I know the differance with weight but My family is looking into gettnig a bigger boat. The boats 28ft long 10ft wide beam SeaRay on a tri-axle AL trailer and the guy figues its around 9,000lbs We have a 98 1500 EX cab shortbed with the 5700 Vortech , Auto Tranny and a 3:55 Posi Its also has the tow package and the heavy duty suspension. The boat we wanna buy is in ST Petersbug FL and we want to tow it home back to cleveland Ohio. The guy in FL said a 2500 would tow it good and we were wondering what we can do to the 1500 to make it more beefy. We were thinking about getting one of those add a leafs and maybe some heavy duty shocks. What else would be recommended. The trailer has stabilizer bars and lift bars also. Thanks

 

helper springs for the rear, they're just added leaves i think. 2500s have bigger brakes and stiffer torsion bars up front on 4X4s. I think they get an additional trans cooler also. Inflate your tires more also.

 

the difference depends alot on the truck you have. there is two half ton models for the 4x4 which i'm going to assume you have since you didn't post it. i don't know where the 3.55 gears were put in, but it's a decent ratio although not enough to tow a big boat with a half ton. 3.73 or 4.10 (not optional in 98) is what you'd be better off having. the 4x4 model was available with a 6600 gvw heavy duty suspension package. this included one extra leaf spring, heavy duty shocks, 9.5 inch 14 bolt rear, and larger duo servo rear brakes. the tow package should have come with a transmission cooler so your set there. with the trailer having the stabilizer bars you should be fine with the exception that a half ton should never tow 9,000 lbs. as far as 3/4 ton trucks, there was also two models in 98 which is 7200 gvw and 8600gvw. the 8600 model is the most commen with it having the 8 lug wheels. the 7200 model has the 6 lug wheels. this being the easier way to tell the two apart. without going into full detail, it's not worth waisting money on the 7200 gvw model for a trailer that large. you should be using an 8600 gvw or larger truck with perferrably a big block or diesel. a small block truck will tow it, but work like hell doing it. (by the way, it's vortec, not vortech).

 

sorry about the spelling. Yes we are only going to tow the boat twice a year. i nthe water and out of the water and the drive from fl to home. I misread the window sticker. It says Heavy duty chassis package. That was 300 bucks. Heavy duty front and rear shocks, That was 40 bucks. Engine oil cooler and the rear was not a 3:55 it was a 3:42 The GVW on the sticker was 6,600 Thanks for your help guys. I think we are going to take achance and pull it home rather then spend 1800 for somebody to bring it up to us. We'll just take it slow.

 

Your familys truck should do fine.
The problem will be suspension. The add a leaf will help alot but your probably going to need (blank, cant think ) air bladder system also. I know i'll remeber and have to edit this latter. The reason you going to need this extra support is because the shocks on your PU should have the sensors on them and It might not be worth the hassle to replace them. The other problem is what zippy mentioned. Somthing that heavy should be towed with a BB or diesel. Although the small block will work fine you should consider an upgrade before too long.
Good Luck!
SSC

 

the biggest thing to worry about is not how well it will pull... the biggest thing is first the brakes being able to handle the load (trailer brakes or not)... the second is the suspension being able to respond with the weight behind it... if these things are not adequeate then it is not safe to tow that much weight... don't forget murphy's law...

zroc