With me being military I will be moving in about a year and a half. I have been looking around for a trailer. i would like to get a 6x10 or a 6x12 at least. It will be loading down with my 615 lb motorcycle and other items i dont want the mover to take so it might way a total of 5,000 lbs give or take a few lbs with trailer.

The 1990 GMC Jimmy 5.7l has the Z82 tow pckage, 3.42 gears which i plan on replacing with 3.73 gears the reason for 3.73 so i can have decent full economy in the city for my daily driver. it also has the factory hitch.

I plan on putting a trailer brake system on the jimmy. i was wondering if i will have trouble pulling that much weight for a long distance.

I would appreciate any input.

Thanks

 

its so hard to say what someones vehicle can and cant do, but heres some past and current experence i have. my daily driver is a 1990 c1500 pick up truck. 305 engine 3.42 gears and 175,000 miles. so its pretty close to what you have though my wheel base is a little longer. i tow my SFA s10 on a 1300lb trailer along with another set of tires, jack, tools, etc to the offroad park which is about a 70 mile trip. so id guess its close to 5000 total. its obviously no speed demon getting up to speed on the highway but it will hold 60-65 no problem.

gas mileage kinda sucks, i have a 38 gallon tank, and use about a half tank doing the 140 mile round trip but whatever. i dont know if my engine was ever rebuilt but before this truck i had a 2007 f150 with the 4.6 in it and speedwise it tows about the same.

years ago i used to tow with a 84 k5 blazer, 33 inch tires 4.11 gears and a 350. same thing, did ok

but obviously its a old truck so stuff can go wrong at anytime, brake lines can blow, fuel lines can blow, power steering pumps can blow out (which actually happened to me, i was like 5 miles from home though)

 

Hi, i don't know about the tow pkg but the accepted notion is short wheelbase makes for iffy towing, especially near the 5,000 lb range. I got into trailer sway when towing the old Jayco pop-up (gross 2,500 lbs) at 120 kmh on the 401.
Also, 3.73 is better for towing (and mudding) but harder on fuel than the 3.42
cheers