Thinking about trading in the good ol Sub for an updated version. Got an offer on a 2002 with 8.1 and a load of extras. Been towing my 11000lbs Scarab (Including trailer, engines, and fuel..) with my old one fine. Problem is - it is only rated for 10K. The new one is rated for 12K and would fit the objective. I know, I know.. a new dually diesel would be better, but if I had 50K to spend on a truck I prolly would have had a bigger boat or more of them so that is out of the question. Besides towing the boat I use my sub for about 20 miles a week. Anybody have any experiences towing something that heavy with the new (2001...up) style Sub? I also tried the Excursion and would have bought one long time ago if the tow rating was more than 11K.

We have a 2003 2500 Burb.....I have the 6.0 motor, GET THE 8.1 if you insist on towing with the suburban. (I see you reference the 8.1 so it must be the 2500). It will do fine, I went to a 38 at 13K-14K lbs. with the trailer and had to go to a Dually.

I had a 2002 2500 Avalanche/8.1L which is the same truck as the 2500 Suburban. I liked mine a lot, and towed my 37 Active Thunder quite a bit with it.

Couple things that will drastically improve towing and stability on these trucks:
Rear wheel spacers; that will space them out to be the same track as the front axle, (about 1.5" on each side).
Wider wheels; the factory 6.5" wide wheels suck for towing, even with E-rated tires. Go to at least an 8" wide wheel, and stick with the E-rated tires.
Rear air bag suspension: will alleviate all rear end sway (when not towing) and suspension squat when loaded with the boat and gear in the back of the truck.

I did a bunch of performance mods to mine too; i.e. exhaust, intake, powertuner, etc.

I sold mine at 4 years old with 50,000 miles on it; and loved it the whole time. I upgraded to a PSD Dually.

**HOWEVER**
If all you are going to do is tow the boat with this truck, how about buying an older PSD Ford Dually? You can pick up a NICE 2000-2003 7.3 PSD Dually for low-mid $20K range; with less than 100K miles if you look hard enough. Check eBay, autotrader.com, and cars.com (where I found mine).

but that would require driving a Ford........

I only owned 1 Ford in my life prior to my PSD Dually; and that had a Yamaha engine in it, (Taurus SHO back in the day). Everything else I bought was GM.

For the dollar I wanted to spend, the Ford was the best truck; and I absolutely love driving it; towing or not. It still turns heads since I have customized and updated it a bit.

Upgrade the stock hitch to an XDR! I pulled a 382 Formula around w/ the 8.1 and a 4:10 gear in my 2001 burb. Had the rear wheel spacers, I think they helped. Actually sold my burb and have the spacers av 2 sell. They R from Correct track. Good luck

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will end up with it if the seller agrees to my terms. I would love a dually but wifey want a SUV. The gas savings with the amount that I drive is neglible so although I prefer a diesel, I think a newer Sub better fit our needs. I agree however that a 7.3 Ford is an awesome engine. When I bought my boat I towed it from Maryland to Vegas with a 2000 Excursion 2WD diesel, drove 75 MPH all day long and didn't break a sweat. Hope my new sub (actually Yukon XL) will do the job. I couldn't care less if it is a Ford, GM or even a Mopar. If GM would have made a Hummer 2 with a 3/4 ton setup and a duramax, I prolly would have ended up with that. I am still looking for a Hummer wrech as well as a 1 ton dually wreck as a project to make it a hummer looking towing monster. Until then, the sub will have to do.

Just to show what it might be worth....:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GMC-Y...em160149809988

I have a bone stock 2003 2500 Yukon XL w/ 8.1. It gets me where I need to go and does so legally. I did install a Putnam XDR hitch, ball mount, ball and pin that are all rated in excess of the vehicles rating. I wouldn't want to tow all over the country w/ a gas engine because it is a thirsty mother, but I sure love having the SUV for all the other things we do and places we go. It's pretty cool having all of that enclosed space.

I did forget about the hitch!

The stock Class-III hitch is only good for 12,500 lbs. WITH a W/D hitch setup.

Upgrade to the Putnam XDR, and install it with Grade-8 bolts; and double nut them. You can't overdo it here.

www.putnamhitch.com