My boat weighs in at over 4500 lbs.  I am looking for a 1/2 ton Chevy to tow it with.  I am in hilly terrain.  Most of the trucks on local lots have a 3.23 rear axle with a 5.3 liter engine.

 

Do any of you have a similar weight boat and tow with a truck like that?  I really don’t want to make a $40000 mistake.

Do they have a 3.73 option? It's going to hurt your mileage but I think you'd be much better off in hilly terrain.

I don't tow that much with my 1500 Silverado...but I easily could with the towing package mine has.

 

If you're buying new - get the 'Max Trailering Package' - then you're good to 10,000 lbs (they say 13,000 but you always want some leeway on that)

and don't forget oil and trans cooler options

My folks tow a tandem axle fiberglass Warrior 2090 with their 2016 1/2 ton Silverado, I believe it has a 5.3 liter V8 engine.  I don't know what total towing weight of that thing is, but the dry weight of the boat/motor is almost 4000 pounds I believe.  The trailer itself looks really heavy too.

My guess is 1/2 ton pickups with V8 engines tow 90% of the boats on the road.

Towing package gets you over size radiator, transmission cooler, factory hitch wiring and a towing transmission setting, it's the way to go. Your trailer needs brakes!

Tom

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

My folks tow a tandem axle fiberglass Warrior 2090 with their 2016 1/2 ton Silverado, I believe it has a 5.3 liter V8 engine.  I don't know what total towing weight of that thing is, but the dry weight of the boat/motor is almost 4000 pounds I believe.  The trailer itself looks really heavy too.

 

10 minutes ago, WRB said:

My guess is 1/2 ton pickups with V8 engines tow 90% of the boats on the road.

Towing package gets you over size radiator, transmission cooler, factory hitch wiring and a towing transmission setting, it's the way to go. Your trailer needs brakes!

Tom

Ya - my 2001 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3L has the factory installed towing package - with all that Tom says. I'm rated up to 11,000 lbs with it.

 

I went with the 6.2, and couldn't be happier.

The problem is not the 5.3, it's the 3.23 gears. Those are fuel economy gears, not towing up and down hill gears.

You're right, I have the 3.73 gears in mine.  I think you can go with a higher gearset as well.

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

You're right, I have the 3.73 gears in mine.  I think you can go with a higher gearset as well.

Ya, mine has the 3.73 as well.

Truck should handle 4,500 lb easily enough but 3.23 is pretty tall for towing. You'd probably want a 3.73 or 3.92 (or whatever's close).

 

My issue is all of the Chevy and GMC dealers are only stocking the 3.23 and ordering one like I usually do doesn’t seem to be an option right now.  The engine doesn’t concern me it’s the axle.

The transmission has a lot to do with determining rear ratio too. The GM/Ford 10 speed has a 1st gear of 4.69 and the ratios are much closer together than the old 4 speed autos. You don’t need as steep a rear gear with them.

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

I went with the 6.2, and couldn't be happier.

Me too. 2020 Z - 71 RST 6.2  3.23 10 speed trans

I personally feel any v8 1/2 ton truck would do just fine.  I'd want 4x4 for sure just for the weight and steep wet ramps. Other than that I'd be satisfied with any of the new trucks on the road for any bass boat.

That's nice.  Mine is a rusted out 2010, lol.

It’s not that I don’t have a good truck to pull with, it’s just that I want something smaller.

Each truck will have its own tow rating based upon engine, transmission and gear ratio.  That can range normally from 5,000 - 11,000 pounds in the same 1/2 ton truck depending on the configuration.  I agree with the others who advocate the 3:73 ratio, especially in hilly terrain.

 

The dealership should be able to provide the actual rated towing capacity for each truck you look at. If I were in your position I would want a minimum rating of 7,000# to compensate for the hilly terrain.  Don't just go with the salesmans claim that "it'll tow anything".  

13 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

It’s not that I don’t have a good truck to pull with, it’s just that I want something smaller.

I went from an F250 diesel of that vintage to a max tow Ecoboost and was more than happy. It had either 3.55 or 3.73 (It's been five years) and it did everything I needed. 

I couldn't find the Chevy I wanted when I bought it either.

5 hours ago, Jig Man said:

It’s not that I don’t have a good truck to pull with, it’s just that I want something smaller.

Very nice. Why are you looking at changing brands?

3 hours ago, slonezp said:

Very nice. Why are you looking at changing brands?

Ford is wanting $19000 boot plus I really am a General Motors kind of guy.

When it comes to gas trucks always try to get the lowest available gear ratio, 3.73 would be fine but 4.10s would be better. In theory higher gears like 3.23s get better fuel mileage, but in a real world situation where your working the truck that's rarely ever the case, the engine doesn't have to work as hard with lower gears so it will often get better fuel mileage.

F150 has the highest towing and hauling ratings of any 1/2 Ton. The 3.5L Ecoboost is a beast...and there is a new Power Stroke diesel hooked to a 10 speed automatic! That thing should pull your house! 

I drive a 2016 ram 1500 with the 5.7 v8 which was rated at 11600 or something like that and although I’ve never towed a boat bigger than a new 18ft ranger with it, I have towed my companies plumbing construction trailer with it a few times. 1000 ft of copper and pvc, 80g water heater, a boiler, softener, and a good 2-3k lbs of fittings, tools, unistrut, gastite, concrete, mixer, chop saw etc and my truck never felt like it was underpowered in any way. Trailer has to be 7-9k fully loaded. Definitely handled it a lot better than my old work van which was a late 90’s ford with probably about 75 hp left. If I saw a hill coming up I would have to floor it and build up as much speed as I could for a quarter mile before so I wouldn’t stop halfway up the hill. That van was a death trap, really glad they bought me a new one.