Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Just picked up a 2011 Tahoe LTZ for hauling "la Diabla" Seems like a pretty sweet truck

Anyone else use a tahoe? any gotcha's or towing tips? First tip I taught myself is that the auto tilting mirrors (that tip down when you put it in reverse) suck for trailering. Diabled them ASAP. Also would love to know how to deal with the backup sensors. Backing up the trailer with that thing beeping its ass off plucked my last nerve right away.

Not sure, but I saw something this weekend that just about freaked me out.

I saw a guy coming up the ramp after launching with a Trail Blazer, or something like that, and he had his door open. Water was pouring out of the passenger compartment, including out from under the rear doors.

Makes me appreciate how high the Galactica (F-250 Super Duty) sits off the ground!

And for those of you wanting a pic - no photo ops yet. But here is a pic of the last truck I used:

In July my wife traded in her '06 Equinox for a '12 Tahoe LT. Ours does not do anything special with the mirrors when we put it in reverse, it has power adjust/heat/power fold in. We do not have the backup camera, and the backup warning system automagically disables itself when a trailer is hooked up and the Driver Information Center (DIC) displays a message (no beep) stating that it has been disabled. Otherwise there is a button on our center console (dash) that you can press to disable the 'Parking Assist' feature, right below the radio. We have pulled the pontoon to the lake (43miles each way) 4 times now and it works great. I don't use cruise, I use the tow/haul feature when we get into the rolly hills right before the lake, we started out last month getting about 8.5mpg and last weekend we got 10.4MPG, not sure if it was because I am getting used to the feel of the Tahoe and have been driving with a softer foot, or because the ambient air temps are down about 10-15°f and us not using the AC is increasing the MPG, either way, I like it.

-ron

Thanks for the tips on the park assist. maybe I didnt pay attention to the computer, but I didnt see anything that told me it was turned off. How do you think it detects the trailer - thru the light harness or from tounge weight? I'd be happy with 10mpg. When we go to the big lake, its a 150 mile one way trip.

How much does your rig weigh? Mine is 4200, with a dual axle.

pote wrote:Just picked up a 2011 Tahoe LTZ for hauling "la Diabla" Seems like a pretty sweet truck

Anyone else use a tahoe? any gotcha's or towing tips? First tip I taught myself is that the auto tilting mirrors (that tip down when you put it in reverse) suck for trailering. Diabled them ASAP. Also would love to know how to deal with the backup sensors. Backing up the trailer with that thing beeping its ass off plucked my last nerve right away.

Our Enclave turns off automatically.

I've had the Nissan Armada for 7500 miles now, drove it to Florida, and have made many trips to the lake with our toon. I gotta say, I'm impressed. The drive train is pretty slick. The 5.6 is robust and always responsive. It makes you want to punch it when pulling out on the highway.. . It growls a little with the stock exhaust and the shift points are firm and keep the rpm low. After Having two Expeditions for the past ten years and the shift program has the 5.4 screaming in every gear to at least 4500, which leaves you feeling like there's no low end, The Nissan shifts very low RPM making it feel like there's plenty of power in the pedal left.
I usually trailer in 3rd just to keep it out of the 4, 5 gears. They're too high for 45'in to the lake.
It'll run 75mph just under 2000rpm and it got 16.5 on our trip. Not the greatest in mpg's. Neither was the Expedition. Anyway, very good handling (air ride), and seems well built.
I've been a Chevy man all my life and love my 06 2500HD but the 6.0 in that truck won't hold a candle to the 5.6 in the Nissan when pulling the toon up the ramp and back to the house. I have to be more careful with the go pedal in the Nissan.

Oh I just remembered an example. The other day my wife pulled the boat up the ramp with the 2500HD and I stopped her twice and asked if the park brake was on. Which she sarcastically reminded me it wasn't ..both times . It was laboring pretty hard though, I had to ask!
The Nissan on the other hand...has no problem and seems to move up the ramp with half the effort. Like something's back there, but no big deal.



It has a button on the dash to turn the beeper off in reverse

Still like my old Chevy.... It'll gitter done.

we have an older on a 2004 great truck also disabled the auto tilt on the mirrors just a waste of a feature. we looked at some newer ones recently but my jaw dropped at the price. nice truck o its the wifes also so she refuses to drive anything els likes how high it sits. the dealer told me when i was looking at newer models that the 5.7 is one of there best engines and get the best milage for any bigger suv. I think ill just keep this untill the pocket book says we can spend 30,000 or more on a new truck. funny thing is I bought this when the gas prices were sky rocketing and every one was trading in there SUV's for cars at that time i paid 11,900 for it and now they want 16,900 for the same truck.

The hardest thing that hit me towing with my '09 Tahoe was going from 19-20 MPG to less than 10. It's also pretty gutless dragging almost 3,500 lbs around. I guess that "tow" button has a real purpose. But I think all it does is turn off the full time overdrive. I have noticed that opening the front and rear gates on the boat while I'm towing seems to reduce the drag somewhat.

I love the back-up camera. I can back the ball up to the hitch, spot-on, every time. You can cancel the park-assist (beeping) by one of the buttons at the bottom of the center dash controls. (the middle one at the bottom of the photo below)



So far I haven't had any real issues, but I haven't towed a long distances. It's just an 8 mile trip to the launch for me and a few 40 mile trips to the shop for service.

I picked up a nice 04 Avalance Z71 last week for $10,800. The dealership had $14,999.99 on the window but I drove it getting the sales guy all giddy, then told the poor feller I knew he could never get the price right. He took that as a challenge, came back at $13,800. 00 and I got up to walk out. He called in the big boss and they got down to brass tacks after that.
So far Im really happy with the change over my F150, gas milege sucks at 9.5 towing the boat, and 14 average elsewhere, but I dont plan on burning up the roads with it. Yes, I disabled the backup mirror crap, who uses that feature??

spurhunter,

There is a spacial way to get the rear lockers to work on the Z71 package. With the engine running, shift to neutral with your foot on the brake and then push the bottom button and then you will hear a LOUD clunk from the rear end. That clunk is the lockers locking in. Same procedure to unlock the lockers.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I got the backup assist turned off.

Still wondering how it "knows" you're towing for the guys who say it cuts off automatically. If there is a sensor when you put the hitch into the receiver, mine's not working. Or if it's tied to the electrical connection, I bought a cheap converter to take my 4 wire trailer to the round 7 wire connector on the truck. Maybe that's the culprit.

Anyone use amzoil to get a little better mileage?

When I have the trailer hooked up, I get a message on the dash display that says "Park Assist Off", but I still get the beeping in reverse. So it somehow knows that something's back there, but doesn't disable the alerts.

Redneck_Randy wrote:spurhunter,

There is a spacial way to get the rear lockers to work on the Z71 package. With the engine running, shift to neutral with your foot on the brake and then push the bottom button and then you will hear a LOUD clunk from the rear end. That clunk is the lockers locking in. Same procedure to unlock the lockers.

Ill have to admit I am not sure what you are referring too? "Rear lockers"? You have my interest up!

According to my limited searching on the internets... you should have a G80 locking rear differential..

video has no mention of any special procedure for locking it.

On some newer Toyotas, users are doing what they call a "grey wire" modification. Toyotas are equipped with an electronic locking rear differential and the 'grey wire' is the wire that activates the locker. To bypass the ECM control (utilizing wheel sensors to detect wheel slip) they can put in a toggle switch to have 100% control over LOCKED and unlocked positions in the differential. Maybe GM has a similar feature? I haven't done much messing around with the Tahoe yet, I assumed it was a limited slip (mechanical)

A quick question to those of you with stock full sized GMs,
Are they all 'gutless' on take off?

When I mash the 'go pedal', I may as well be driving like a little old lady, there is not a snow balls chance in hell that the Tahoe will spin a tire (unless I am on gravel, facing up hill, pulling a trailer), it is really disappointing to know that the gov't and GM (same thing these days) have decided that the drive by wire system gets to control my acceleration speeds, and if this is not normal, I'd like to get it fixed (without voiding the warranty).

-ron