I posted a while back that I was considering a Gen I or Gen II Tundra as tow vehicle for my 256. You all convinced me Gen I was not up to the job. Gen II deal did not work out. Anyway, I now have a buyer lined up for my Honda Pilot and I have identified a used 07' Silverado Crew Cab 4x4 5.3L with tow package. 13K miles. LT2 package.

1) Is the 5.3 up to the job? Will be short distance towing.
2) The seller is asking 24,500. KBB online is 22,000. I was going to offer 20,500.

Thoughts?

Yes.

Shouldn't have a problem towing it. Price isn't bad, although you could probably do better from an individual that wants to get rid of one It's definitely a buyers market on pickups right now. 07 is probably the previous body style. You could get a brand new 08 for about 25-27K right now.

Yeah, it's up to the job.

2007 is new generation (GMT 900)

Could be the 07 "classic", old body style.

Good Point. The key here is the LT2 package. I think that's a code on the GMT 900's though.

New body style.

Probably have to switch out the hitch. All the 1/2 tons come rated for 5K without weight distributing. Another reason we went 3/4ton.

I have been Towing our 232 Rinker with a 06 Titan 4x4 Crew Cab,,
1/2 ton,, for the money it was the best deal and buy far a higher quilty truck.. of all vehicles on market it is the best tow for the buck.. It is the only truck rated to tow 9400 pounds with adding only 1 option,, the tow package and that is $400... on the LE model... and that truck can be bought for $30,000 or so ,,New...If you have to add a tow package to any of the other trucks they still won't tow that weight... And the tow package is only a class III or maybe a V hitch and wiring... Then you have to add gearing, trans cooler, mirriors all at extra cost to tow package.. Nissan has all of that and adds a trans temp gauge into dash gauge cluster,, and all of that is a part of the $400 Big Tow Package... Plus it rides, tows and drives great... Look into it before buying anything else,,
I hope I was not to late in getting to this post...

We love our Titan. That's the main reason we bought the Titan over all the other brands, no one else offered a true Class IV/V tow hitch. We didn't want to mess with weight distributing stuff to tow our Rinker 232.

You're going to be close to or maybe even above the GVWR of that truck which is about 10,500# for 2WD truck, driver, no gear and no passengers.

Your boat weighs in at about 5,700#, add toys, gas, some passengers in the truck, the 4WD and other options and all of a sudden you're up there at something like 9,000# on a truck rated just over that. To me that makes for an uncomfortable ride, especially when the engine is crying the whole time.

I have towed our Rinker without the weight distrubiting trunion bar set up,, I have used a 6" adjustable drop hitch and even a straight 0" drop ball mount... With my truck the hitch reciever under bumper sits about 21" high.. My trailer frame sitting level puts the coupler at 11-12" with about 450 pounds of tounge weight and the leaf spring equlizer is level.. with use of the bars and a drop adjustable ball mount I can make whole package ride level and have unsurpassed stabilaity at all speeds and all type of roads...

Have you towed your trailer empty for any distance?? Mine would bounce and hop so much it would make a person sick even on a short run back to home after launching boat.. This does not happen with bars,, they hold everything tight and no hopping of a empty trailer..

I have had these bars since the late 70's and have rigged them on everything from a 6 horse stock trailer,, race car trailer,, flat bed trailer and now my boat trailer,, I did have to purchase a special adapter that lets you use the set up on a single beam trailer rather than the V post coupler style..
the adapter is great ,,it comes off the trailer with one bolt,, no drilling or welding needed,, and the set up makes a good package so much better that once tried you will not want to go with out ever... I have had more then my share of bad towing experiances and it is well worth looking into...

Deepv you are right,, At almost 5800# boat, trailer, gear and ect... Then adding in a full bed of luggage (6 bags)(these trucks only have a 5 1/2 foot bed) a couple bags of food and some tools and toys and the bed is full. Total weight there about 300-350 pounds, trailer tounge weight 450 pounds... This model payload is rated at just under 1400 pounds, so with about 500 -600 pounds of passengers it is at it's max... And I don't like running things so close to there max but we are still under max limits... This is another reason I use a weight distrubiting hitch setup... the load may be maxed but it rides level and trailer brakes only function properly when trailer and load are level... As for the power thing,, you would be surprised at how much torque these engines have,, plus with 4 valves per cylinder and no push rods to bed they redline at 7000 RPM,, and no I don't hold it 7000 but climbing a 1 1/2 mile grade that top out over 3200 feet it's good to know that you can run 3800-4000 RPM at 68 MPH and make the climb without the cruise control kicking out.. The tow package trucks come with 3:32 gears in the diffs and the lowest three foward gear are low enough to drive like a truck equiped with 4:11's in the diff's.. 4-th gear is the 1:1 ratio and 5-th or "D" is overdriven,, plus the converter has a lock up when not towing... that should give the truck a 1650-1750 RPM at just under 70 MPH... The VVT engine is very smooth through entire RPM range...
They are a joy to drive and I suggest you do if you haven't already,, Just don't be behind the wheel when the gas tank needs to be filled,, mine is a pig on gas...
As far as maxing it out with that load again yes you are right... These Titans are rated as 1/2 ton trucks,,, and there isn't a F150,a GM 1500 or Ram 1500 all of which are 1/2 ton rated that can touch the Titan... Even Toyota's 07 Tundra come come a little closer to Titan,, It will out power it as far as engine is conserned but then again take a look at where the weight and power meet the road... Toyota has 5 lug axles in there 10 bolt case... Nissan is running 12 Bolt Dana 44's and six lugs per wheel... Ok by stepping up to a full size 3/4 ton or a 1 ton you can get much more power and brakeing even deisel and at that point there is no more arrugment from me...

How does 12mpg towing in a 3/4 ton 4wd crew cab long bed at 70+mph and 2000 RPM sound to ya? Drop that down to 60mph and it goes up to 15mpg.

When some stupid teen-aged girl t-boned the bed on my truck, I actually did drive a Titan for about 3 weeks. I liked the accelaration unloaded, but could tell that it would not tow the way my truck does.

But actually I was talking about the original question... Towing a 256 Chap with a 1/2 ton Silverado with 5.3L, not the Titan.