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 Veteran
Posts: 262
 
| I'm buying a truck now and expect to buy a 3H GN LQ horse trailer in the next year. What size truck will I need? And looking to keep cost down!! |
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Member
Posts: 35
| I wouldn't rely on anything smaller then a 3/4 ton pick-up simply for the reason anything smaller will have trouble stopping in my opinion :) |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
 
Location: North Dakota | I personally wouldn't go less than a 1T. I'd rather have more truck than I need than not enough. |
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  Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | WYOTurn-n-Burn - 2016-03-28 4:33 PM I personally wouldn't go less than a 1T. I'd rather have more truck than I need than not enough.
This ^^^!
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 Expert
Posts: 3534
Location: Stuck in a cubicle having tropical thoughts | We downsized last yeat from a F350 Diesel to a Chevy 2500 V8 Gas. My trailer is a 3horse with a 4ft shortwall weekender. My trailer weighs 6500lbs empty. So fully loaded would be about 10,000lbs and the GVWR is 12,500lbs.
My mom's truck is a Dodge 2500 V8 Gas and it has pulled my trailer, her 3 horse and our old trailer was a 4horse with weekender, no problem.
Depending on how big you want your LQ to be, you can get a 3/4 ton gas. I wouldn't go any smaller. You can always go bigger if you find the right truck/right deal.
Gas engines have cheaper purchase prices and cheaper maintenance but in my experience the 3/4 tons get 12mpg not loaded and 8-9mpg loaded, regardless of brand. The DIesel are much more expensive maintenance and for any mechanic work and have a much higher price tag, but they are supposed to last 2, 3, 4 times as long as the Gas engine and they are supposed to get 18-22mpg loaded or empty. This is all just on average.
We bought my F350 Diesel with 59,000 miles on it and traded it with 120,000 miles. In the 4.5 years we had it, we spent $14,000 on maintenance, tires and repairs. That is on top of the loan payment and fuel. At one point, when Diesel was $4.50 a gallon, I was spending $400-500 a month on Diesel and that was very minimal hauling. And on top of that, I got about 13.5mpg's on average through-out that time. At one point it got about 16mpg but would sometimes drop to 12mpgs. We were worried we were going to have another big engine repair bill so we traded and downsized. We bought the downsize Chevy brand new so it has warranty and 2years of oil changes so hopefully we'll have a couple years or more of no out of pocket costs. We shopped for a long time and compared all three big brands and diesel vs gas and asked our mechanic friend a zillion questions. We couldn't be happier with the decision we made.
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| Since you are looking for decent transportation ... go with a single cab 3500 single rear wheel truck which comes with at least a 350 cubic inch gas engine (no cost) and learn to drive a manual transmission ... buy it with the lessor package LT or just XLT with the common goodies and pay
less than 35k for it ... no 4x4 either which screws up everything ... (automatic transmission steals all of your engine power)
If you buy a truck with quad cab and all the goofy electronics, leather seats and other trash that will eat you alive with repairs in a few years ... add 20-25k to the price above .. ALL OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD FURNISHINGS DIDN'T COST THIS MUCH ..
this is the big profit maker for the dealer and manufacturer ...
Your GN with LQ is going to put > 1000 lbs on your truck and make sure you tune your brake box so you feel your trailer begin to stop before your truck does .... don't make your truck brakes do all the work !! .. Put your brake box within easy reach so you can use the manual lever in an emergency to keep from jack knifing ..
Whatever the weight of your fully loaded trailer ... truck should be able to handle almost double what you are dragging fully loaded down the highway ...
GOOD LUCK ...
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 Duct Tape Can't Fix Stupid
Posts: 2749
Location: Warsaw,NY | I have a 2500HD Duramax. Just bought a 3h w/15'sw w/slide out Lakota. truck pulls it great. . used to pull 4h w/8'sw and had no issues. My trailer weighs 9900lbs empty. I would def go diesel for pulling anything |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| We pull a 20' stock/combo trailer with 4 head of horses and a 4' shortwall weekender and a 24' livestock trailer with up to 6 head of horses of 16 roping steers and a 3H Elite with an 8' shortwall all with 3/4ton Duramax's ranging from '05-'08. They all pull great and stop with more than enough to spare with electric brakes.
Much longer than 24' we fell you'll start to want the stability of the dually's.
Haven't driven th 3/4T or 1T gas engines so I can't compare - but the Duramax blows my half ton gas truck out of the water. I see people hauling goosenecks with half tons and I about crap myself and then quickly go around, accident waiting to happen. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 268
| We have a 3-horse gooseneck with 8 foot shortwall. We pull it with a 2500 diesel |
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Veteran
Posts: 262
| barlracr429 - 2016-03-28 8:28 PM
We downsized last yeat from a F350 Diesel to a Chevy 2500 V8 Gas. My trailer is a 3horse with a 4ft shortwall weekender. My trailer weighs 6500lbs empty. So fully loaded would be about 10,000lbs and the GVWR is 12,500lbs.
My mom's truck is a Dodge 2500 V8 Gas and it has pulled my trailer, her 3 horse and our old trailer was a 4horse with weekender, no problem.
Depending on how big you want your LQ to be, you can get a 3/4 ton gas. I wouldn't go any smaller. You can always go bigger if you find the right truck/right deal.
Gas engines have cheaper purchase prices and cheaper maintenance but in my experience the 3/4 tons get 12mpg not loaded and 8-9mpg loaded, regardless of brand. The DIesel are much more expensive maintenance and for any mechanic work and have a much higher price tag, but they are supposed to last 2, 3, 4 times as long as the Gas engine and they are supposed to get 18-22mpg loaded or empty. This is all just on average.
We bought my F350 Diesel with 59,000 miles on it and traded it with 120,000 miles. In the 4.5 years we had it, we spent $14,000 on maintenance, tires and repairs. That is on top of the loan payment and fuel. At one point, when Diesel was $4.50 a gallon, I was spending $400-500 a month on Diesel and that was very minimal hauling. And on top of that, I got about 13.5mpg's on average through-out that time. At one point it got about 16mpg but would sometimes drop to 12mpgs. We were worried we were going to have another big engine repair bill so we traded and downsized. We bought the downsize Chevy brand new so it has warranty and 2years of oil changes so hopefully we'll have a couple years or more of no out of pocket costs. We shopped for a long time and compared all three big brands and diesel vs gas and asked our mechanic friend a zillion questions. We couldn't be happier with the decision we made.
Thank you so much. This was very helpful! |
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Veteran
Posts: 262
| Thank you so much. This is very helpful! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | I pull a 3h with 8 ft sw LQ trailer with a 2012 f250..6.7l diesel...i feel like my truck is just big enough...my trailer weighs 6500 empty and about 10000 loaded...probably more like 10500 to 10750 when you factor water in the tank, saddles , tack, lq items like blankets n clothes...it adds up fast... |
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 Poor Cracker Girl
Posts: 12150
Location: Feeding mosquitos, FL | I have a 3H with a 7' SW and I pull it with a dually.
It's always better to be overtrucked. I was about an hour and a half away from the house at a barrel race and my trailer plug fried- no brakes. And I had to go through at least one town to get home. I hit the exhaust brake button and had no problems stopping that heavy beast even when someone pulled out in front of me. |
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3314
Location: Jersey Girl | We have a 1 ton (3500) dually to pull ours.
Edited to add it is a gas engine, 8.1. I average 9.5 towing and 11-12 not towing. We also traded a Ford F250 diesel that was nothing but problems. In the 5 years we have owned the Chevy it has cost us nothing but normal maintenance. Best money we have ever spent and it has no issues pulling our 3H w/8ft LQ.
Edited by fulltiltfilly 2016-03-29 7:09 AM
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 Peat and Repeat
Posts: 2773
Location: IN MY OWN LITTLE WORLD AT LEAST THEY KNOW ME HERE | Depends on how heavy your trailer is.
I pulled a exiss 4 horse w a 6' Sw w a ford 3/4 n did fine.
I bought a trails west 3 h w a 10' short wall n it was all still and pushed my truck bad.
So bought a 1t dually
I now have a 3 horse elite, 12' sw
My truck was down n was going to a br n hubby said use his truck.
hooked my hubbies 3/4 Diesel 4x4 heavy duty and that truck squated like dog peeing n the yard and needless to say I unhooked and stayed home lolol
So w that being said----
Get a good pulling work horse truck to take care of business.
I drive a 1t ford diesel dually. No worries
Edited by Yakima 2016-03-29 9:51 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | barlracr429 - 2016-03-28 7:28 PM We downsized last yeat from a F350 Diesel to a Chevy 2500 V8 Gas. My trailer is a 3horse with a 4ft shortwall weekender. My trailer weighs 6500lbs empty. So fully loaded would be about 10,000lbs and the GVWR is 12,500lbs.
My mom's truck is a Dodge 2500 V8 Gas and it has pulled my trailer, her 3 horse and our old trailer was a 4horse with weekender, no problem.
Depending on how big you want your LQ to be, you can get a 3/4 ton gas. I wouldn't go any smaller. You can always go bigger if you find the right truck/right deal.
Gas engines have cheaper purchase prices and cheaper maintenance but in my experience the 3/4 tons get 12mpg not loaded and 8-9mpg loaded, regardless of brand. The DIesel are much more expensive maintenance and for any mechanic work and have a much higher price tag, but they are supposed to last 2, 3, 4 times as long as the Gas engine and they are supposed to get 18-22mpg loaded or empty. This is all just on average.
We bought my F350 Diesel with 59,000 miles on it and traded it with 120,000 miles. In the 4.5 years we had it, we spent $14,000 on maintenance, tires and repairs. That is on top of the loan payment and fuel. At one point, when Diesel was $4.50 a gallon, I was spending $400-500 a month on Diesel and that was very minimal hauling. And on top of that, I got about 13.5mpg's on average through-out that time. At one point it got about 16mpg but would sometimes drop to 12mpgs. We were worried we were going to have another big engine repair bill so we traded and downsized. We bought the downsize Chevy brand new so it has warranty and 2years of oil changes so hopefully we'll have a couple years or more of no out of pocket costs. We shopped for a long time and compared all three big brands and diesel vs gas and asked our mechanic friend a zillion questions. We couldn't be happier with the decision we made.
What year was your F350? I'm also truck shopping and I keep going back and forth on deciding between gas and diesel. |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | WYOTurn-n-Burn - 2016-03-28 4:33 PM
I personally wouldn't go less than a 1T. I'd rather have more truck than I need than not enough.
This... |
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Expert
Posts: 3534
Location: Stuck in a cubicle having tropical thoughts | GraciousLegacy - 2016-03-29 11:33 AM barlracr429 - 2016-03-28 7:28 PM We downsized last yeat from a F350 Diesel to a Chevy 2500 V8 Gas. My trailer is a 3horse with a 4ft shortwall weekender. My trailer weighs 6500lbs empty. So fully loaded would be about 10,000lbs and the GVWR is 12,500lbs.
My mom's truck is a Dodge 2500 V8 Gas and it has pulled my trailer, her 3 horse and our old trailer was a 4horse with weekender, no problem.
Depending on how big you want your LQ to be, you can get a 3/4 ton gas. I wouldn't go any smaller. You can always go bigger if you find the right truck/right deal.
Gas engines have cheaper purchase prices and cheaper maintenance but in my experience the 3/4 tons get 12mpg not loaded and 8-9mpg loaded, regardless of brand. The DIesel are much more expensive maintenance and for any mechanic work and have a much higher price tag, but they are supposed to last 2, 3, 4 times as long as the Gas engine and they are supposed to get 18-22mpg loaded or empty. This is all just on average.
We bought my F350 Diesel with 59,000 miles on it and traded it with 120,000 miles. In the 4.5 years we had it, we spent $14,000 on maintenance, tires and repairs. That is on top of the loan payment and fuel. At one point, when Diesel was $4.50 a gallon, I was spending $400-500 a month on Diesel and that was very minimal hauling. And on top of that, I got about 13.5mpg's on average through-out that time. At one point it got about 16mpg but would sometimes drop to 12mpgs. We were worried we were going to have another big engine repair bill so we traded and downsized. We bought the downsize Chevy brand new so it has warranty and 2years of oil changes so hopefully we'll have a couple years or more of no out of pocket costs. We shopped for a long time and compared all three big brands and diesel vs gas and asked our mechanic friend a zillion questions. We couldn't be happier with the decision we made.
What year was your F350? I'm also truck shopping and I keep going back and forth on deciding between gas and diesel.
It was a 2007. I loved the heck out of that truck, until I didn't. It seemed like when it got close to 100,000 miles on it, little things happened, like e-brake plates needing replaced (and when they went bad, it sounded like I was dragging a small car under the truck), both batteries needing replaced, brake calipers sticking and and needing fixed, had to replace the engine pulley, broken tie rod, etc. The diesel engines should last a long time, but the rest of the parts don't. And it seems like parts and mechanic bill is always more expensive with a diesel. At the very end, we did have two injectors go out but luckily they only cost $1000 for parts and labor. That truck would pull a brick $h!t house down. We pulled a couple loads of hay with that thing that might have been more than we should have and it moved like there was nothing hooked to it. When I was pulling the trailer, I'd have to check my mirrors to make sure the trailer was still there because it would get up and go. But we were worried that the rest of the injectors could go bad and we felt like it was nickel and diming us. We shopped for about 6 months and looked at them all, but for the cost of a used diesel with 50K miles, we could get a new gas. We were in no way against another Ford diesel and initially when we started searching, we were only looking at newer Powerstrokes. My truck is also my daily driver. I mostly haul within a 2 hour one way drive from home, with the occasional bigger trip. We figure if we find that I'm hauling a lot more and need more power, we can always trade up for something bigger, but I really love this new truck and we are happy with the decision to downsize.
I had my mare at a trainer in a neighboring state. last fall We hauled her there with the F350 but had the Chevy by the time we picked her up. It was about a 7 hour round trip. We had no problem getting there and back with my trailer with the gas engine.
I think all the big brands have pros and cons and also diesel vs gas. I think you just have to look at how much you haul, how far you haul, cost of maintenance, fuel mileage, how many bells and whistles you need/want on the truck (the Ford was lariat with leather and our Chevy is cloth) and how many miles on the engine you can live with or if you can afford new and then look at your budget and get what seems best. We had a bit of sticker shock when we started shopping last year. The cost of the heavy duty trucks went up a lot in just a 4 year time. Good Luck. I think I drove myself, my husband and my mechanic co-worker crazy while we shopped.
Oh, and for those who haven't had a diesel, around here an oil shange is $180 and they recommend also replacing fuel and air filter everytime you change oil. So it was always $300-350 just for oil and filter, air filter and fuel filter. Versus the gas oil change is the normal, $30-50 and they said I don't need to change all the other filters every time. Those are the types of maintenance costs that are more with the diesel. It's the cost of POWER!!! :)
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Expert
Posts: 3534
Location: Stuck in a cubicle having tropical thoughts | Another thing I wanted to mention, check to see what the manufacture rates the truck to be able to haul. Then make sure the GVWR of the trailer is less than what your truck is rated to handle. If you can, take the trailer over a scale and see what it weighs empty. I have a scale 1 mile form me and as long as I don't need a weight slip, they don't charge me to pull over it. Finding out my trailer was just under 6500lbs, with my tack in it, helped me relax about downsizing to the Gas engine vs getting another diesel. |
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Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | barlracr429 - 2016-03-29 2:18 PM GraciousLegacy - 2016-03-29 11:33 AM barlracr429 - 2016-03-28 7:28 PM We downsized last yeat from a F350 Diesel to a Chevy 2500 V8 Gas. My trailer is a 3horse with a 4ft shortwall weekender. My trailer weighs 6500lbs empty. So fully loaded would be about 10,000lbs and the GVWR is 12,500lbs.
My mom's truck is a Dodge 2500 V8 Gas and it has pulled my trailer, her 3 horse and our old trailer was a 4horse with weekender, no problem.
Depending on how big you want your LQ to be, you can get a 3/4 ton gas. I wouldn't go any smaller. You can always go bigger if you find the right truck/right deal.
Gas engines have cheaper purchase prices and cheaper maintenance but in my experience the 3/4 tons get 12mpg not loaded and 8-9mpg loaded, regardless of brand. The DIesel are much more expensive maintenance and for any mechanic work and have a much higher price tag, but they are supposed to last 2, 3, 4 times as long as the Gas engine and they are supposed to get 18-22mpg loaded or empty. This is all just on average.
We bought my F350 Diesel with 59,000 miles on it and traded it with 120,000 miles. In the 4.5 years we had it, we spent $14,000 on maintenance, tires and repairs. That is on top of the loan payment and fuel. At one point, when Diesel was $4.50 a gallon, I was spending $400-500 a month on Diesel and that was very minimal hauling. And on top of that, I got about 13.5mpg's on average through-out that time. At one point it got about 16mpg but would sometimes drop to 12mpgs. We were worried we were going to have another big engine repair bill so we traded and downsized. We bought the downsize Chevy brand new so it has warranty and 2years of oil changes so hopefully we'll have a couple years or more of no out of pocket costs. We shopped for a long time and compared all three big brands and diesel vs gas and asked our mechanic friend a zillion questions. We couldn't be happier with the decision we made.
What year was your F350? I'm also truck shopping and I keep going back and forth on deciding between gas and diesel.
I had my mare at a trainer in a neighboring state. last fall We hauled her there with the F350 but had the Chevy by the time we picked her up. It was about a 7 hour round trip. We had no problem getting there and back with my trailer with the gas engine.
I think all the big brands have pros and cons and also diesel vs gas. I think you just have to look at how much you haul, how far you haul, cost of maintenance, fuel mileage, how many bells and whistles you need/want on the truck (the Ford was lariat with leather and our Chevy is cloth) and how many miles on the engine you can live with or if you can afford new and then look at your budget and get what seems best. We had a bit of sticker shock when we started shopping last year. The cost of the heavy duty trucks went up a lot in just a 4 year time. Good Luck. I think I drove myself, my husband and my mechanic co-worker crazy while we shopped.
Oh, and for those who haven't had a diesel, around here an oil shange is $180 and they recommend also replacing fuel and air filter everytime you change oil. So it was always $300-350 just for oil and filter, air filter and fuel filter. Versus the gas oil change is the normal, $30-50 and they said I don't need to change all the other filters every time. Those are the types of maintenance costs that are more with the diesel. It's the cost of POWER!!! :)
Thanks for the info!! I totally agree on the whole sticker shock.... My current truck is a 2001 F250... Bought it in 2002 hadn't really looked at truck prices since then.  |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | 2500 diesel. You can get by with a 2500 gas, but your mileage will suck and it doesn't tow nearly as well. I used my dad's 2500 gas truck to haul a 3-horse bumper pull with maybe 500 lbs of cargo, about three hours away, and I won't do that again! It's ridiculous how often it down-shifted, and how poor the gas mileage was. My diesel truck tows so much better. |
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Duct Tape Bikini Girl
Posts: 2554
| You're getting some good advice on here. I'd like to add one more thing. Don't cheat yourself with a short bed. Get a long bed. |
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 Three in a Bikini
Posts: 2035
| We have a 4 horse LQ with an 8ft short wall.
Our F250 diesel does a good job pulling. If we were going constantly I would probably upgrade to a F350 dually. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 927
Location: Iowa | You'll find many answers. I have a HD 3/4 chevy pulling a 3 horse 10ftsw. Pull fine for me. I know you have to go by your vehicle tow rating. The whole key is can I get stopped safely with the weigh I'm towing. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 926
| ErinScruggs - 2016-03-28 4:06 PM
I wouldn't rely on anything smaller then a 3/4 ton pick-up simply for the reason anything smaller will have trouble stopping in my opinion :)
Yep, as someone told me once, 'it's not the pulling, it's the stopping you gotta worry about'.
I started out a long time ago with a 1 ton single rear wheel diesel. Then I moved to a dually and it made a huge difference in the stability, so that if you have to swerve to get out of someone's way, it holds those bigger trailers. |
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 Dog Resuce Agent
Posts: 3459
Location: southeast Texas | $180 for a diesel oil change? WoW!
Just last week, diesel oil change plus oil filter $85. And I fussed it went up ten dollars. |
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Dog Resuce Agent
Posts: 3459
Location: southeast Texas | Do your homework on the older ford trucks. Mid 2003 they changed the reliable 7.3. From then on till the 6.7 came out a few years ago, nothing but problems in most of them. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | roxieannie - 2016-03-30 10:28 AM
$180 for a diesel oil change? WoW!
Just last week, diesel oil change plus oil filter $85. And I fussed it went up ten dollars.
It's not that hard to do yourself. No way would I pay $180. |
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Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | roxieannie - 2016-03-30 10:28 AM
$180 for a diesel oil change? WoW!
Just last week, diesel oil change plus oil filter $85. And I fussed it went up ten dollars.
That's insane! I pay $70. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Three 4 Luck - 2016-03-30 11:39 AM
roxieannie - 2016-03-30 10:28 AM
$180 for a diesel oil change? WoW!
Just last week, diesel oil change plus oil filter $85. And I fussed it went up ten dollars.
It's not that hard to do yourself. No way would I pay $180.
Not surprising, I had a friend who manages a shop in Des Moines quote me an oil change with an oil filter and fuel filter - over $200 even with the discount he gives me.
We do our own for $85 for oil/oil filter/fuel filter. |
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Veteran
Posts: 262
| Thank you so much everyone! Weighing all the pros and cons and what works best for what I need I decided on the 2016 F350 XLT! They matched the price of 2016 F250 so I decided better to go bigger. I love diesels but I decided to go with gas. It fits my budget a little better right now. Thank you everyone again. :) |
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Member
Posts: 32
| I have a 2012 3/4 dodge diesel.. My trailer is a platinum 3 horse with a 10ft shortwall. I ended up putting air bags on it so that the trailer would not weigh the truck down. We are fixing to trade that in and get a 1ton. I have had no issues with hauling. The only reason why we are getting a new truck is my husband has new truck fever! To look at the prices it gave me a panic attack!
Edited by Polly05 2016-03-30 9:44 PM
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Duct Tape Can't Fix Stupid
Posts: 2749
Location: Warsaw,NY | Polly05 - 2016-03-30 10:43 PM I have a 2012 3/4 dodge diesel.. My trailer is a platinum 3 horse with a 10ft shortwall. I ended up putting air bags on it so that the trailer would not weigh the truck down. We are fixing to trade that in and get a 1ton. I have had no issues with hauling. The only reason why we are getting a new truck is my husband has new truck fever! To look at the prices it gave me a panic attack!
My chevy diesel is an 07, i looked at new and shat myself at the prices!!! LOL waiting 3yrs til my jeep is paid off. |
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Member
Posts: 32
| exactly! I don't think I will be able to hold my husband off to long. I can remember when my dad in 88 bought a 4 door ford dually- and it was $17,000.00 |
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What size truck for a small LQ 3H Slant?