I have seen very few threads on towing with the 550. Wanted to share my results from my first easy tow.
This should have been easy for the GX. I’m happy to report it was.
Single axle U-haul 4x8 foot trailer. ~475 miles to move one of my children home prior to them leaving again for grad school in the fall.
I had run my GX across a CAT scale to get it’s baseline weight of 5,620lb.
4 pax, loaded U-haul trailer, full fuel and luggage weighed on a CAT scale at 8,280lb. So 2,660lb of trailer/people/stuff. Well under the GX GCWR of 15,165lb.
GX handled it easily, just as it should have. Ride was comfortable, braking up to task, acceleration up to task, tow/haul on the transmission behaved well. The short wheelbase of the GX was not an issue with this tow. This particular U-Haul trailer is narrower and shorter than the GX so I was pleased to get just under 15 miles/gallon on the trip.
My criticisms relate to the logistics of hooking up a trailer to the GX. The integrated 4-pin/7-pin on the GX is a hassle as you can’t see it without getting on the ground. The safety chain attachments are crowded. The double wall hitch receiver means you have to use an extra long pin.
This fall I have 2 going to school and will have ~700 mile trip. I’ll upsize to the 2-axle U-Haul for that and run across the scale as well. I anticipate the GX will perform well. I’m guessing I’ll be closer to ~9,000lb total for that trip.
I expected GX to tow well and it did. I look forward to giving it a little more challenge in the future. One of my selection criteria for the GX was towing and so far so good.
I anticipate the GX will do well up to 10,000lb combined weight. YMMV, but I think my absolute max would be 11,000lb combined weight if I was very careful about tongue weight and had a well dialed in WDH (weight distributing hitch). I personally envision I would not want to pull more than 5K lb to 6K lb trailer with the GX. The good news for a GX is it has enough payload (7,165 lb GWVR - 5,620 lb vehicle weight = 1,545lb capacity for my specific GX) to handle both passengers and a ~500lb to 600lb tongue weight.
For me the GX wheelbase is the primary limitation and GX payload the secondary limitation for challenging towing. For reference, I have lots of history towing a large 31 foot travel trailer when my family was younger. Loaded with bikes/food/gear the TT was ~7.5K lbs. To tow that I had a K2500 Suburban with the 8.1L Vortec. After I had a customer ECT/TCM tune hat was a towing machine. We were typically around 13K/13.5K lbs with all of our stuff. I would not want to try towing something that long or that heavy very far or in windy conditions with my GX.
Obligatory picture attached.
Additional edit - I did not have the issues with the automatic parking support braking (PKSB) firing when hooking up or backing the trailer. I know others have had this issue. I’m guessing my rental trailer had a long-enough tongue that the safety systems didn’t feel the need to panic.
This should have been easy for the GX. I’m happy to report it was.
Single axle U-haul 4x8 foot trailer. ~475 miles to move one of my children home prior to them leaving again for grad school in the fall.
I had run my GX across a CAT scale to get it’s baseline weight of 5,620lb.
4 pax, loaded U-haul trailer, full fuel and luggage weighed on a CAT scale at 8,280lb. So 2,660lb of trailer/people/stuff. Well under the GX GCWR of 15,165lb.
GX handled it easily, just as it should have. Ride was comfortable, braking up to task, acceleration up to task, tow/haul on the transmission behaved well. The short wheelbase of the GX was not an issue with this tow. This particular U-Haul trailer is narrower and shorter than the GX so I was pleased to get just under 15 miles/gallon on the trip.
My criticisms relate to the logistics of hooking up a trailer to the GX. The integrated 4-pin/7-pin on the GX is a hassle as you can’t see it without getting on the ground. The safety chain attachments are crowded. The double wall hitch receiver means you have to use an extra long pin.
This fall I have 2 going to school and will have ~700 mile trip. I’ll upsize to the 2-axle U-Haul for that and run across the scale as well. I anticipate the GX will perform well. I’m guessing I’ll be closer to ~9,000lb total for that trip.
I expected GX to tow well and it did. I look forward to giving it a little more challenge in the future. One of my selection criteria for the GX was towing and so far so good.
I anticipate the GX will do well up to 10,000lb combined weight. YMMV, but I think my absolute max would be 11,000lb combined weight if I was very careful about tongue weight and had a well dialed in WDH (weight distributing hitch). I personally envision I would not want to pull more than 5K lb to 6K lb trailer with the GX. The good news for a GX is it has enough payload (7,165 lb GWVR - 5,620 lb vehicle weight = 1,545lb capacity for my specific GX) to handle both passengers and a ~500lb to 600lb tongue weight.
For me the GX wheelbase is the primary limitation and GX payload the secondary limitation for challenging towing. For reference, I have lots of history towing a large 31 foot travel trailer when my family was younger. Loaded with bikes/food/gear the TT was ~7.5K lbs. To tow that I had a K2500 Suburban with the 8.1L Vortec. After I had a customer ECT/TCM tune hat was a towing machine. We were typically around 13K/13.5K lbs with all of our stuff. I would not want to try towing something that long or that heavy very far or in windy conditions with my GX.
Obligatory picture attached.
Additional edit - I did not have the issues with the automatic parking support braking (PKSB) firing when hooking up or backing the trailer. I know others have had this issue. I’m guessing my rental trailer had a long-enough tongue that the safety systems didn’t feel the need to panic.
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