Towing sx195 with Chevy traverse

[Smitty244]

We are taking a 6.5 hr trip to torch lake and my wife insists on driving her 2021 Chevy traverse so it’s more convenient with the little one then my ram 2500. This seems silly to me but the traverse having the trailering package is rated up to 5000lb. I figure the boat on trailer to be about 3300. Is this safe?

 

[2kwik4u]

Lots of people tow the 190/195 with midsize SUVS. I just scaled my '17 AR190 a few weeks ago. Came in at 3,100lbs. I used to tow it with a '10 Traverse that had the tow package. You'll be just fine.

 

[Dave burke]

I agree. I used to tow my 19ft chaparral stern drive with an Acura MDX. Weighed similar to your boat. Struggled a bit on steep uphill grades but worked fine overall.

 

[2kwik4u]

Wrote my last post on my phone before climbing out of bed this morning.

@Smitty244 Here's a picture of my wifes old Traverse hooked to our 190 from a few years ago.


The Traverse did just fine. Plenty of brakes and chassis. It struggled with high revs pulling hills with 4 adults, 3 kids, a dog, 3 coolers, and the boat/truck both full of fuel. I logged engine and transmission temps while towing, and they were both higher than normal, but never into a dangerous range. Coolant temps got into the 220 range on hills, but returned back to 210-ish on flats. Transmission stayed around 190-200 or so the entire time. Very similar temps to what I saw without the boat on the Memorial Day trip to NC from KY a few years prior. The boat didn't make a huge impact there.

Biggest thing with taking the Traverse on vacation is to watch you tongue weight. If you're like me at all, then you pack everything AND the kitchen sink on vacation. The Traverse doesn't have a ton of room behind the 3rd row, and you'll end up putting things in the boat and using it like a utility trailer. The axles on the 19ft boats are fairly forward, and it can be tempting to pack all the things in the trailer in the rear storage areas. Avoid this and try to distribute the weight evenly, or with a little forward bias if you can. Keep that tongue weight in check, and you should be good to go.

Also, make sure you have the legitimate towing package, not just the hitch. There are additional trans and oil coolers with that package, it also includes the Tow/Haul button. This button is the key to the package on GM vehicles IMO. It changes the torque converter lockup strategy and will GREATLY reduce trans temps. I've logged as much as a 30deg drop on GM transmission fluid temps when pulling the same load on the same day with the mode enabled/disabled.

Overall, I think you'll be just fine. The little ones will thank you for the DVD player and extra space for tablets/pillows/snacks in the Traverse over the 2500

*edit* doesn't @Hoyt tow a 195 with a Traverse?

 

[JBlue]

@2kwik4u Thoughts on pulling a 190/195 with Chevy Traverse no tow mode 5-10 minutes from house to Morse? Also... been eyeing your 190 for next season haha

 

[2kwik4u]

@2kwik4u Thoughts on pulling a 190/195 with Chevy Traverse no tow mode 5-10 minutes from house to Morse? Also... been eyeing your 190 for next season haha

If you're staying under 35-40mph there is little difference in tow versus non tow. Just be easy on it, and you'll be fine.

The converter lockup strategy changes drastically at speed (above 35mph). Without tow mode, to gain speed above 35mph, it unlocks the converter before it downshifts in the hope that just the extra revs from the converter unlock will allow you to gain the speed you need/want. with Tow Mode engaged, it will lock the converter at 35mph, and then just change gears as required.

Torque converter works like two giant fans facing each other. Apply power to one, and the fluid movement transfers power to the other. The fans are sides of the converter, and the fluid is hydraulic in this case. As that power transfer happens, the fluid shears and some power is lost to heat. Lock those two fans together mechanically, and there is no fluid shear, or power lost to heat.

Tow mode has some additional shift timing changes; It holds gears longer, and downshifts sooner to keep from hunting for gears, and to keep the engine higher in the power band. The 3.6 VVT engine in the Traverse is pretty decent when the variable valve timing is working. When it's not it's a dog, especially when heavily loaded. Change the oil in the engine OFTEN to prevent buildup becoming a problem in the cam phase actuators, and you should be good to go. We bought ours used with like 30k miles on it, and I'm not sure the previous owner ever changed the oil. We dumped it at ~120k miles with failed cam phase actuators instead of dropping the motor to rebuild/replace those pieces.

One last thing on Traverse towing.......TRACTION SUCKS......The FWD models (what we had) are garbage on the ramp. Arguably they are garbage EVERYWHERE in terms of traction. Wicked awesome burnouts if it even rains a tiny bit, and the traction control is just this side of useless. AWD versions are the only ones I would tow with. I've spun the tires getting out of the water the 2-3 times I towed with ours. I mean.....I just can't use enough words to describe how terrible the front wheel traction was in that vehicle. We had 3 different tread compound/pattern combinations on there, and NOTHING helped. Best I can describe it is the converter stall speed is too high, the first gear ratio too low, and both of those contribute to hitting the gas and getting a boat load of torque to a poor geometry front suspension. The tires unload and spin like dammit. It's really terrible.

 

[Crob83]

@2kwik4u Thoughts on pulling a 190/195 with Chevy Traverse no tow mode 5-10 minutes from house to Morse? Also... been eyeing your 190 for next season haha

You should be fine, the ramp at Morse is the easiest, non sloped ramp I have used or seen anywhere

 

[viper15]

We used to have a 2016 Acadia Denali (with tow package) and pulled our AR195 many times. It did the job pretty well (knowing that our normal tow vehicle was my full sized truck). If you have the time, the only thing I would recommend is adding a set of bags to the rear springs. They can be a bit soft when towing with a full load inside the vehicle. The only time we really towed with the Acadia is when our kids brought along a few friends, and being that it was the Denali trim, the suspension was pretty soft. You could bottom out the suspension on the larger bumps. I added a set of bags for less than $100 and routed the air line fill valve under the gas cap. It helped a ton for towing. It was relatively straight forward for the install, and quick easy to fill up, or let air out.