#1G
Chevrolet Silverado 3500hd
89The pick — 36,000 lb tow rating, 5,600 lb payload capacity. Strong tow.
Best Chevrolet Trucks for Towing
Every Chevrolet pickup, ranked on tow score.
Here's how the Chevrolet lineup stacks up on tow. Same rubric across every truck — no brand favors.
Chevy's towing story is a technology story. Nobody has pushed harder on making the tow itself easier: camera systems that see through the trailer, an app that runs pre-departure light checks, trailering profiles stored per trailer. A Silverado with the Advanced Trailering package doesn't just pull — it supervises.
Under the tech is honest hardware. The Silverado 1500's Max Trailering Package brings the cooling, the axle, and the receiver that move a half-ton into serious territory, and the 2500HD/3500HD trucks with the Duramax-Allison powertrain pairing put Chevy at the heavy end of any comparison. The Allison badge is one of the few brand-name transmissions worth noticing by name. The 6.6L gas HD is the sleeper value when the trailer doesn't need diesel money.
Walk past if you want capability without the tech layer — some of what you're paying for is supervision you may never open the app for. Confirm Max Trailering versus the base trailering group on 1500 listings; the badges look similar from across the lot and the score gap is real.
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#2
Chevrolet Silverado 2500hd
7118,500 lb tow rating, 3,397 lb payload capacity. Capable tow.
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#3
Chevrolet Silverado 1500
4513,300 lb tow rating, 1,880 lb payload capacity. Marginal tow — occasional use.
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Spec table
| Model | Max Tow (lbs) | Max Payload (lbs) | Powertrains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet Silverado 3500hd | 36,000 | 7,442 | 6.6L Duramax Diesel |
| Chevrolet Silverado 2500hd | 18,500 | 3,979 | 6.6L V8, 6.6L Duramax Diesel |
| Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | 13,300 | 2,280 | 5.3L V8, 6.2L V8, 4.3L V6 |
How Goose scores Towing
Towing is math, not marketing. I read the sticker, not the ad copy.
Towing is math, not marketing. I read the OEM tow rating, payload, powertrain, and hitch hardware straight off the sticker — the same numbers the manufacturer certifies, not what the ad copy rounds up to. A truck that tows 12,000 lbs but runs out of payload at 1,400 gets called out for it, because your trailer's tongue weight doesn't care about the brochure. Higher score, more trailer, fewer surprises at the scales.
Frequently asked
- What's the difference between towing capacity and payload?
- Towing is what the truck pulls behind it; payload is what it carries, including the trailer's tongue weight, your passengers, and your gear. Most trucks run out of payload before towing. That's the number buyers skip and shouldn't.
- Can a half-ton tow a horse trailer?
- Some can, barely, with the right configuration. Two horses plus a steel trailer eats most of a half-ton's rating and nearly all its payload. I'd rather see you in a 250/2500 with margin than at 98% of a maxed-out 150.
- Why do two identical-looking trucks score differently?
- Axle ratio, powertrain, and tow packages. Two trucks with the same trim badge can be thousands of pounds apart in certified rating. That's why I score the actual configuration, not the model name.
- Does a diesel always score higher for towing?
- Usually on the rating, not always on the score. Diesels dominate heavy towing, but the extra engine weight cuts payload — for lighter trailers, a strong gas engine can be the smarter number.
- What's a good towing score?
- 80+ means built to tow heavy as a primary job. 50–79 handles boats, campers, and equipment with margin. Under 50 tows light duty — fine, as long as your trailer knows it.