Help! Towing safety for a newbi

[mrbeachroach]

I am a 2-4 time a year r.v.er with wife and kids and we are hoping to go full time someday.
In the last 2 years since we have owned our camper we have taken about 5 trips total, so I am knew to this!

Question:

We live close to Nashville TN,

We have always wanted to go to Cherrokee NC with the kids.

My concern is that the grades are very steep and I have a 2007 Chevy Tahoe with 190,000 miles (by the way, this is the only family vehicle) (and I wish to take care of it) as my vehicle pulling a Jayco swift travel trailor. 24ft.

Below are the specs of the vehicle and the trailor specs.

When I first bought my camper I drove it from Tampa Florida to Tennesee my first r.v. Trip without ever towing anything. I didn't know a thing! 3 hrs into my 10 hr trip The transmission light came on that trip and the temp was between 220-240.,(IN May) I pulled over and let it cool down then took it much slower. After that 1st trip I have never had another problem with it (and I plan trips accordingly. My Tahoe is in good working mechanical order, granted I had no idea what I was doing and that I probably was not shifting correctly up hills, after that trip I have always told my wife that before we go to the smoky mountains I would have to get an after market transmission cooler put in.

The thought of one lane roads that I cannot pull over on an overheating engine going up mountain, with the string of cars behind me would very much concern me. I would like to take this trip to the smokies this June, but before I commit,

I need some good recommendations on the type of transmission cooler to buy,

how to shift up and down hills including how many RPMs I should be running in both scenarios and any other recommendations with the specs of my vehicle I've given you along with what I'm pulling. Obviously because the miles on my vehicle and the fact it is my only family vehicle I would like to make sure I am not putting more of a strain on it then was recommended by the manufacturer. When we bought our vehicle, we did so in mind that we wanted one that could pull a travel trailer, and picked the travel trailer based on what we believed it could handle. However, I would like your opinion on it, as well as if going up steep smokey mountain grades changes your opinion of it being O.K. Or not.

As far as additional weight in the camper we tend to be a little bit more minimalistic knowing that we don't always use everything every time we take a trip.

Also, if you have taken this trip yourself, I want to make sure I Avoid the dragons tail route,

I have found myself on it on accident going to Cherrokee in a minivan with my pregnant wife going 5-15 miles an hour on switchbacks with motor cycles buzzing past us at 70 miles an hour. Nightmare!

So I have included the route I would take to see if you agree it would be the best route. Thanks!

[mrbeachroach]

Update better pictures

[DeanCHS1980]

Hi Jason,

I am on my way out the door to work, but I highly recommended that you consider joining. . .

RVFTA: The Group on Facebook. It is a closed group, but I am sure you would be approved. It is "primarily" a group of RVers with families/kids. The facilitators of the group have owned nothing but Jaycos towables. There are several other Jayco owners as well.

You would find all kinds of help there.

Most of the folks that post here are owners of molded fiberglass "egg campers".

Keep on researching and make that trip to the Smokies!!! I hope to see you over on RVFTA: The Group. BTW, that is RV Family Travel Atlas.

Take care,

Dean

[thrifty bill]

You also need to know the payload limit on your vehicle. It will be posted on the drivers door or door jam usually. With a full load of family plus stuff, plus trailer tongue weight you could be over the limit. Obviously you need a tranny cooler. I bet there is a Chevy forum out there with great recommendations.

[dmad1]

Have you kept the tranny serviced over the years? Check the color of the fluid on your dipstick. Should be a pretty pink in color. If not, have a total flush done on it, not just a change. A change will only replace about 6 qts. of the 12. A full flush with replace all of it with new fluid. I have been told by a mechanic friend that the GM tranny in the Tahoes have a small pump and you need to keep the rpms in the 2k range if you can. On mine, that is hard to do because even in the Tow Haul mode, at 2k rpm, you are running in the 70 mph range. Tow Haul mode will make it run in 5th gear if yours is a 6 spd. Mine is a 6L80 but don't know if they were using that one back in '07. Bought mine used it it has 85k on it and had never been changed but was not having any problems with it. Fluid didn't have much pink color, mostly brown. Had it changed (6 qts.) and that helped, but still not the color it needs, so am going to do a full flush myself before I take off on a long trip. Not a big deal but can be messy. Some say that if you have not had it done and have lots of miles on it, it can cause problems by loosening some of the gunk buildup in the valve body. Check out some of the videos on Youtube.

[FRL001]

Hi

We're into year two of trailer ownership. Learned a lot last year about tow ratings and so on.

There are many excellent resources if you use Google and Youtube to make sure first of all that you are safely within the limits for your tow vehicle. You need to consider the base weight of your tow vehicle plus all its cargo, passengers and tank of fuel (GVW limits) as well as the same for your trailer and then the gross combined limit as well (GCW limits). Make sure you're well under both the GVW and GCW limits for your tow vehicle.

And as for your tow vehicle, be religious about fluid changes as others have suggested. Transmission and coolant flush if needed, tranny filter change if it has one. Don't forget a brake fluid change if you haven't done in in the last 3-4 years. The transmission cooler is an excellent idea as well.

And yes, you need to find a Jayco forum