35DSRL and 2500 Duramax

We are still negotiating to buy a 35DSRL!!!????But here is my question, will my present truck be comfortable pulling it....I currently have a 2005 Chevy 2500 Duramax,with power adders like CAI,MBRP exhaust,Superchips tuner. So plenty of power but concerned re pin wt etc.....Give me your honest opinions please, dealer says "no problem" but then he wants to sell me a trailer!!!!!
Thanks Mike

I have a 2007 2500 Duramax and a 2009 Pinehurst. The truck will pull it will no problem on flat ground or little hills. I have not had it in the mountains yet so can not really say. The hitch weight according to specs is 2292 lbs. I weighed truck and trailer loaded and the gross weight was about 23,000 lbs. The truck is a lease truck and will be turned back in Oct. I am possibly looking to go to a Ford (not sure yet). I have always been a GMC/Chevy man, never had a Ford, but it seems most of the trucks doing the towing are Fords.

Mike, depending on how much you load in the front of the Elk Ridge, you will be more or less overweight. Even with an empty trailer you will be very close. Remember, the GVRW includes passengers and fuel and cargo. Many owners of all brands are pulling trailers and are overweight. Your biggest concerns should be braking and stability. The drive trains are the same in the 2500, 3500 & 4500. You get more capacity as you go up but you already know that. It's a choice you have to make.

I have the same set up with an 08 Duramax. "Stability" is the ONLY valid argument anyone can make for or against this truck, as everything else with a 3/4 ton or 1 ton is the same. I do have Firestone Ride-Rites installed, and I will say I feel totally comfortable towing with this set up.

I have not had it weighed yet, but I am guessing it is pretty much close to the maximum that this truck (in stock form) is rated to pull when loaded for camping.

The pin weight with an empty trailer isn't that close unless you have a bunch of people in the truck with you. However, when loaded normally, the pin weight is indeed going to be the issue, not necessarily the GVWR. The Ride-Rites make a huge difference in helping to handle the pin weight.

Bogger said:

I have the same set up with an 08 Duramax. "Stability" is the ONLY valid argument anyone can make for or against this truck, as everything else with a 3/4 ton or 1 ton is the same. I do have Firestone Ride-Rites installed, and I will say I feel totally comfortable towing with this set up.

I have not had it weighed yet, but I am guessing it is pretty much close to the maximum that this truck (in stock form) is rated to pull when loaded for camping.

The pin weight with an empty trailer isn't that close unless you have a bunch of people in the truck with you. However, when loaded normally, the pin weight is indeed going to be the issue, not necessarily the GVWR. The Ride-Rites make a huge difference in helping to handle the pin weight.

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I would add "Cargo Capacity" to that statement due to the 2 extra tires. The dry and pin weights published are an average of a number of trailers weighed at the end of the production line and each individual trailer varies depending on options added. I would wager that a normally loaded 3/4 ton with 2 adults a full fuel tank and the stuff we all throw in the back of the truck will be very close to, if not over, it's published GVRW with that trailer. I'm not a weight cop, My 3500 is darn close to it's max. The original poster asked for honest opinions and I gave mine which is from experience. My 3400RL has a factory weight sticker saying 10,700# Dry. I pulled the empty trailer to the scales and it weighed just under 12,000. The Trail air pin and dual pane windows are heavy. The accuracy of the scale could be questioned because it's a landfill scale and their main concern is before and after the load weights but it's still supposed to be accurate. The extra margin of capacity in the 3500 made it a better option for me. OK That's my dime's worth.

Pin weight and trailer weight are very option and load dependent. the factory specs for our trailer are:

Pin weight: 2,123
Trailer weight: 12,595

The actual values for our trailer with 2 A/C unit, a factory installed 5.5kW Gen-set, dual pane windows, slide awnings, stacked washer and dryer, 200-300 lbs of tools, and a basemant full of camping gear and out of season clothes as well as all the inside "stuff" we need to live are:

Pin weight: 3,520
Trailer weight 16,500

that is an increase of almost 1,400 pounds on the pin. That is a 66% increase over the factory spec for a dry trailer. The trailer weight increased by 3,900 pounds total for a 31% increase over dry weight.

Make sure that the truck can handle the "stuff" you need to go camping, the weight adds up really fast, so a truck that is close to it limit with a dry trailer WILL be WAY over when you get it nicely loaded and ready to go. I know our fulltime situation and needs are different than other, but weight is weight and stuff is stuff. I will step off the soap box now, thanks

Thanks for the info.I already have a fiver but the 35DSRL will weigh about 2000lbs more, and we are a family of 5.So i am sure I am already overweight.More concerned re towability,and braking.

As the others have said, the options can add a lot of weight. Mine is pretty much "stock", no extra AC, no generator, no dual pane windows, no washer/dryer, etc. I expect that if the advertised weight is the "average", then mine is most certainly no higher than the published weight. So I am comfortable using this truck to pull the 35DSRL.

micar said:

Thanks for the info.I already have a fiver but the 35DSRL will weigh about 2000lbs more, and we are a family of 5.So i am sure I am already overweight.More concerned re towability,and braking.

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I have a family of 6 with pretty much the same set up. Get the air bags, they DO make a difference in stability. After that, I would have no problem pulling ours anywhere.