2013 Yukon Denali
 

I just purchased a 2013 Yukon denali,not the EX. It is rated to tow 8100lbs. Has anyone towed a 25' Outlaw with one and was it adequite. Previously I towed our Outlaw with a 86 fullsize blazer with 4" lift, 35s and 454 power running 3/4 ton axles with the big 14 bolt rear. It towed fine in my opinion,lots of power. I might ad that our trailer is a tri axle Hi tech marine aluminum. My blazer has a shorter wheel base than the yukon so as long as its got enough power I'm thinking the yukon should tow fine. Any opinions and first hand knowledge would be appreciated. Please dont tell me i should have bought a 1 ton truck or something simular.Wife has to drive it Mon-fri. LOL.

i used to tow a 88 wellcraft nova spyder that weighed far more than a 25 outlaw with an 05 silverado 1500 with a 5.3 . i now tow a 25 active thunder tantrum with a 2007 gmc sierra 1500 with the 6.0 , it pulls it with ease . Im sure youll be just fine . my sierra is basically the same thing as your yukon .

6.2 will have plenty of power,,,,and the tri axle should help with tongue weight it it has the airbag rear suspension

You'll be fine!

I think you made a great choice. I pull a 7500# Formula 255 with a Cadillac Escalade...same truck...different horn button.:lolhit: Trust me...you will find the Denali to be more than "adequate" as well as a pleasure to drive home pulling the boat after a long day on the water.

Mine does a great job and I especially love the air ride suspension...I run 400#+ of tongue weight and it levels it's self automatically. Mine has the all wheel drive and is a "Champ at the Ramp".
[IMG]http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/w...9/IMAG0251.jpg[/IMG]

One suggestion...after you break it in, consider the Super Chips programmer...best thing I ever did to the Escalade.

Post some pics...what color did you get?

By the way, I did have to change the factory brake controller to a tekonsha P3 controller for my trailers Elec/hyd brakes. Wish G.M. put a better controller in their new trucks. Have'nt tried towing the boat yet as its still winter. But not like the east coast Bajahahaha.:party-smiley-004:

Thanks for the feedback. We love the denali's creature comforts as well. We were looking at the Escalades as well but our local dealer had the yukon and its black, same as your Escalade. Our truck is the shorter one though. Cant wait til it gets hot enough to try out the cooled front seats. We were also looking at a 2013 Denali 3500 one ton single rear wheal crew cab as well with the duramax and allison trans but my wife would not be comfortable driving such a large truck to work everyday. I have a company truck so it was mostly for her. I will post a picture if i can. I useually have to resize them then try to post. I think our denali has all the options as is available on the Escalade except the magnetic ride suspention and the heated/cooled drink holders.

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Am i able to post pictures from my computer being a free member. It dosent seem like I am able.:poopoo:

Get a free account at photobucket.com. Even though I am a Platinum member I still use photobucket...free and easy.

you'll have pleasure to tow!!! towed many with same truck and not a problem. last was a sunsation 32.

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One more
 

fixx
 

i was looking at a 2012 2500 suburban and they said that the 6.2 was not available...Gm piss's me off when it comes to power options,,you would think if they offered the duramax in one it would sell like hot cakes..

Geez, Ya you would think. What about the 3/4 ton suburban or am I thinking 3/4 ton yukon.

So you have the 6.2? We have a Suburban with a 5.3 and I wouldn't want to haul much with it. The 5.3 doesn't have near the power my 5.0 has in my F150.

I have never seen a triple alxe trailer for a 25' boat. What are the benefits?

Rite!!!
 

im with ya brother!! i remember back in the day when i was snowplowing the shorter wheel bases were great for plowing..i went to a dealer in the late 80's asking for a chevy short bed with 1 ton axles and a 205 gear to grar transfer case..well they said it cant be done!! just what i neede to hear...i had a 85 chevy 1/2 ton and i knew of a wrecked 1 ton dump with the narrow rear axle..Guess what i did?? yep you guessed i cut up my 85 short bed lol..go the one ton home and peeled the cab off with the forks on the bobcat and went to town...measured the frame on the short bed and cut and shortened the frame on the dump's frame...i think i took 18'' out of it..i installed the cab and the box which i had to modify for the inner rear duel wheels..i cut the center of the wheel well and move it in 9'' then welded a piece of metal to the center of it to close off the hole....i also added a back blade to it..drove that truck for many years with the big block,t400 trans and 1 ton front and rear axles with the 205 gear driven transfer case..i also went to the dealer and said anything can be done! ...

VI what size engine that is? what size blower? did you have to modify the hatch or rear seat to install the blower? how fast is it? Love your boat!

I guess the benifit is that everything lasts longer. LOl . I bought the boat from a buddy and he had Hi Tech build the trailer specifically for the 25' Outlaw. Because (In his own words) He towed long distance,sometimes more than a thousand miles and did'nt want any problems. I know its overkill but worth the peace of mind.:whistle:

LOL. You sound just like me. If i cant buy it i build it. I think a Yukon Denali should come with an available Duramax and Allison trans. HHMMM.

Hey, Thanks!! My buddy built it when he owned it. The block is the original 502 poked and stroked to 540. Eagle crank,Eagle H-beam rods,J-E pistons and Merlin 315 heads with Iconnel valves. The blower is a B/M 250 with a Modded 1050 dominator. best speed so far is 84mph at 5400rpm on GPS. Bravo XR sportmaster with 2" shortie running a Bravo 1 28 pitch.

Forgot to add that no modifications were needed to the hatch or rear seat.

Fixx
 

i wish!! I think,,,,they think,,,,guys like us are going to load down the vehicle down with everything that goes into the boat then some how stuff the wife and kids in their then hook to the boat and go..Their rite! lol

You should be fine. I had an '07 and it towed my 24' Pantera like it wasn't even there.

Also towed my 30' Velocity, but that was about all I would ever want to pull. Plenty of power, but the short wheelbase of the truck made it a little nerve-racking on the highway. However I did tow it 2200 miles last summer so it's not impossible.

Thats great info. Hopefully it gets warm in a couple months so I can actually try towing. My old blazer has shorter wheelbase and it towed excellent. 110-120KPh. Whatever that works out to in mph. I guessing that the tri axle really helped with trailer sway etc.

Well...here ya go...

http://www.youtube.com/user/DuraBurbinc

Thats awesome. wonder how much it costs?

I think I read somewhere about $35K~$40K on top of the doner vehicle.

I'm not questioning it, just wondering what the thought process was behind it. I would have thought it's two more tires, two more bearings, another axle, etc. to maintain and it seems like it would bind the axles when making a tight turn.

LOL. I can think of better things that i would spend the cash on if I had the cash in the first place. Maybe a bigger boat.

The guy i bought it off is a millionaire. I guess he didnt care about the extra maintenance etc. What can i say, the boat came with the trailer. Works for me. I guess if i ever get a flat i could probably still drive to the nearest shop,Or if i was smart i would buy a spare and not worry. The tires do scrub when making a tight turn but not as much as they would with a 10,000lb boat on it. That being said, I'm aware of the scrubbing action in tight turns and try to limit them if possible.

I towed a 25' Active Thunder with a '96 Tahoe back in the day. I think it was only 260HP. 90 MPH all day long from St. Louis to Florida.

Sweet Truck and Boat!

It will EASILY tow it safely.

Very surprised the "normal" OSO response or how everyone needs a DRW did not show up! Glad some good responses are posted in this thread instead of the B.S. trashing the tow rig, trailer, blower on the engine, to much power for that boat, whatever crap they can make up. etc etc.

YOUR ENTIRE setup is really nice and anyone would be proud to own! Start a thread in the Baja section to share more good stories about your boat. With more pics and videos also!

Offshorexcursion: Thanks for the praise. My buddy Rod whom i bought the boat from did alot of research,prop testing etc that made the boat what it is. I have to give full credit to him as I think he did an outstanding job,Basically the boat was built with an open checkbook so i am told. It does have a laundry list of high perf parts in the engine and the engine was built by a very reputable engine builder that caters to the 6 sec doorslammer crowd as well as sprint boat engines. So far I am very happy with my puchase and get alot of positive feedback when I have it out on the lake. I plan on taking it stateside this summer for the Lake Chelan poker run in Washington state. I have towed it quite a bit with my big block blazer and you hardly know its there. The brakes are just awesome,hardly any trailer sway. Cheers!!

You shouldn't have any problem at all towing...I towed my old Baja 252 with the short wheelbase 4 door tahoe. It had the 4.8, so was not the quickest thing getting to highway speeds, and I wasn't hard on it anyway. The only issue that you might have, unless GM has updated, is the tranny. I believe the model is the 460LE, and they are the weak point in the chevy half tons. Mine burned through the "sunshine" ring, and it'll cost you about $1200 to fix. You'll know when it goes, you'll lose 1st and 3rd gear, and probably reverse. I had 120k on mine, with 2 summers of towing before it let go. From what I understand, towing makes it fail a little faster, it's just the weak point. Other than that, i never had any issues.

This truck has the six speed, not to sure ifs its the same but we have the extended warranty so I'm gonna put it to the test while its still warranteed. It also has the tow package with engine and tranny oil coolers.

It must be an updated tranny then...mine was an 05, and it was a 4 speed I believe.
Warranty=tow your boat everywhere! Like you, I would give it a good amount of testing too.

Congrats on the Denali, you wont have any worries. The 6.2 is a beast, and the 6L80E gets you in the right power curve at all times. That being said you have to get use to the frequent upshifting and downshifting. Also in tow haul mode dont be startled when you decel, they incorporated engine braking to slow you down when you put your foot on the brake so the engine revs a little.

I a 2010 Sierra Denali since new and it has been awesome towing my Formula PC. Look into the Hypertech power programmer it really adds a bit of power and increases your gas mileage by 1-2. I have it and im sold on it. I bought the Hypertech for my Dad's 04 Yukon Denali and his engine lasted 323,000 miles before it would set a code for random misfire which turned out to be just a pitted cam and roller lifter.

Good luck with it. Make sure you get under there and detail out the undercarriage there are some exposed metal parts you should just hit with some semi gloss black so no rusting occurs.


Just an fyi. The new ones are 6L80E. You had the 4L60E, which most likely broke the sunshell in which you lose 2nd, 4th, and Reverse. Very common problem when overloading these lighter duty transmissions. They have an update that I hope your trans shop did, which is known as "The Beast". Its the shell made out of better and thicker metal so you do not run into that again. Im a trans builder, I see tons of these.

Just an fyi. The new ones are 6L80E. You had the 4L60E, which most likely broke the sunshell in which you lose 2nd, 4th, and Reverse. Very common problem when overloading these lighter duty transmissions. They have an update that I hope your trans shop did, which is known as "The Beast". Its the shell made out of better and thicker metal so you do not run into that again. Im a trans builder, I see tons of these.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the correction! I knew it had a 6, an L, a 4 in there somewhere, and lots of beer after I wrote the check. I traded my Tahoe in and got a Ford 6.0 to tow the same boat (whole different LONG story on that, and it involves a lot of wrenches....). I'm towing with an 05 Duramax now, Best all around truck I have ever towed with.

You were very close! Lol to the point I knew exactly what you were told. The Duramax with the Allison is a great package.