# 2002 Avalanche Not Enough For A 210Rs



## HodagRVer (Oct 12, 2009)

Well we just returned from our first cross country trip in our new Outback 210RS. I was pulling it with a 2002 Avalanche Z71 1500. I learned the hard way this truck was not enough for the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. Before we left I took the truck to our local mechanic to have it checked over, it does have 140k miles so I wanted to make sure we were good to go. It needed an axle seal, a new O2 sensor and a front wheel bearing but the mechanic pronounced as good as it could be and gave me an $830 bill. We took of early Saturday morning from Rhinelander, Wisconson heading for Phoenix, Arizona to visit the grandkids. We were going to push it and make the drive in 3 days. Our first stop was at Worlds of Fun RV park in Kansas City. Awesome park, everything was smooth. The second day we made Amarillo and got in late. Again, everything working great. Our final day to make it to Phoenix was scheduled as a long one 750 miles and our first trip into mountains. We started climbing across New Mexico towards Albuquerque and began to smell a rotten egg smell. We pull up at a rest area and noticed we were beginning to leak differential fluid that was hitting our exhaust and making a foul stench. I called my mechanic back in Rhinelander and he told us we probably blew a seal and to take it easy but have it checked when we got where we were going. We made it to Phoenix but the rear end was beginning to whine. We immediately took it to a mechanic and told him what our mechanic said asked him to get us fixed up, we had 2000 miles to get home. He put in 2 new front wheel bearings and filled the rear end up with fluid and replaced the seal. $1100 in Phoenix. The rear end was whining but we trusted the mechanics (huge mistake!). So it's Thursday, we decided to skip the Grand Canyon route and take 4 days to get home. We made Las Cruces, NM the first night. The rear end whining was getting louder. The second night we took it easy and went back through Amarillo. Again the rear end made it but the whining was getting worse. The third night we made it as fas as Kansas City and all hell broke loose. The rear end began billowing smoke and grinding. We had to pull up 20 miles short of the campground we were heading for. The rear end was fried! This is 11:30 PM on Saturday night before Easter. Luckily I had signed up with Good Sam for Road protection. They got us a tow truck to pick up the truck and tow our camper to the nearest Camp Ground. A place called Walnut Grove. Not very pleasant but better than a Qwik Trip parking lot. The next day was Easter, no one to even look at the truck until Monday when we were all supposed to be at work. We could not rent a car, we were trapped. I gave a park resident $50 to tow us to the Worlds of Fun park where we had stayed and it was much nicer. Monday morning we may our phone calls to work and rented a car. The mechanics finally called our rear end was toast $1900 for a used one. We really did not have much choice, I said go, we need to get home. He told us Wednesday would be the earliest as they needed a day to get the part and a day to get it in. On Tuesday I called for a progress report, the rear end they got was bad, they needed to get a second one. We finally go the truck about 3:00 pm on Thursday. 5 days of missing work, paying for a park, renting a car. We finally made it home Friday morning at 7:00 am. I have already gone to my local dealer and made a deal to trade the Avalanche for a 2006 Ford 250XLT Superduty 6.0L Diesel with 53k miles. I should have done this before the trip and I would have had $4k more to put down on the truck. It sucks learning stuff the hard way......


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## Joe/GA (Aug 14, 2009)

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Were you exceeding the ratings for your truck?


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Wow, sorry to hear about that. I'm glad to hear everyone made it home safely.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Wow! Really sad to hear about your trip getting spoiled and costing you a small fortune, as well. People ask all the time here if their half-tons will do OK pulling an Outback. Most are told that the half-tons will pull them, but the better question is, "for how long" and "how safely." Most of us recommend upgrading to a 3/4-ton vehicle, for reliability and safety, but most of all for peace of mind, which makes for worry-free outings. Invariably, there will be a couple responders who claim, "I've done it for years. You'll be OK." And that's all most of the posters see.

When we bought our Outback, we had a 2003 1/2-ton Suburban that the dealer salesman said, "would pull anything on our lot." After four short trips, I decided to make the trade to the 3/4-ton crew cab in my signature, below. What a difference! Now, I wish I'd gotten the diesel!

I just hope that others learn from your example. Luckily you had only reliability problems - not safety related problems (like losing control of a swaying trailer without the HD suspension to handle the "tail wagging the dog.")

Things have to get better from here!

Mike


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

The guy is Phoenix was way off. If its already whining and getting louder, its toast. You were on borrowed time. I would have suggested an overhaul of the rear. Bearings and seals and you would have been good. Glad you got a bigger truck though. You should not have any problems towing with that one.


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## luverofpeanuts (Mar 9, 2010)

wow... sorry to hear of your misfortunes. I'm glad you made it back home safely.

I would have expected more from the Avalanche. Don't beat yourself up about it.

According to Edmunds... tow capacity of the Avalanche is listed at 8100, and payload at 1348.

The 210RS is listed at 7550 GVWR (shipping weight of 4766 though...so it depends on full it was). The hitch weight is listed at 525, so that leaves only 823 pounds leftover for people & cargo (above 150 pounds built in for the driver).

The 210RS has a really good carrying capacity, so you'd likely not be getting close to the GVWR unless you really load it. Assuming you're using half the carrying capacity... we could guess your weight was around 6158 pounds. That is right at the rule of thumb. It sure seems like you did all the due diligence to avoid ever having this problem.

You'll be amazed how F250 will haul it, I'm sure. Hardly any hobby horsing, and it will start and stop with ease.


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## Joonbee (Jan 18, 2008)

That stinks. Sorry for you rtroubles. I agree you had some pre existing issues. You should maybe consider a new mechanic to go with the new truck, which by the way will rip that little trailer down the road and you will for get its back there.

You had 140k miles on the Av and they sent you of with a clean bill of health for $830 and you couldn't even make your trip. HHmmm. and his bill included and axle seal. Front or rear. Why did he pay so much attention to the front and not the rear. Kinda funny he worked on the front and it survived.

Sorry again and has been stated it will be alot better from here.

Jim


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

I upgraded to my F-250 in 2006 when it was new. What a difference it made towing my trailer, so much so that two months later I bought the bigger Outback that I have now.

You won't believe how much better your towing life will be. Since 2006 I've towed the OB over 35K miles. And this summer I plan to put at least 10K on it when I take it on my epic odyssey once around the U.S. from our home just north of San Diego, east to Texas, down Florida to the Keys, up the East Coast into Canada, across Canada to the Midwest, and eventually back home. I figure it should take three months.

I retired in November so now I have the time to do the things that are on my bucket list.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

battalionchief3 said:


> The guy is Phoenix was way off. If its already whining and getting louder, its toast. You were on borrowed time. I would have suggested an overhaul of the rear. Bearings and seals and you would have been good. Glad you got a bigger truck though. You should not have any problems towing with that one.


Agree 100% once you hear the whine you need to look for a place to get it repaired but I suspect the first mechanic may have put in the wrong fluid when he replaced the first seal or over tightened the yoke and disturbed the bearing preload when he put it back together, just bad luck really. That said the part that confuses me and the part that costs money without any obvious reason is the front bearings at the second mechanic. The front end sees no extra load from towing unless the WDH was installed way wrong. Why did the second mechanic think both front bearings were bad?


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## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

I learned the hard way also with the suburban I had. The 1/2 ton gm's have two weak links the tranny and the rearend both should have been left to the s-10's and camaro's. Bearings in the rearend and a weak overdrive in the tranny if one doesn't get you the other will. Did the same thing 2k later to get home with a weak tranny I bought a 3/4 ton.

John


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## swanny (Oct 31, 2007)

well at least the only thing that got hurt was your wallet. But now all is well. good luck and be safe.

PS, I think a new mechanic is in order.

kevin


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## luverofpeanuts (Mar 9, 2010)

johnp said:


> The 1/2 ton gm's have two weak links the tranny and the rearend both should have been left to the s-10's and camaro's. Bearings in the rearend and a weak overdrive in the tranny if one doesn't get you the other will. Did the same thing 2k later to get home with a weak tranny I bought a 3/4 ton.
> 
> John


You know, I think you're right about the 1/2 ton GM'. Some friends of ours had their Tahoe's rear axle differential replaced at least once, if not twice, due to wear. My Expedition...like most F-150's of that era, had manifold issues and coil pack problems. <sigh> if they'd just build a perfect tow vehicle, we could focus on the campers instead!


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## grytza (Apr 8, 2010)

After reading this, I just picked up a 250 RS this last weekend and have a trip to Banff planned for end of June. I'm really nervous that my Ford trans won't be able to handle it. I have not reason to think there is anything currently wrong with my trans but with 90k and never pulling anything over 3,000 before, do I have reason to be nervous? Anyone pull a 5,600 lb trailer into the Rockies with an Expedition?

Scott


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## luverofpeanuts (Mar 9, 2010)

grytza said:


> After reading this, I just picked up a 250 RS this last weekend and have a trip to Banff planned for end of June. I'm really nervous that my Ford trans won't be able to handle it. I have not reason to think there is anything currently wrong with my trans but with 90k and never pulling anything over 3,000 before, do I have reason to be nervous? Anyone pull a 5,600 lb trailer into the Rockies with an Expedition?
> 
> Scott


I pulled my old trailer, around 4500 loaded, with my '97 Expedition (which was loaded with junk too), from Minnesota thru Canada, to Montreal, down to Maine, through the mountains of Vermont & New Hampshire, and back. No problem...even on the switchbacks in Vermont.

I also pulled Georgia and back through the Smokies. No problem. Personally, i think in the Ford's, the transmission and cooling have been superb, in the various forums I follow.

I think there were one or two trips to the Black Hills too.

Without running the numbers, I'd guess you're still within reasonable limits of your town capacity. I think you should try not to worry about and plan on having a great trip. Whatever happens, you'll deal with it. ;-)

Banff is on our list of places to get to one of these years as well!


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

grytza said:


> After reading this, I just picked up a 250 RS this last weekend and have a trip to Banff planned for end of June. I'm really nervous that my Ford trans won't be able to handle it. I have not reason to think there is anything currently wrong with my trans but with 90k and never pulling anything over 3,000 before, do I have reason to be nervous? Anyone pull a 5,600 lb trailer into the Rockies with an Expedition?
> 
> Scott


Make sure all maintenance on the Expy is up to date. You should lock out OD to prevent hunting.

Finally, things rarely fail suddenly. Just as the OP wrote, there were warning signs (in his case a whining rear end). If your trans is not behaving right, then you'd probably want to have it checked out. However if you have cared for it and it is operating normally, then I'd bet you are good to go.


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## grytza (Apr 8, 2010)

Nathan said:


> After reading this, I just picked up a 250 RS this last weekend and have a trip to Banff planned for end of June. I'm really nervous that my Ford trans won't be able to handle it. I have not reason to think there is anything currently wrong with my trans but with 90k and never pulling anything over 3,000 before, do I have reason to be nervous? Anyone pull a 5,600 lb trailer into the Rockies with an Expedition?
> 
> Scott


Make sure all maintenance on the Expy is up to date. You should lock out OD to prevent hunting.

Finally, things rarely fail suddenly. Just as the OP wrote, there were warning signs (in his case a whining rear end). If your trans is not behaving right, then you'd probably want to have it checked out. However if you have cared for it and it is operating normally, then I'd bet you are good to go.
[/quote]

thanks LP and Nathan. That helps. I feel better about it now. I'm going to just make sure I get a flush and inspection before I go.

Thanks,
Scott


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

grytza said:


> I'm going to just make sure I get a flush and inspection before I go.
> 
> Thanks,
> Scott


That's another topic, to flush or drain and filter replace, sorry this is off topic. My suggestion is to NOT power flush (draining all (most) fluid including converter) with a trans that's never been serviced with 90k. A drain of fluid and a new filter "should" be ok with inspection.


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

I used to have an 03 Expedition and I towed our 26RS from southern California up to Montana and back with no tow vehicle problems. Like some others have said just make sure your maintenance is up to date. It probably wouldn't hurt to have the transmission fluid changed just to be safe. Personally I don't like the power flush systems the dealers like to push but that's been more of an issue for my Honda's. My local Honda dealer likes to push that service even though Honda does not recommend it for my particular vehicles. I don't think it's necessary and in some cases can cause problems.


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## navycranes (May 29, 2008)

Sorry to hear about all your problems. However I don't think your avalanche is to blame. You had a truck that was rated to tow more than that weight easily. Sometimes parts just fail. Has nothing to do with whether your truck was a 1500, 2500, 3500 or even bigger.

The real person to blame is your mechanic back home. Telling you to keep driving when you know your gear oil is leaking out of the differential is just setting you up for failure.

I just upgraded to a ¾ ton SUV, not because of towing performance, but more for people carrying ability. Looking forward to a fun summer.
Hope your new TV takes better care of you.


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