Towing Capacity Question

[thomasventurino]

Does anyone know the towing capacity of this 2001 GMC Diesel...claiming to be a 6.8L. I'm not familiar with this engine. Any advice is appreciated. Looking to tow 5000-6000lbs. Also don't know the miles of this bus--pinged the seller already.

2001 bus with wheelchair lift

[Robin97396]

There's an amazing lack of specific information on that listing.

Every bus is so different, but generally short buses tow quite well.

[cadillackid]

try ti fund out what the VAN equivalent of it is.. ie is it a Vandura 3500 or a Savannah 3500 and then go look it up as that and your towing rating will be fairly close.. minus a few hundred pounds from the tongue weight capability as the bus body accounts for more weight than a van would.. but gets you in the ballpark.
-Christopher

[uhlhazard]

There's much more to towing capacity than engine.

What ratio is your rear end? How big are your tires? Are you srw or drw?

Our bus is a drw with fully floating 14 bolt 4.10 gears and 235/75/16's e range tires. We have a 7400lb curb weight and drag a 2200lb trailer cross country with a 2700lb car there and a 4500lb SUV on the way back with no issues. I highly recommend a trailer brake controller as large vehicles are already near their individual brake capacity's to begin with. We have zero sway issues partly due to how we properly carry the load and partly due to the tremendous weight of the bus.

Ooh and all of this weight is pulled along quite nicely I might add by a 5.7 liter vortec v8 through a very stout 4l80e transmission using ONLY D (or 3 depending on your gear indicator) when towing. OD is for an unloaded vehicle only.