Hey everyone.  Well..... the time has come that my fiance and I are thinking about upgrading our horse trailer.  My question is:  We are wanting to upgrade to a 3 horse slant load, mid tack, and at least a 8' shortwall, preferably a 10' shortwall trailer.  It WILL be a aluminum trailer.  So..... curious as to whether my current truck will be able to handle that trailer plus 2 mules and maybe a horse when we go on 4-5hr weekend trips?

I plan on putting airbags in the rear of this truck.  So.... what do you all think?

Thanks,

Kyle

I was going to add air bags just to help level the truck out and help out the ride quality.  I would have to look at what towing capacity is.  I was just really hoping I would keep this truck and not have to step up to a 1ton.  I have seen lots of guys pulling these type trailers with 3/4 ton trucks, but just wondered if it would be ok or not.

We recently got back from a weekend trip to Pineville Missouri for riding and camping.  A lady that was camping next to us had a 2004 Crew Cab short bed 2500HD 6.0 Gas truck pulling a 2004 Aluminum 4star Trailer.  It had 10" LQ, mid tack, and 3 horse slant.  Idenical to what I was wanting.  There was another guy there who had a 4 horse aluminum with atleast 8'LQ if not bigger, pulling it with a 3/4 ton Dodge Cummins.

All Duramax pickups have 3.73 gears... The truck will have no problem pulling the trailer. The question is, how much is the fully loaded pin weight of the trailer? Does the 2500HD have enough rear spring to keep the load level? 10' short wall LQ with a MT will get nose heavy in a hurry when you start to gather all the stuff needed to camp for a few days..

 I just read that you're installing airbags.... Be sure the truck tires and rims can handle the loaded trailer..

Ok, sounds good.  I know the tires I have will support it.  I have pulled a Cat mini track loader a short distance on a HEAVY HEAVY home built gooseneck.  With trailer and loader I am guessing I was close to 14k lbs or a hair more.  Now granted I didn't go a great distance with it, but I still did it. 

How does a person go about figuring out what the pin weight would be on something like that? 

This was the load I was describing above.

[IMG]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d51/ksstang/IMAG0560.jpg[/IMG]

If you go thru this example and plug in your own truck/trailer numbers - you'll get a pretty good idea of what you can haul.  It's so dang confusing and dealers hide this stuff from you.  You have to go looking.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) minus actual vehicle "Curb Weight" (truck loaded with nothing) = allowable cargo/payload, etc.

Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) minus Curb Weight + cargo/payload = towing allowance

For example: F250 6.2L SuperCab newer models (CrewCab Curb wt would be more) - 10,000# GVWR - 6600# Curb Wt = 3400# which is where Ford gets their payload rating for that model.  You add 600#'s of people and gear, the actual available payload is 2800#'s at maximum.

From the photo I see the trailer is a tandem dual.  likely rated to 10 tons.but the CAT is loaded toward the rear so the 8 trailer tires are holding most of the weight.  Short distance & low speed are key to overloading tires successfully.  Will you do the same with your horse trailer on the 6 hour trip?  Or will you travel at 65 or better for 300 miles?

I can say from experience... a break down with horses aboard leaves very little margin to fix a bad situation.  One can't leave the loaded rig by the road side for any significant time while help is sought.  Live cargo demands quick relief.  Better to avoid the bad situation in the first place. This means first rate mechanical maintenance and loadings well within rated limits.

Agreed, that is just not too wise.

You've answered your own question.  The woman with a too big trailer for a 3/4 ton truck pulled it empty.  Not even a single horse in it.  Wise lady.

I appreciate everyone's advice greatly!!  I was just sure hoping it would handle it so I didn't have to get another truck and start over on payments.  My duramax is about half paid for :)  I guess its just something I have to think about whether its really worth a new truck and trailer over the ordeal!  I know that the trailer we have now won't be big enough once we put kids into the picture, and our 2 dogs that go with us everywhere.

I love the fact the people come to this forum to ask a question...can my truck pull this or that...when they are told no, they then claim they've seen this or that pulled by the equivalent truck...my answer is do what you want, but don't complain to us when the poop hits the fan....

If I could get a turnover ball installed on a Suzuki Tracker, I know I could pull that trailer.