Not true if he buys the Reese dual-cam anti-sway w/trunnion, which in that price range, is the best hitch out there. That installation takes about a full day. To get one better, you have to go to Hensley/Arrow, at about $2500.
I bought a 28' used travel trailer last jan, it weight over 9000#. I have a Silverado 5.3 and 3.43 gears. Didn't know much about towing but after I got that thing home, with ''white knuckles'' and all, I prayed.
That's a lot of weight on the 1500, and risky. The 1/2 ton truck with its trans and brakes and suspension, is not built for that kind of load. I guess if you do do it, you probably will not make a habit of it.
In my situation, I wound up buying the Sierra 2500HD with the 8.1L and Alli trans. The beauty of the 3/4 ton truck is not just the HD engine, but all of the HD peripheral components, esp brakes. Also, peace of mind and being legal towing adds confidence to the equation.
It is almost 8k dry. GVW of the trailer is something like 9800. I'm over my tow rating by something like 2100 lbs - if I'm maxed. I have the 5.3 w/ 3.73s. For the most part it does OK. We went to Lake Cumberland last summer with that setup. I wasn't winning any races, but did OK. I was able to run 55 most of the way. Kept it in 3rd and any hills put my foot down and dropped it to second gear right away. Typically never dropped below 45. There is one hill on 32 in Southern Ohio that I hit that gives me a little bit of grief. It is a fairly long hill but not super steep - but steep enough, first time I hit it, I tried to keep my speed up by running the RPMs pretty high the whole time. By the time I got to the top my temp was pretty high. Made it a little hard to keep the RPM up on the way down to assist with breaking. The next time I hit it, I hit the bottom of it doing about 60 and just gradually let my speed drop to about 40 and my temp did just fine. I also removed the little inserts in the front of the bumper to get a little more air into the radiator.
