Ice fishing/towing vehicle.. Suburban or PU?

[Gus]

With my recent 20ft wheel house purchase I find myself lacking in the towing department.

I'm considering 02-06 Suburbans as doing so would enable the wife to get a gas miser down the road as we would be able to use the burb as a family vehicle when necessary.

My primary concerns are using the burb as an ice fishing vehicle. How do they do towing and off road? They seem to generally be more road orientated than the trucks of similar vintage. Other options would be a crew cab PU but the prices on burbs actually seem better.

research shows me that the curb weight of the suburban isn't much more than the crew PU's. about 4-600# Is that much to worry about when I've got a 4K # house already?

What do you guys think?

[311Hemi]

My mom mentioned you got a big x-mas present!!! What did you get?

I have an 01' burb. While it would pull it I don't think I would want to with the gear ratio I have. It's a dog as is getting on a freeway. I bought the burb for the reason you specified, they are the cheaper that 4 door pickups of the same years/miles....and at the time I wanted to pay cash and still have a truck of some sort.

If I had a different gear ratio I don't think I would have any problems with it. You see plenty of burbans/tahoes pulling 18'+ boats.

Otherwise, it has so far done what I needed off-road in muddy situations when hunting, and you can cram a ton of stuff in them! I don't like that I can't easily haul dirt and stuff like that, so I miss having a pickup for that reason.

[Gus]

Appreciate the input.

I went with a Salem Ice Cabin. 20SV, which is the toy hauler model. Love it so far. My Dakota does not however.

[Bryce]

Pick up with topper allows you to run the generator in the bed. Handy in very cold conditions and pretty much eliminates any noise. Might get a bit smelly in the back of the burban.

[Gus]

Bryce, that is a very good point.

Last 2 overnights I've run the genny in my current truck under the topper. I had completely overlooked that.

[Ryan_V]

Another vote for pickup. Easy to just "toss it in the back and hit the road" versus loading ice fishing equipment in the burb. Just a more versatile option with the pick up.

[Gordie]

Back in the day on Mille Lacs the only way to travel pulling a wheeled house and not worry about getting stuck was with a suburban. I didn't have one and wanted on because there was a crew of guys that came from Bloomington that we nicknamed the suburban boys of course they all had subs. there were 4 of them and they would blow by us at the end of the road where my house was on Friday night and on Sunday afternoon they would be headed back to shore each pulling a house. Stopped them once and shot the bull with them and they said subs were the only way to go great wheel base and the weight is distributed perfectly over the tires and they go any place they wanted them too.

I finally ended up buying on and they were right they would go just about any where and pull like no tomorrow.

[delcecchi]

Good friend of ours has a 3/4 ton suburban and pulls 30 foot camper and it does great. Isn't a suburban just a pickup made into a SUV anyway?

[Walleyehooker]

Subs tend to go threw snow better than a PU with more weight over the rear tires. Good tires will also help. Last time I was at the lake I had to pull out both trucks that were with me in deeper snow with my Sub. With 373 gears they also pull well but so will a PU with same drivetrain. I like having my gear inside locked up and warm and dry.

[JeffB]

I've had both. Just go with the one that fits your lifestyle best and you'll be happy.