As the title states I am going to be towing a 24' Enclosed trailer which will roughly weigh 5,000 lb (I will have a car inside the trailor.)

I will be using a truck very similar to mine with the following stats:
2005 Sierra 1500
Towing Package
3.23 gears
5.3
Stock suspension

Does anyone have any experience with towing anything similar?

Most likely will be towing twice a month on the interstate for roughly an hour travel time.

Thanks in advance

 

WIth that gear ratio you will absolutely want to run it in 3rd the whole time.

Does the trailer have brakes?
What type of brakes?
Do you have a trailer brake controller?
Do you have a load distributing hitch?

I definitely recommend getting some load range E tires too. The stiffer sidewall really helps with trailer sway. If youre going to tow that often Id reocmmend helper bags, and some adjustable rear shocks like rancho rs9000xl series to help out with the extra tongue weight.

 

All good advice. I have helper bags, load distributing hitch and brake controller and can tow my 7000lb trailer just fine. I wouldn't do it without all that.

 

Answer to the questions are above.
Would you feel safe enough to take the truck and trailer out without the bags and adjustable shocks?

 

Yes you will be fine, they would efinitely help though. The main things is the load distributing hitch and having electric trailer brakes. Does the LD hitch have a sway controller too? If so you're golden, enclosed trailers have a lot of sail area and can be a handful in a crosswind. Hopefully your trailer brake controller has manual lever where you can engage the trailer brakes without using the tow vehicle. If the trailer starts walking just reach down and grab the lever and drive through the swaying and it will straighten out on you.

I'd also recommend some tow mirrors or the extensions that go on the stock mirrors. If its a full width enclosed trailer you won't be able to see around you without whipping the wheel to get the trailer to sway some to see behind you.

Sounds like you're pretty well set up, the other suggestions would be pretty nice and make a noticeable difference. I just bought a new truck and will be doing a thread on prepping a vehicle for heavy towing.

 

Thank you for all the information and I will keep an eye out for your thread.

 

Are you going to tow that with a RCSB? If so, that short wheelbase, and light weight, and gearing/power is gonna suck. You'll be underpowered, and it's gonna push and pull you all over the place.

Just the extra weight & wheelbase of a ECSB or CCSB makes a HUGE improvement.

 

Another thing to add is will you running a bigger trans cooler? The trans wont take that much towing and heat for to long..

Also like AK said if your towing with a single cab that trailer will push you around like nobodies business lol

 

+1

Towing anything over 2000 pounds sucks bad with my rcsb, it can be done but handling is compromised to the point of being dangerous if you're not on top of things all the time.

 

I am surprised that your 24' enclosed with a car is only 5k lbs. Our 24' interstate is almost 5k empty!