Hi, new member here. I have a 2021 Silverado Traill Boss with the 6.2 engine, 3.23 rear axle, advanced trailering, Z71 with 2" lift skid plate, short bed crew cab. We've been hauling a 28 ft. travel trailer with no problem or weight issue. My gvwr 1s 7000#. I was wondering if I can safely haul a 1/2 ton friendly 5th wheel camper with this set up. The trailers I have looked at are 7500 t0 10000# dry weight with pin weight of 1100 to 1700#. The dealership web sites say they carry several brands of 1'2 ton capable campers but I'm a little skeptical of that. I was wondering if someone has tried doing this and if it's safe or possible with this set up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
When thinking about towing with a half-ton truck, think along the line of the family stationwagon. Yeah, that stationwagon, The one your mum drove with her various errands back in the day. A half-ton truck is nothing more or less than a sedan on a truck frame, and a lightweight one at that, or a Stationwagon with the passenger and cargo area opened up in a bed. Yeah, it's intended to just be the suburban workhorse that goes to the dump, hauls materials around for household projects and pulls the family camper to the national parks. They are not designed to be a heavy hauler.
If you want a house on wheels, you need a heavy hauler. You need at least a three-quarter ton truck. Better would be a one-ton with duals. One can see accidents over and again on the highway depicted on YouTube of a large trailer behind a tow vehicle that is woefully inadequate to the job. Yes, one can tow with a half ton truck. However it must be kept in mind everything above. Your towing system, usually an equalizing hitch, an anti-sway system of some sort, and slowing down are essential. So is NEVER forgetting your truck can be instantly overfaced by what it is towing! I live in a resort area and gateway to several national forests. I see these people towing huge trailers with half-ton trucks all the time. Likewise I see them in wreckage on a regular basis as well. Learn to use your transmission to control your load and braking. The brakes on a lightweight truck are just that; lightweight. They are not designed to handle an eight thousand pound load, let alone a ten to fourteen thousand pound load. Your Trailer Brakes can be woefully inadequate on a seven percent grade. The long and short of it is the same as for the Collini's in the Long, Long Trailer movie; A bigger tow vehicle. If you can't afford the heavier tow vehicle, you can't afford the larger trailer. Your life could depend on it.
I have been towing trailers since the sixties. Part of my childhood was spent on a ranch in Northern California where my Father taught me to drive and tow stock trailers behind a woefully inadequate Studebaker Lark stationwagon. His advice was always the same, "Go slow and pull over often. In that way you will get there... eventually. Yet still alive and unhurt, as well as your load. Even if you are driving a big truck. Slow down." People hate me on the interstate. Particularly when I'm pulling my Spartan Imperial, which is incidentally, ten feet longer than Lucy and Desi's trailer of their movie. So yeah, I have hauled with a lighter truck than is optimal. It requires keeping in mind the limits of your tow vehicle and the monster behind you. Not to mention pulling out to let your brakes cool long before they begin to smoke.
I do hope you understand this is all meant in a positive way. I am not intending to speak down to you or insult you in any way. Just... food for thought.
