Camper Towing questions

[gstuck3]

I,m in the market for a small camper trailer and would like a little advice on towing and I'm not sure of my truck's towing capacity I have found an 18ft. trailer that weighs about 3700lbs. dry. I figured it should weigh 5000lbs or less full. I have a 74 Jimmy, 350 / 350 / 203 / d44 / 12b / 4.10 gears / 35" BFG's / 4" Shackle flip. 94ish k miles and trany rebuilt about 30k miles ago. I hate to ask what might just be a stupid question, but I'm new to the R.V. game and don't have much trailer towing knowledge. I did a search but couldn't find the info I was looking for. It will be towed up some hills and through the desert. (on dirt roads of course) ***edit: also I have a remote fan tranny cooler and new rear brake drums and shoes.

Thanks

George

 

[1-ton]

5,000 pounds would be really pushing it with a Blazer. I am sure a Blazer could tow 3,000 with out much trouble, but 5,000 is a lot.

 

[tRustyK5]

I used to tow our 21 foot trailer with my K5. At the time it had a 350, SM465, D44/14 bolt with 3.73's, 4" lift with blocks in the rear and 35 x 12.5's on it. Our trailer is 30 years old and the dry weight is about 4500-4700lbs...prolly 5200+ with our stuff in it. I towed that thing all through the mountains here as well as down to Huntington beach and back. Never had any trouble with it, but i did run a weight distributing hitch, 500 lb bars, and used a Teshonka brake controller.

I didn't have an auto tranny to worry about baking though. I'd say with a big tranny cooler you'd probably be fine with that trailer. The biggest downside to towing with a K5 isn't the powertrain, or even the suspension it's the short wheelbase.

Rene

 

[gstuck3]

I used to tow our 21 foot trailer with my K5. At the time it had a 350, SM465, D44/14 bolt with 3.73's, 4" lift with blocks in the rear and 35 x 12.5's on it. Our trailer is 30 years old and the dry weight is about 4500-4700lbs...prolly 5200+ with our stuff in it. I towed that thing all through the mountains here as well as down to Huntington beach and back. Never had any trouble with it, but i did run a weight distributing hitch, 500 lb bars, and used a Teshonka brake controller.

I didn't have an auto tranny to worry about baking though. I'd say with a big tranny cooler you'd probably be fine with that trailer. The biggest downside to towing with a K5 isn't the powertrain, or even the suspension it's the short wheelbase.

Rene

Thanks for the reply. This makes me feel much better about towing something like that. I can't afford a new truck, but the wife and I want to start taking our 3 girls camping but we really don't a pop-up trailer. If anyone else has anything please reply.

 

[tiger9297]

I have a 27 ft. camper that weighs approximately 5700lbs empty. I tow it all the time w/ my '90 K5. I use a weight distributing hitch, sway bar, and trailer brakes. The sway bar will do away with the problems created by a short wheel base. I tow it all the time and never had any problem at all. In fact its about time to de-winterize it and get it ready for a new year. Good Luck.

 

[trailblazr81]

As long as the motor is healthy, you have a beefy tranny cooler, sway bars, and brakes are in tip top shape you should be good. Ive pulled near 5000 pounds with a tired 305 K5 and old 700R4 with 35's. It was slow going. Just take er easy and know you wont win any speed contests going uphill. Also you may want to do a some "practice" runs pulling the trailer so you can get the feel of it before you go on the journey.