2000 silverado tow question

Hi All,

I have a 2000 silverado Z71 extended cab with 85k miles. I am going to tow a friend of mines toy hauler this weekend. It weighs roughly 4700lbs. I have towed more than this before but this time I will be in the hills and t wo lane roads. Is a brake controller required for that kind of weight? I figured I will take it easy and hope I can get away with the stock brakes.

TIA

Reply to
dh
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Yes for Brake controller!

Need to run an additional line from front to back, Blue wire from controller.

Chevy will do it no problem with tow haul, but try to stop going down hill without it, and buy a new truck and trailer.

Reply to
bilz2765

I pull a 29ft, 7000 lbs travel trailer with my F150. There is no way in HELL I would attempt towing that without brakes....

Check your manual - I can almost tell you for sure that the chevy manual for a 1/2 ton will state that you need a brake controller for anything over 1K lbs. This stated, that's all the extra weight GM engineers say that the truck will stop without overtaxing the truck brakes...

Moving on - next check the state laws that you will be towing in/through. Each state has certain weight that you need to have trailer brakes. I am pretty certain it is a hell of a lot lower that the almost

5K you are towing. You get into even a minor fender-bender when you are supposed to have brakes, your ass is cooked.

Moving on again - I would not like to tow 5K on a flat without brakes, to say none the less about hills. You can take it easy all you want, but if a moron pulls out in front of you on that two lane road, what are you going to do? If your trailer starts swaying, you reach down to activate the controller to stop the sway and...oh yeah - nothing there. The trailer starts pushing you down the hill and granny is driving 10mph under the speed limit halfway down. No problem, you'll just be standing on your glazed pads and gently help her get up to speed when you come up on her....

Conclusion: If you tow this without brakes, you are nuts...

.....mainly because there MAY be a very easy solution you can do right now - today - that will fix the problem. This is assuming you have a tow package and the correct pin connector on the hitch, but are just missing the brake controller. You can go to your local camping store today, and pick up a brake controller for ~$100 bucks. (Prodigy is a good controller at that price). A lot of times, if the truck was ordered with a tow package there should have been a plastic bag in the glove box with the plug in adapter w/wires, but if not the guy selling you the controller can find you the adapter for pretty cheap. It's easy to install (mount in your truck under the dash where you can reach it while driving, and plug the adapter into the wiring harness where it belongs. Should take 1/2 hour max....

~$100 bucks and a 1/2 hour.... Not a lot to make sure you help out your friend by not wrecking his trailer, not killing yourself or anyone else, not getting sued (as a minimum) if you have a wreck and not wrecking your truck, not having to change your underwear when you reach the bottom of the first hill and realize this was a bad idea....PLUS, you now have a brake controller and are set up if you ever need to tow again or want to get into camping or something.... It's only Wednesday, so you have time to get it and get it done....

Just my opinion of course....

Reply to
IYM

ow a friend of mines toy hauler this weekend. It weighs roughly 4700lbs. I have towed more than this before but this time I will be in the hills and two lane roads. Is a brake controller required for that kind of weight? I figured I will take it easy and hope I can get away with the stock brakes .

Well I got a Tekonsha brake controller installed for ~$200 and what a diffe rence. Feel way more confident now. However, now the truck's tow/haul swi tch is acting up so may not be able to use that. It's always something. T hanks for all the advice....

Reply to
dh

take it back. tow haul has nothing to do with brake controller.

Reply to
bilz2765

You could have done it yourself and saved half the price, but to each their own and it's good that if you didn't feel confident enough to do it yourself, you had it done by a professional - but anyway, I agree that your tow/haul has nothing to do with the brake controller. Did it start having problems only after the controller installation? If so, yes bring it back.... Either way - On my F150, my tow switch basically prevents the truck from shifting into overdrive. I'm not sure on that year GM what it does, as my 5.7 '98 GM 2500 does not have a tow/haul switch. A google search shows it was a common issue with the orange wire breaking in the column. Seems an easy fix as you need to remove the bottom cover of the steering column and the broken wire should be visible....Good Luck..

Site I found to take the cover off:

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Reply to
IYM

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