PS The 5000 lb weight limit on the hitch is due to toungue weight. Up to 600 lbs. The hitch is rated to 12000 lbs with a weight distributing hitch. I do not believe the tounge weight exceeds 600 lbs. The suburban sat perfectly level with the boat and trailer hooked up!

You oughtta give onna the newer suburbans a test. They have come along way since 91! Much more power and much more efficient! I drove to Marco Island last Decemeber and decided to see how I could do on Gas milage...drove the whole trip with the cruise set on 65. Averaged over 22mpg! That has come down now due to ethanol but wasn't difficult to get close to 20 driving like I wanted. A loaded up Suburban isn't that far off from a loaded out Navigator.

The problem with ANY/ALL of the 1/2 ton tow vehicle offerings is the suspension/frame; specifically weak frames and coil springs suspensions.

If you have a truck or trailer tire blowout at 70 mph towing your 26' Sonic weighing in at 7280 lbs on the trailer with surge brakes; behind a 1/2 ton anything loaded up with your weekend gear, coolers, family, etc; you ARE going to wreck. ALL of the 1/2 ton vehicles have coil spring rear suspensions, and the uncontrollable rebounding back and forth is DEADLY. Rear Air-Bag assist springs AND heavy duty/weight distribution systems can help, but are not a catch-all/fix-all.

After switching from pickups to Suburbans I don't ever want to go back. Our '97 1500 does a great job with our little boat (5100lbs loaded) but, as others have pointed out it isn't a heavy tow vehicle. I've kept this one for so long hoping GM will come out with a 3/4 ton HD version....but I'm not holding my breath.

Pro's are lots of room for people and cheap to maintain and repair (the older ones anyway....I don't know about the newer ones).

Con's are lack of towing capacity (compared to heavier trucks) and marginal brakes, but there are some good brake upgrades out there. Changing over to slotted rotors and braided lines was well worth the time/effort/money.

I'm sure the newer suburbans are MUCH better than my '91, but I had bad enough luck with full-size GM's (granted they were piles when I bought them, not new vehicles) that I wanted to stay away. So far, so good with the Navigator.

If you know how to drive, you should be able to handle a flat tire whether you're towing with a half ton or a 3/4 ton. Just put the go pedal down and steer straight until the trailer stops swinging, then slowly bring her to a stop. Then clean out your pants. This of course assumes that you're not in a turn, and that traffic in front of you doesn't decide to suddenly stop. Keep it mind it isn't GVWR that keeps the trailer from pulling the truck around, it's actual curb weight while towing. A 3/4 ton doesn't weight all that much more than a 1/2 ton, in most situations. And with nothing in the bed and only 600 lbs on the tongue, the higher spring rate in the 3/4 ton isn't going to help much. If you're concerned about bouncing, upgrade shocks. Air bags won't help in that regard. I put bilstiens in the back of the navigator, they do a great job of keeping it from bouncing around.

I went with the Navigator because I had a Mark VIII at the time, and I wanted matching black lincolns. Too bad I couldn't afford to keep both, and ended up selling the Mark VIII. Also, I have experience with mod motors, so that was a plus for me. The Navigator also comes stock with an air suspension, which really helps the towing situation. It does pretty well off-road, too, for what it is.

I didn't buy my truck new, either. It was about 20k with 40k miles on the clock... about half the price of new.

Sydways... modern 1/2 ton frames are as strong or stronger than 1 ton frames were 10 years ago. Except for the ripples they put in for crash protection. I wouldn't worry about the frame on modern 1/2 ton.

The limiting factor in towing, 90% of the time, is the transmission, and how much heat the transmission cooler can reject. The manufacturer is more concerned with warranty issues on the powertrain than safety issues on the rest of the truck. You can safely tow a lot more than the truck is rated for in most situations (with full frame trucks at least, I wouldn't try it with a unibody "truck"), but you're going to shorten the life of the entire drivetrain.

The 2002-2006 Suburban 2500s were big hoss brutes. They were not a 2500HD, but they did have leaf spring suspensions, beefy frames, HD axles, hubs, wheels, tires, etc. The 6.0L equipped versions could not get out of their own way, but the 8.1L equipped versions were full of power; so much so the stock ECMs were programmed to limit torque/build in 1st gear to avoid ripping out the M32/4L85E. A few of us invested in ECM tunes/power tuners to get that torque back for some tire roasting fun. (Remember in the HD GM trucks the 8.1L was followed by an Allision Auto. or ZF 6-speed.)

You're right. I went back and emphasized the suspension issue(s).

But if current 1/2 frames are as strong as 10 year old 1-tons; how strong are current 1-tons? Peterbuilts right?

I looked closely at them in '04 but was concerned about that tranny. Honestly I think the General screwed up by not using the Allison. In the end it didn't matter....wifey wanted a new Benz that year so guess who got a new car?

Oh well....my old 'burban wasn't worth anything last year, isn't worth anything this year and won't be worth anything next year so as long as it's still reliable and I don't do something stupid like buying another boat I'll just keep driving it until the wheels fall off. For a (G)ay (M)an's (C)hevy it really has been a much better vehicle than I expected it to be.

Man I miss my Mark VIII. In my opinion that is onna the biggest sleepers on the road! I always wondered how fast it would go if ya unlocked the castrator which was set at 125! I got over 32MPG outta that fine ride if I kept my foot out of it!

You guys act like all hell brakes loose when you have a flat tire. When I have a blow out on a trailer all it does is slow the truck down. Granted it was only a 24ft boat behind a Z71, but I would expect it to do the same with any size boat/truck.