I pulled the Airstream with a 2019 Chevy 1500 today

Wayne

Wayne

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Today I pulled our 30' Airstream with a Chevy 1500 a few miles from storage to our house. I'm used to pulling it with a Chevy 3500 L5P Duramax. The contrast between the 1500 and 3500 was profound. The trailer weighed 7300lbs and the 1500 has a max trailer weight of something comfortably over the trailer weight. The 1500 had to work pretty hard going up hills and felt at it's limit in power and towing capacity. The 3500 effortlessly pulls the trailer and feel much more stable, but I'll assure you it rides a LOT harder than the 1500.

I always wanted to know how it feels to pull the trailer with a 1500 and now I know I don't want to again :)
 
I'm maxed out with my avalanche pulling the mallard. Its 5880 i think dry from factory, so i'm thinking its close to 7k. And my avalanche does not have the power or gearing of the 2019 you drove!! It probably is a 6 speed and has 360hp I'm a 4l60e 3 speed od , with 295hp with a tune to maybe 315-320.

I'm waiting for the insane truck prices to subside a bit , to get a 2500 minimum gasser.

Wayne, do you worry about the potential out of warranty costs of an emissions diesel? Or are you going to trade to stay in warranty?
 
spasm3 said:
Wayne, do you worry about the potential out of warranty costs of an emissions diesel? Or are you going to trade to stay in warranty?
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For now that's not a concern as we sold the truck and Airstream because we are getting a 5th wheel and need a dually (ugh I don't like duallies, but we didn't have a choice). The diesel emissions systems are much less prone to trouble when people use them like a truck for pulling, instead of like a car for getting around town. Prolonged cool exhaust temperatures are the main culprit in aftertreatment problems.
 
Diesel warranty costs are not the issue,
IMHO - bad fuel = DPF issues, and driving style,

I have to idle a lot due to work calls and other stuff that I have to pull over and yap for hours. I have the fuel dilutor king duramax year, 2008, and I just change oil around 3k miles, gets to be expensive but gots to live with it.
 
Wayne said:
For now that's not a concern as we sold the truck and Airstream because we are getting a 5th wheel and need a dually (ugh I don't like duallies, but we didn't have a choice). The diesel emissions systems are much less prone to trouble when people use them like a truck for pulling, instead of like a car for getting around town. Prolonged cool exhaust temperatures are the main culprit in aftertreatment problems.
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Wayne, how many miles did you have on your 3500?
 
spasm3 said:
So using it as you did for trips and towing, you had no engine or emission issues?
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Zero, it was completely flawless. The Duramax is very time tested as is the Cummins. The aftertreatment systems scare me, but they are getting much better than the first couple generations of DPFs.
 
Maybe i should reconsider diesel then. I don't generally short trip my truck. My 03 only has 87k or so, as its all towing.

I may keep my 03 when i get a 2500.
 
The diesel pulls all day at 1600RPMs, gets good fuel economy, and holds the cruising gear up the hills. It's a very relaxed drive. Another benefit is you can fuel in the truck lanes when pulling your camper. I fueled in the retail lanes for a year before I discovered the pure joy of fueling in the truck lanes. Never again will I try to maneuver around cars, fuel islands, or get into tight places that I have to back out of.

The aftertreatment system can be expensive to fix, but my experience is good and I believe the overall aftertreatment systems are as good as they have ever been.

Gasoline engines are all mostly DI now, which has its own set up problems for longevity, but they don't have DPFs. I have read that because of the large amount of soot gas DI engines make that Europe is now getting GPFs and lots of them. I wonder if they will come here?
 
Wayne - I would imagine that the 1500 would not have seemed nearly as bad, if you had never had the Dmax to begin with. It's a matter of what perspective you consider the baseline for comparison. I have a friend who has a mid-size RB and uses his Chevy 1500 with small Dmax to pull it and is quite happy. But he's never had a "full size" one-ton, so his frame of reference was coming from using a mini-van (ugh!) to pull his RV; to him the improvement is dramatic. If he'd come off a full-size one-ton, he'd probably have a similar view that Wayne has.

Half-ton trucks are VERY capable today, but the entire truck market has improved so dramatically that we've gotten spoiled. Just wait Wayne; after getting that dually you'll think all other trucks are Tonka-Toys! LOL
 
dnewton3 said:
I would imagine that the 1500 would not have seemed nearly as bad, if you had never had the Dmax to begin with.
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So true, being used to the stiffness of the 2500/3500 plus the duramax/allison combination made 1500 feel like a nice riding and comfortable car. Seriously!

dnewton3 said:
I have a friend who has a mid-size RB and uses his Chevy 1500 with small Dmax to pull it and is quite happy.
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If it wasn't for lack of enough payload in the 1500, we probably would have pulled an Airstream with one. However, when we chose a 30' our fate was pretty much sealed to the 2500/3500.

dnewton3 said:
Half-ton trucks are VERY capable today, but the entire truck market has improved so dramatically that we've gotten spoiled.
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Absolutely, when I think of the Chevy trucks I grew up on in the late 70s and early 80s, there is no and I mean zero comparison to today's 1500s.

dnewton3 said:
Just wait Wayne; after getting that dually you'll think all other trucks are Tonka-Toys! LOL
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Can't say I'm excited about driving a dually, but the single rear wheel 3500 simply wasn't sufficient to pull the new trailer.
 
I can tell you even though my 1 ton is a gasser, I will never tow with a 1/2 ton again. My buddy wanted to see how his Tundra would pull my 32 foot 8000lbs trailer. It was a totally different experience. The 1 ton is just planted, and not even sweating pulling the larger trailers.
 
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ls1mike said:
The 1 ton is just planted, and not even sweating pulling the larger trailers.
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Yes, it feels solid which is comforting, especially when you are in crosswinds or getting passed by a semi that's in a hurry.
 
The Grand Design owners forum I watch is full of guys pulling too much trailer with 1/2 ton trucks and fiercely defending doing it. Most people don't want to admit they really didn't understand their truck's capacities and run at the limit.

I'm disappointed with how the Titan drivetrain wants to pull our <7000 lb trailer. It's you guy's fault we're getting a 3500. Actually I know we're going to want to go a little bigger and don't want to trade up trucks again.
 
Azjeff said:
The Grand Design owners forum I watch is full of guys pulling too much trailer with 1/2 ton trucks and fiercely defending doing it. Most people don't want to admit they really didn't understand their truck's capacities and run at the limit.
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I believe they don't want to spend more on a more capable truck, so they argue that, "It's just fine, what could go wrong?" Humans can talk their way into our out of almost anything, even when they can't rationally justify the action. I would love to be a fly on the wall the first time you pull your trailer with the 3500 after pulling it with the Nissan. The difference will be shocking in a good way and you'll be safer when something goes wrong in front of you.

Azjeff said:
It's you guy's fault we're getting a 3500.
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Thank us very much! It's easy to spend other people's money.. :cool:
 
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