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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
  
Location: USA | Looking into getting a LQ. If I buy a 3 horse, it'll never have more than 2 horses in it. What's the biggest short wall I could get and pull with my 3/4 ton? |
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Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | We used to be a 4Star dealer and sold a lot of LQ's for 2500 pickups. In a premium aluminum three horse we tried to keep our customers around eight feet on the short wall. Options that you add make a difference, and how much you drive in the mountains. This is with no slide out. Just because your truck is rated to tow 23000 pounds does not mean that you should max it out. Most of the trailers we set up with an eight foot short wall weighed around 9000 pounds. Add three big horses, fuel, water, tack, hay, feed, and all the junk everyone hauls and it is easy to be at 15,000 pounds. That is plenty for a 3/4 ton pickup to try to stop in an emergency. If you need more room, got to a heavier tow rig. |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | We can pull a 22ft steel Titan fully loaded with 6 horses give or take. We don't do much speeding, but it pulls it pretty well. Stopping is one thing to keep in mind with a heavy trailer. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 700
Location: Driving, Grooming, or Saddling for a Kid! | Its not much you can pull that you need to worry about. Its how much it can stop. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 336
Location: Missouri | Exactly what has been said - pulling is not the problem. Safely stopping is! Also keep in mind the stability for cornering, stopping, and less than perfect road conditions. A one ton dually gives you a LOT of help there. That being said, I know a lot of people who pull aluminum 3 horse slants with small basic LQ/weekender packages with a 3/4 ton. I will say this - I blew the front driver's tire on dual lanes - wasn't speeding but going probably 55 mph. I drive a one ton Cummins dually. Had I not had that heavy of a truck to help me out, the loaded trailer pushing me and whipping behind would have led to an epic disaster. Never been so scared in my life - wild ride. Make sure you have GOOD tires and functional trailer brakes. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | Thanks everyone for the responses. It's exactly what I wanted to hear. Now I have an excuse to buy the dually I've been wanting  |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Dreamingofcans - 2014-10-21 8:08 AM
Thanks everyone for the responses. It's exactly what I wanted to hear. Now I have an excuse to buy the dually I've been wanting
Dang, I wish my husband worked that way :( I mention bigger truck and he says sell more horses and get a SMALLER trailer  |
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 Board Detective
Posts: 3886
Location: Millen Ga | I have a 4H Adam with LQ, 4 ft short wall, mangers, all that jazz and pull it with a 2003 Chevy 2500 duramax. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | wyoming barrel racer - 2014-10-21 9:17 AM
Dreamingofcans - 2014-10-21 8:08 AM
Thanks everyone for the responses. It's exactly what I wanted to hear. Now I have an excuse to buy the dually I've been wanting
Dang, I wish my husband worked that way : ( I mention bigger truck and he says sell more horses and get a SMALLER trailer
Lol he probably would but I foot the bill so he can't say anything  |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Look at the tire rating, as someone already said if the tires blow on a single axel, it could be the end of you and your horses.
Also check out your state laws.
And remember when you are looking at the trailers, it is the empty weight, then tack on another 5-10,000 lbs for everything that gets packed in the trailer.
Dishes, food, water, bedding, clothing, horse supplies, saddles, hay, water, horses, etc |
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I'm Over It!!
Posts: 2830
| There should be a chart showing the towing capacity in the back of your owner's manual. It's total towing capacity so figure your trailer weight empty plus whatever you will put in it. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1482
Location: on my horse | Is a lot a proper amount?! lol But seriously, they can just about pull a house down and are safe as long as you have proper brakes.
ETA I pull with a 2500 cummins so I'm a bit biased toward that, but I pull a 4 horse double walled steel trailer fully loaded up big hills no problem, but we have a great brake system.
Edited by redmansmyman11 2014-10-21 10:28 PM
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 Certified Snake Wrangler
Posts: 1672
Location: North MS | 4H, 8' Short wall and fully loaded. But..... I wasn't comfortable stopping with all the idiots in my town so I sold my Dodge 2500 after I drove the hubby's F350 a while. We sold the F350 and I got a newer Dodge 3500 with less miles and 4x4. So I sold two trucks to get the best of both worlds. No issues stopping short now- sadly I had to test that fact already and only hauled with it 5 times. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | Thanks y'all!!!! I was more worried about the safety aspects of it, I just didn't word it right in my original post. I always have electric brakes, but blowing a tire always worries me. I definitely would feel safer with a dually. |
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 Roan Wonder
Location: SW MO | Your question doesn't need to be how much can it pull. It's how much can it stop.
You see those little SUV's all the time on the road that are pulling travel trailers. They can pull them but they can't handle them. One time on our way to Amarillo TX from OKC we saw 3 of them flipped over. They do fine until they get in a bind. You see that a lot of small trucks pulling big horse trailers, just because they can pull doesn't mean they should
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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | As everyone has said it is not a question of what it can pull because the engine will undoubtedly pull more than the truck can safely stop or have the stability to handle in a pinch. Also bear in mind that the longevity of a 3/4 ton body and suspension under heavy pulling is going to be much shorter than optimal. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 542
Location: Notasulga, Alabama | Everyone is right that stopping is an issue, but there are other things to consider. One being where you live. Lots of hills, stops and starts, etc. Another being which truck, not all 3/4 tons are created equal. And then you have to look at the trailers. Everything you add to the trailer ads weight. Things like water tanks, black tanks, furniture, slides, etc, all add a lot of weight.
In south AL I can get away with pulling almost anything with my 3/4 ton because it's flat. I'm not climbing hills and going down steep grades. I pull a 5H aluminum 4' SW w/ weekender, and previously pulled 3 and 4 horse steels w/ 4'SWs. I've never had a problem with my 01 Dodge 2500 (with computer chip, not sure which one though), and I even get 15mpg doing it!
But heck if you can upgrade to the dually, why not? Then you never have to worry about what you're pulling.... all the more reason to get a bigger trailer down the line, but shhhh, don't tell hubby that! |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | AUEquine - 2014-10-22 12:03 PM Everyone is right that stopping is an issue, but there are other things to consider. One being where you live. Lots of hills, stops and starts, etc. Another being which truck, not all 3/4 tons are created equal. And then you have to look at the trailers. Everything you add to the trailer ads weight. Things like water tanks, black tanks, furniture, slides, etc, all add a lot of weight. In south AL I can get away with pulling almost anything with my 3/4 ton because it's flat. I'm not climbing hills and going down steep grades. I pull a 5H aluminum 4' SW w/ weekender, and previously pulled 3 and 4 horse steels w/ 4'SWs. I've never had a problem with my 01 Dodge 2500 (with computer chip, not sure which one though), and I even get 15mpg doing it! But heck if you can upgrade to the dually, why not? Then you never have to worry about what you're pulling.... all the more reason to get a bigger trailer down the line, but shhhh, don't tell hubby that!
This is true too. Ours is an automatic which sucks as we have a lot of hills. If I don't manaully drop it down at times, that tranny is always shifting up down, up down and would burn it out in a quick hurry. The price was right on this truck and it has been such a problem free reliable vehicle, but you have to know how to drive them properly.
My friends blew a tire going 70 down the hwy in TX with a 3500 dually pulling 3 horses in a living qrt trailer. The husband was cranking on the steering wheel to keep it from going into on coming traffic, the wife was pulling in her side as well with all her might. in the meantime the sparks were starting fires in the ditch. When they got it stopped, he bailed out and couldn't think straight (did great with the first part of the deal) so she jumped in the trailer and grabbed the fire extinguisher. Put it out with the help of people that stopped to help. |
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 More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | You can pull whatever you want but can you stop is another story. Don't matter if you have electric brakes. If the trailer and contents are too heavy it'll push your pickup if you need to stop fast. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 554
| I have two 3500 cummins single rear axle trucks. One is a 4x4 and the other is two wheel drive. Once you get past a 3 horse trailer I would be using a one ton truck. My 4 horse GN(no LQ) is heavy once you add four horses, tack, feed, and water.Once you add the LQ to a trailer 3 horses and up I would be hauling with the one ton. I had a 3/4 ton truck with this trailer and it struggled on the stopping end. The stopping and stability part make all the difference. I have a large two horse BP trailer and it is tongue heavy and a half ton truck is maxed out pulling that trailer. Plus out here in AZ it seems people in little cars luv to pull out infront of you and stop when you have a trailer attached. Keep in mind if you have to stop real fast and hard once the trailer stops the horse weight shifts one more time can move your truck foward again. I have had this happen a bunch with people on motorcycles cutting me off and stopping for no reason and laughing. I have owned several dully's loved them hauling, hated them for parking and everyday driving in the city. I hated buying the extra tires too.  |
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