloaded mpg after 50 miles on the highway at 70 mph:
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