"Phillip S. Osborne" <psosborn@gte.net> wrote:
I'm hardly a 'burban expert, nor am I a towing expert, but I do own a '90
Suburban 2WD 1500, and I do use it to tow a race car.
> I am researching the towing capabilities of a Suburban, 2wd 1500 model
> that does not have a tow pkg per se, but comes equipped with the trans
> cooler, engine cooler, 46mm Bilstien shocks, and wiring harness.
Ours has the tow package, and that sounds pretty much like what we've got. Note
that on the 90's at least that the tow package did NOT include a trans cooler.
We bought and installed that ourselves.
Aside fron the usual used-car gremlins (old tires, A/C compressor seized, d/s
window stuck closed, sagging rear springs) the only problem we have had with the
truck was that the factory tow hitch had been quietly rusting away, and by the
time we got it, the "ears" that hold the crossbeam to the frame were about the
thickness of 16 gauge sheet metal. We discovered this when the hitch fell off
the truck - thankfully, while towing an empty trailer at slow speeds a handful
of blocks from our house.
But as far as capacity goes, we tow a rig consisting of 3000lbs of race car,
400lbs or tires, and 1500lbs of trailer with no problems. Ours is the 5.7l
throttle body injection motor. The rig will happily sustain 75MPH for as long as
you like it to. Faster than that, and driving gets a little busy.
Acceleration is an issue, and on steep hills (like driving through PA) you go up
the hill at whatever speed you entered it at. With a little looking ahead and
careful driving, you don't slow down on hills at all.
> However, on the way home from the dealership, the brakes went south
We've had (knock wood) no problems with brakes. In fact, it stops pretty good.
It helps that we have trailer brakes.
DG
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