I live in South Africa, and unlike you guys we have a very limited variety of trailers. Mostly 2 horse straight load bumper pulls. I thus decided to import one from the States. It was quite a mind boggling experience I must say - as there is such a large range to choose from. I looked at 2nd hand at first, but finally decided on a new Cherokee Tomahawk 4 horse, which I purchased from the Very friendly and helpfull  Dave McAdoo at Tobruk trailers in TN. You must realize that I have never seen this trailer, so I had to base my decision on his word and advice. The trailer is due to be shipped out to me from Baltimore tomorrow....well excitment is not a word that can explain my emotions at the moment - I just cant wait to get my new trailer.

I Play Polocrosse and my daughter (14 yrs old) and I do a lot of traveling to tournaments throught SA - so we needed a really nice trailer to make the traveling just that much easier and have the convenience of not haveing to camp in tents.

Is there anyone who can tell me how their Cherokee is performing and if there are any particular likes or dislikes with this trailer.

Congratulations Nick on your Cherokee purchase. Good job Dave of Tobruk Trailer Sales for that long distance sale!! That has to be one for the Cherokee record books!!

Nick, we bought a Cherokee Super Chief six horse head to head last winter. We have put around 4000 miles on it so far, trailer is doing a good job for us. Trailer has a 5' DR, 35' floor length, 43' total length.

We attended a "day show" a couple weeks ago and my wife fell in love with it. She could unload any horse she wanted without having to move all the others around. Another plus was .... You didn't have to leave them tied to the trailer, just load them back into their stall while you were working on another one, less chance of little kids walking all around and into their hind legs!!!

I'm sure you will enjoy your new Cherokee! We like our so far!

What vehicle will you be pulling this new trailer with?

Hi

Good to get such a quick reply.

I have a 07 F250 dbl cab 4x4, diesel. It is a bit different to the ones you guys have - mine is fitted with a 4,2L MWM turbo diesel. It tows my current steel gooseneck 4 horse quite fine, but must admit that I would love a big diesel like you guys have.

Here in SA most of our trucks (or bakkies as we call them) are much smaller and wouldnt cope towing a big trailer. The F250's are imported from Brazil of all places... I love it and it attracts loads of attention wherever you are. I think there are only about 100 or so in SA.

I will have to give you all some feedback when my trailer arrives - should be around the 4th of July - you guys can celebrate independance day and I will celebrate the arrival of my trailer.

My Cherokee is a slant load with a 4',8" dressing room that I will convert into a weekender.

What do you tow with?

I've never had a Cherokee, but I have some friends that I pull with and that is all they pull. They have had great luck with theirs. I am sure that you will be very happy with yours.

Your trailer ships out today and you won't receive it until July 4? Wow! I wouldn't have the patience.

Barfly, I pull with a Chevrolet 3500 dually, 8.1 liter....GASOLINE!  

Is this your engine?? 

These engines were built in Brazil & have been installed in GM & Ford trucks & vans in South America.

Some spec info cribbed from a web source (use info at your discretion):

MWM International Sprint: 4.2L I6

There are 3 versions of this engine:
Version 1
Peak Torque: 392 Nm (289 Lb Ft) @ 1,800 RPM
Peak Horsepower: 135 Hp @ 2,800
Version 2
Peak Torque: 363 Nm (268 Lb Ft) @ 2,000 RPM
Peak Horsepower: 150 Hp @ 3,400 RPM
Version 3
Peak Torque: 510 Nm (376 Lb Ft) @ 1,600 RPM
Peak Horsepower: 180 Hp
Weight: 259 Kg (570 Lbs) - ALL

Mechanical OR Electronic fuel injection
3 valves per cylinder - 2 intake, 1 exhaust
OHC cross flow cylinder head

www.marks4wd.com in Australia has some good links & info available...

MWM is a fully-owned subsidiary of Navistar since 2005.

http://www.nav-international.com.br/default.asp?su=1&idioma=2

Hey I see from your profile that you like old tractors. I have a friend here in East London SA that has a collection of about 400 of them. From the really old steam ones to the latest MF. He has a big dairy farm and has a large shead just for his toys. They are something to see I must say, and most of them still runn. Every year he has a gathering called Pete's Picknick where he dispalys them all, and lots of other farmens with collections truck theirs in to add to the spectacle. He has an old Mcormack (I think anyway) that he ploughed with as a demo. it has steel wheels and a 12L engine I think. He said something about it using about 2 1/2 gallons of petrol just to get it from the barn to the field (which is about 500m away)

They are amaizing old machines.

I have also had the privaledge of visiting the agricultural museum in Pretoria, where they have lots of old tractors and some huge stationary engines. they even have a single cylinder two stroke diesel engine which was made using an old cannon... amaizing stuff hey.

Cheers for now

Yip Version 3---

But actually has 500 NM torque and 180Hp.

I have had some work done on the pump and the turbo has been opened up, so it would be a bit more than that. I get really good milage from it - about 17miles to the gallon without towing and drops to about 11 with 4 horses...

I would love a bigger engine though as we have some really mountanous parts over here...

Congratulations on your new trailer.

I have an 05 F250 with the 6.0.  Lucky to be getting 18 hwy. empty.

How much is diesel in your neck of the woods?

Hi there

Diesel costs about the equavalent of $6.50 a gallon...our prices have shot up in the past year... In fact I think it has almost doubled in 18 months.

I have an ecomomist friend and he recons that the price of diesel will go above $10 a gallon by the end of the year.... The arabs are squeezing every last ounce out of their oil...But you know what... there is nothing I could do about it, so life goes on and we just adapt.... I live in a beautifull country and am really lucky to have the opportunities that I have. I do think that our neighbors (Zimbabwe) are dragging us down... those poor people living there... a loaf of bread there costs Zim$ 45000000.00 - yet thats right I didnt make a mistake with the zeros....

I will post some pics of what it is like here in a day or so....

great chatting to you

n

I have been around trailers for too many years and by far one of the best built trailers are Cherokees

I have a Tomahawk that is just better in so many ways than what I consider the next group down of which there are so many

We camp with dozens of folks and it is sad when you see rivtets popping out and doors and windows rattle as folks go down the road

good luck, sure you will be happy

Does South Africa use the imperial gallon (5 quarts) or the 4-quart gallon that we use in the US?

I pull a steel 3-horse slant with a 2005 club cab (dual cab) 4wd, all options, 6.0 l diesel engine. My mileage is similar to the other poster with a 6.0 diesel. (though if it's connected to a Ford dealers computer, it gets an addition 4 miler per gallon for about three days)

I also have a 4 sw 8 lw dr that I think I'll convert to a weekend package

Howdie...

In SA we use metric so all measurements are done in litres and Km. (i just did a conversion...not sure which one I used back then.) Basically I get about 8.5km/L without the trailer and fully loaded (4 horses, tack etc) I get around 5.5km/L and I travel at about 110km/h average..the terrain is quite up and down. On the odd occation that I have traveled to the highveld areas of our country (it is much flatter and as altitude so the air is quite a bit thinner) I get about 6 km/L but then I must admit that I generally travel a bit faster...LOL

cheers for now

Nick