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Old 12-26-2016, 05:26 PM   #1
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Try to pull 1950 with a Chevy Colorado?

My main beast, a Dodge Ram 1500 bit the dust a couple of weeks ago and it is time to replace it. I really did not like having such a big truck as a daily driver. I did start pulling my 1950 with a 2014 Jeep Laramie; the weights seemed to be correct and in limits. I took mostly 50 mph back roads, did not like the feel on the highway without a sway or weight distribution hitch. I replaced the Jeep with the Dodge Ram. The Ram pulled the trailer up hills much better than the Jeep, and there was a little less sway.

So, I was looking at a sweet little 2008 Chevy Colorado club cab today, 5 cylinder. I always liked these little truck. I took it on a test drive and loved it!. Before I buy it, though, I wanted to see if anyone has tried to tow with these. I would be happy if it could at least do what my 2014 Jeep Laramie did... I don't really want to take the trailer up steep mountain passes anyway.

Has anyone tried to tow a 1950 with a Colorado?
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Old 12-26-2016, 05:34 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocketgirl View Post
My main beast, a Dodge Ram 1500 bit the dust a couple of weeks ago and it is time to replace it. I really did not like having such a big truck as a daily driver. I did start pulling my 1950 with a 2014 Jeep Laramie; the weights seemed to be correct and in limits. I took mostly 50 mph back roads, did not like the feel on the highway without a sway or weight distribution hitch. I replaced the Jeep with the Dodge Ram. The Ram pulled the trailer up hills much better than the Jeep, and there was a little less sway.

So, I was looking at a sweet little 2008 Chevy Colorado club cab today, 5 cylinder. I always liked these little truck. I took it on a test drive and loved it!. Before I buy it, though, I wanted to see if anyone has tried to tow with these. I would be happy if it could at least do what my 2014 Jeep Laramie did... I don't really want to take the trailer up steep mountain passes anyway.

Has anyone tried to tow a 1950 with a Colorado?
Have you researched the tow ratings and payload ratings for the specific model of Colorado you are looking at? That information is much more important than someone's casual and unquantified experiences.

The 1950 is GVWR'ed at 5,500#. (The later ones had a higher GVWR, I believe.) To safely tow it, you need a tow vehicle that has a tow rating of at least 15% more than that and preferably 25%.

There are dozens of threads here going back 10 years about this exact issue. Read through them after you get the numbers for the Colorado. The advice in those threads is still 100% applicable.
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Old 12-26-2016, 05:51 PM   #3
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I was getting so many mixed messages when looking through Edmonds, NADA, etc. I finally found the 2008 Colorado manual on-line. It sounds like the Colorado should be able to pull the 1950, better than my Jeep but not was well as the Dodge Ram. That was where I wanted to be.

However, I still would not mind hearing from anyone who has used a Colorado for towing.
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Old 12-27-2016, 09:09 AM   #4
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Hi Rocket,

Trying to help you sort this out, but we need more info. We need it to even have someone compare their towing experiences to what your asking.

You said:
Quote:
2008 Chevy Colorado club cab today, 5 cylinder.
I'm assuming you mean 5 speed manual transmission in place of 5 cylinder engine? or was the 5 a typo for a V6 engine? And the club cab, is that the extended cab or the crew cab and what bed length? as starter quesrtions.

Using these small trucks to tow a 2 axle travel trailer is going to take some number crunching as there are some combinations which will not work and a few that may be able to pull it, but handling it is also part of the need.

Here is the manual: http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam...ado_owners.pdf

See pages 4-44 through 4-55. There are many combo's there. We need to know which one you are looking at.

Those charts are broken down into:

Cab style
2 x 4 or 4 x 4 wheel drive
Engine size
Rear axle ratio
Auto or manual transmission

Those 5 get us started but you still need more before you can decide a good match or not.

Ideally a picture of the driver side door sticker showing the allowable weight ratings really helps. And while your picture taking, being it is a GM, inside the glove box is a sticker with a bunch of product codes (RPO codes) that can tell you what the truck was built with, like an aux transmission cooler, tow package etc. They look like this. These were off my 2003 Suburban but it shows what to look for. Look in the back for a reciever hitch and take a pic of the ratings sticker on it.

Door sticker


Glove box RPO codes


I looked up the 2002, 1950 from our files section, this 2 axle trailer has a 5,000# GVWR, empty has a 380# dry tongue weight and a dry 3,455# gross vehicle weight, dry meaning "empty", no camping gear, battery, spare tire or even LP gas in the tanks.

I'm not saying the Colorado you found can do this, it may come out to be a not a good choice, but you can learn along the way what to look for.

The "tow rating" of the vehicle can be a very misunderstood rating when it comes to towing travel trailers. The fine print had gotten many a good camper before into a not good situation. Even if the pull rating works, the tongue weight and truck weights has to fit which trump the tow ratings. GM says this on page 4-54

GM Said:
Quote:
Trailering may be limited by the vehicle’s ability to carry
tongue weight. Tongue weight cannot cause the vehicle to exceed the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) or the RGAWR (Rear Gross Axle Weight rating). The effect of additional weight may reduce your trailering capacity more than the total of the additional weight
While a base stripped version of the truck with only one 150 lb driver might be able to just fit inside the tow rating of an empty camper, no one really camps like that. We all like to take camping things with us. And the campers we pull being 8 feet wide 9, to 10 feet tall create wind drag called "frontal area" that is eats into tow rating where towing an open trailer, does not have the wing drag or frontal area as bad.

My son used to have the S10, ext cab long bed pickup. The predecessor to the Colorado. It was great on gas mileage for him while being a good little pickup for odds and ends. I do not recall if he ever towed his pop-up with it. He has a higher profile pop up that can create the wing drag, I just do not recall if he ever used the S10 to tow it. He now has a larger Sunline camper and 3/4 ton truck but may be a point of reference on actual experience.

Since you have not yet bought the truck, now is the time to sort this out. And we are here to help.

This thread will give you some more breakdown of the details to think through. http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...ing-10775.html

Hope this helps

John

PS, you mentioned you did not like the feel of the camper without a WD hitch or anti sway controls, you will need these on the Colorado.
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Old 12-27-2016, 06:20 PM   #5
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Yes Chevy did make a 5 cylinder. I have a Tacoma 6 liter 6 speed I would not tow a 5500# load all though it's rated 6500# I don't believe in towing some thing that out weights my vehicle unless it's a 5th wheel.
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Old 12-28-2016, 10:39 AM   #6
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Yes Chevy did make a 5 cylinder. I have a Tacoma 6 liter 6 speed I would not tow a 5500# load all though it's rated 6500# I don't believe in towing some thing that out weights my vehicle unless it's a 5th wheel.
Ditto. I towed our T-1950 with our V6 Tacoma - once. Had a Tundra before the camping season. If I towed just an hour from home a couple times a year, it would be different, but a T-1950 is a lot for a compact truck, even if rated for the load (which the Tacoma was).
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Old 12-28-2016, 05:37 PM   #7
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Yeah if I really need to tow some thing I fire up the dully Dodge diesel! I have a 1000 mile trip next summer and I think I'm going to use my Dodge to tow the T1700 it gets better mileage! That should be a sight the Dodge is about as long as the camper.
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Old 12-28-2016, 08:16 PM   #8
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I'll add my opinion based on previous experience. I previously posted my attempt to haul my 2007 T-1950 with a 4L Tacoma rated at 6000lb capacity. It did not go well. Very underpowered in my opinion. Since that time I have made a point of noticing what people are using as tow vehicles. Very few small trucks of any make are pulling trailers of any size. I think that speaks volumes. My opinion, don't do it.
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