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Member
Posts: 13
Location: Taylorsville, KY | I have a 1/2 ton truck that I want to keep and no reason not to at the moment. That being said, I also want to pull a 2 horse trailer with shower and AC...... What trailer do you think would work good for me? My truck is rated to tow 7100 pounds. Keep in mind I cannot do any work on the trailer myself. Any modifications would be out of pocket and not an option for me. Thanks in advance for your help! |
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 Expert
Posts: 2453
       Location: Northern Utah | Do you want a real shower or will you accept a cowboy shower? Most any trailer with A/C and a real shower will probably be in Gooseneck with a LQ installed. Most of these will weigh more than 7000 lbs. In fact most empty gooseneck shells will probably weigh 6000lbs empty. add a couple of horses and weekend package and you are 10,000lbs |
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Member
Posts: 35
 Location: Vero Beach Fl | Check out the Stablemate LQ that Shadow trailers makes.. They are made to pulled by a smaller truck. Heres a link to one http://www.shadowtrailersin.com/horse-trailers-for-sale.html. Thats bigger than what you wanted but they make smaller... I have a Shadow and love it. |
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Member
Posts: 13
Location: Taylorsville, KY | I did see those, but they are way out of my price range. Are there kits ready to be installed in an existing trailer? I think I saw one in an older trailer on a dealer lot. Do these work out well? And how does it work out cost wise? Maybe I should have said I'm looking for something under 20k. That may not sound doable for some of you, but it is possible....! Thanks again for your help. |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
   Location: Danielsville Georgia | I would think 'empty' gooseneck shells would weigh a lot less then 6000lbs.My Exiss CX300 3 horse had a shipping weight of around 4500lbs.A TWO horse will be lighter of course.Years back saw many a two horse STEEL trailer(gooseneck)being pulled by 1/2 v8 trucks.Several come to mind that was insulated,had water tanks,mattress,gear etc.being pulled by old Chevy Bonazas with 350 2 bbl V8 with no issues other then once loaded with two horses would not pull into a area that was bad steep.It just booged down and horses had to be unloaded and then it managed to pull the hill in. |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
       Location: western PA | We have an Exiss 3H GN with a full weekender 4' LQ. It weighs ~5500#. I don't know the difference in weight downsizing to a 2H, but it should be a couple hundred pounds. I think a loaded trailer would exceed your rear axle's capacity. Gard |
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Member
Posts: 13
Location: Taylorsville, KY | How do I know what that is? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 368
     Location: Georgia | Do you know what size your rear axle is? If so, check your owner's manual for towing capacity. The reason I asked about your rear end, is I had a 97 F150 that had a 3.73 rear axle and 5.4L gas engine. I towed a 3H steel GN with a small dressing room with no problems..although only on very RARE occasions did I haul 3 horses and then not for very far. I think the empty weight on the tralier was between 4500 and 5000lbs. The towing capacity on the truck I believe was around 9000lbs. I don't own the truck anymore so I can't check the owner's manual to verify the towing capacity. Well I must be blind...I see that you know that your towing capacity is 7100lbs. Please disregard my ramblings above.
Edited by lesliemal 2009-05-02 3:45 PM
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Member
Posts: 13
Location: Taylorsville, KY | OK I found the info I was looking for. GAWR front 3160 lb, rear 3760 lb. GVWR 6050 lb. Be back. Going to watch the Derby on TV! |
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 Expert
Posts: 2453
       Location: Northern Utah | What Gard is getting at is that your truck is rated for a 6050 GVWR, But the empty truck probably weighs 5000lbs. That means you can put 1000lbs in the bed of the truck. ( Hence the designation that it is a 1/2 ton truck) Most goosenecks place 25% of the trailer weight on the ball. So a 7000lb trailer would place 1750 lbs on the gooseneck hitch which will probably exceed your trucks payload capacity for the rear axle. A 7000 lb trailer would have 1750 lbs resting on the Gooseneck hitch and 5250 lbs sitting on the trailer axles. So even though you are within the limits of what you can tow ( 7000lbs) you are over your axle limit for the rear axle. This is all hypothetical. You would need to weigh your truck and any trailer you consider and see if the hitch weight was with in limits of what your axle can support. LQ trailers push more weight forward and onto the hitch because they are in front of the trailer axles. So the percentage of trailer weight might be as high as 30% on some living quarters. |
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