Hello all,

Just wondered if anyone could give some advise on the wisdome of trading my 2003 4.6L F-150 in for a 2000 Chev 1 ton dually. I am pullying a Miley three horse slant horse trailer with my F-15o (flat ground only), but I have a chance to trade up. Do you think this is a good idea?

Thanks to anyone who has the time to reply!

J

Absolutely trade to a larger truck, whether it is that one or a diesel. The heavier suspension, larger brakes and carrying capacity, and additional power are all necessary when you're going down the road at 65+ mph. The 150 will get you there, but if you have to stop, turn or climb a hill and want a reliable safe tow, a larger vehicle will be necessary.

If you, like many of us have, want to trade up to a larger trailer, your 150 will be grossly inadequate.

It's always a plus to have more than you need, rather than not enough to safety do the job.

Bol  Gard

It depends on what your main use for this truck is, If you only haul a 3HS every now and then, but need the truck mainly to drive around unloaded the fuel mileage difference and fuel cost difference may not be one your going to like.

The above is assuming that the 1 ton is a diesel.

Hwbar made some important observations, whether or not your truck was to be a tow vehicle or daily driver. My comments were based on it being primarily a tow vehicle or work truck. Either way you will have to compromise: too small for a serious tow vehicle, or oversized for a daily driver. Do you want a powerful, safe, large truck, or an every day driver of which milage is the primary consideration?

It is very dubious if it is now possible to recoup your vehicle costs with the additional mileage a diesel offers.

You are the only one that can make the ultimate decision about what usage is most important for your needs.

Bol  Gard

Whew....I thought I was the only one sick with this ailment.  We got a new trailer last month, and I thought "gee, a new truck sure would be nice...."  Then Wifey slapped me in the back of the head and I was cured.  Works every time.

Hello there,

I laughed when I read your message. I didn't realize that others suffered from that "I want a new truck heat cycle". That is so true! Add some impulsivity in there and I have almost bought that truck! Hubby is away for the weekend so I thought that I would get it and ask for forgiveness later.... BTW, the 1 ton dually is a gas not a diesel. I'm not sure when I do upgrade which is better.

Thanks for the advice!

J

Hi Hank,

No, you are not alone. Don't you also find that if others around you are upgrading  that it is positively contagious? My hubby is the common sense one in our house so I had planned to do this while he was away this weekend! Asking for forgiveness is much easier than asking for permission.

hee hee

J

Hi Genebob,

I mostly wanted to get some advice on what type of upgrade is best. I don't have any trouble with the indeciveness part on whether or not to buy.My F150 is a 2003 4.6 Litre. I wasn't sure if a dually was better and if gas or diesel made a difference as gas models seem cheaper.

Hi Gard,

Thanks for your reply. I really am concerned with the safety of pulling a three ton trailer with three horses to 4H once a week (albeit flat ground) with the F150. I didn't do much research when I bought the truck, I relied on the dealership to match me up with a truck and trailer (hindsight is 20/20 right?). Safety is #1.

Thanks again,

Jodie

Mark.

The step from a 1/2 ton truck to a 1 ton dually is a major consideration. The 1 ton gas will use a lot more fuel, the maintenance in tires is more expensive, the parking is a little more difficult, the physical size takes it out of the commuter category.

In my opinion what you're pulling now would be dangerous in my circumstances, but may work for you. Short flat distances, slower speeds, primarily a daily driver, may be good reasons to go with what you have.

However if you decide to go anywhere cross country or plan on cruising at constant highway speeds, you are underpowered, and your tow vehicle is too light for your load. The gas dually might not be that much more powerful because of its own higher weight, but it would be a more stable platform. You don't need a dually for your load, a single rear wheel vehicle does well.

I pulled a 3 horse BP trailer with a ford 5.4 Suv and it did pretty well until I was almost run off the road. I had to jerk the wheel and when I did, the trailer really pushed the suv around and I almost lost control. Went back to using my truck the next day.

Whatever you do, take it slow and careful. Try to plan your stops ahead of time and things will probably be fine. Make sure your trailer brakes are checked often and your controller is set up correctly. Have a great holiday season.

BOL  Gard

Sorry Jodie, I didn't mean to address your reply to your husband

Gard

Hi Gard,

Thanks for your advice. My husband is not a horse/truck/trailer person, so he never looks at these types of websites (he is a golfer). However, I showed him what you wrote as I think he believes that I am too paranoid about safety (which might be true). I take kids and horses down a major highway once a week for 4h so I am travelling at highway speed. The sideroads are not much safer in my view as they are all paved out here and people drive just as fast on a narrower road. As I said in an earlier posting I was naive when I purchased the truck and trailer last year and relied on the dealership to set me up with a safe rig. Hindsight is 20/20 as I know know that their concern is profit driven, not safety. Long story short, the principles of risk management would indicate that the chev 1 ton dually (while not without it's own disadvantages) is clearly the safer vehicle to pull my 6500 pound (empty) trailer with three horses. I will never regret spending more on gas/tires as I will regret it if I have an accident while pulling with an inadequate vehicle and there is serious injury and or death to people or horses. I picked up the dually yesterday and it is definitely a different "drive" than the ford but at least now I have peace of mind that I am driving a safer rig.

On a humorous note, I have picked out my next vehicle! I like the Ford F350 diesel Harley Davidson model! This will be in a few years of course. This whole experience of learning to drive a truck and trailer is certainly a learning curve but I think I am on the right end of that curve now.

Once again, thank you for your advice. I have learned so much from reading the various postings on this site.

Regards,

Jodie

Hi Gard,

That is okay, I don't mind that you addressed your reply to my husband. I e-mailed him a copy so he could see that someone with experience agreed that my F150 isn't the safest vehicle to be pulling my three horse trailer with. Thanks  for your advice.

Jodie

Jodie

Most of us have gone through the same issues as you have, and probably made many more mistakes. Your safety concern is admirable; many people do just enough to get by and don't realize some of the dangers involved.

It will take a little while to get used to your new truck. Once you do, I think you will be pleased with the additional stability and security you can immediately feel while driving.

Get your hubby involved. There's more to life than chasing a little ball around a big lawn.

You're welcome, we're all here to try to help

BOL  Gard

Polo anyone?

I said, "Great idea", and my husband said, "bunch of losers". Ha ha. Maybe the conversion process from golf to polo won't be so simple. I'll work on it.

J

You could paint horse heads on his golf balls

Gard

Or start him on a bicycle and work him up to a horse...

I think you made a wise decision for yourself based on listening to advice of others that are "horsey" people and participate in the same kind of activities as you and your children do.I don't think you will regret purchasing a bigger truck,except maybe when the trip to the gas pump comes around,or,similar,.Don't believe you will regret it while hauling your kids and their horses tho.

Jodie

Instead of buying a Harley Davidson Ford truck, spend the same money on two Harleys. Say to hubby "you want a real ride?"  I'll bet he'll forget about golf for a while.

BOL   Gard

 Well, my gas budget will need to be significantly increased, however, it is a worthwhile expense. I took it to work once already and had to really navigate in order to park. For a fleeting moment I feared that I might have to call our security department to report that I was stuck between parking rows. The truck is so much longer than I am accustomed to that I need to acquire some new parking skills! My dad gave me some tips by saying that I should take the "mag wheels" off and put on winter studded tires with steel rims. He said the mag wheels cause the tires to leak air when it is really cold out. I will look into this cost.

I am happy with the truck and I definitely feel safe and sound on the highway now. Eventually I would like to pick up another F150 just to commute with. Having driven a truck for almost a year now I have to say that I would never go back to driving a car again!

Regards,

Jodie

I have mag wheels on my truck and cars. Never had a leakage problem or needed to replace them with steel. Try a winter first and see if there is any problem before you go to the additional trouble and expense.

Gard

Thanks Gard, I will stick with these tires for this winter and see how it goes. The tire pressure is good so far so I will save some money and wait.

Jodie

I traded in my 2004 F150 4.6 litre short box 4X4 for a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado crew cab 3500 Dually with 68,000 km on it. It is a much better vehicle to pull my three horse slant load Miley horse trailer. Now I just have to work on my parking skills....

Jodie

Hi Gard,

Nice idea, however, I don't think that anything could ever replace golf for my hubby. He lives for it. During the winter he even watches it on TV! Personally, I would rather watch cement dry than have anything to do with golf as I find it so boring. Golfers probably think the same thing about horses I guess. To each their own....

Jodie

Jodie .. I have cast wheels and forged alloy wheels on various vehicles...  I have not seen any difference between them and steel wheels.   I have noticed that tire pressures change with the change in seasons.  Even in temperate NC there is a significant tire pressure drop from Summer to Winter.   Your location's temperature swing between seasons must be even more.

I had not thought of the tire pressure change being due to the change in climate temperature instead of the type of rims. The temperature does flucuate quite radically out here. Up until last week we had fairly mild weather (in the -5 range, to snow and -18 degrees overnight).

Thank you for the feedback. I am not going to bother switching the rims for now. However, I will be more vigilant with checking the tire pressure of the truck and trailer tires.

Jodie

A lot of truckers use an aluminum bat to test their tires for inflation. The bats are also useful for other purposes and are handy to have around when you're traveling.

BOL  Gard

Hi Genebob,

Gee, I wish I had read this before I decided to go to the gas station and add some air. Exactly what you described happened to one of the rear tires and the air started hissing out very loudly. There were a couple of guys there who were trying to help me but they were also unsuccessful in getting the air to stop leaking out. The older guy told me that I could drive home because I had a daully. Soooo, I drove home and parked the truck in the garage so it could warm up (it is at least -22 today). I just checked a little while ago and there is no more hissing air and the tire looks okay. To be honest I am afraid to check it with the tire guage! I did find one of those dually/RV angle type pressure guages at Canadian Tire. I have also just sent my husband out to Canadian Tire to buy an air compressor as it occurred to me that if a tire is flat I really do need to be able to inflate it at home. There is a five gallon compressor on sale so he is picking it up as I write this. I won't even mention the unflattering comments he has made about my truck today!

Someone should write a book for people like me who really want to learn about these trucks, but have no clue about any of it! Honestly, I would buy that book in a heartbeat. I have learned a great deal today about tire guages and adding air to tires in cold weather. Oh well, it could have been worse. At least now I know better.

Thanks again Genebob,

Jodie

Hi Gard,

 I have put my aluminum bat in the truck! I have always carried a hammer tied under the seat in case I am unfortunate enough to accidentally end up in a water filled ditch and needed to break the window if the power locks fail (I believe that I have mentioned in previous postings that I am quite safety conscious). Now I have a bat as well so I will be prepared for anything (hopefully).

Thanks,

Jodie

Thank you Genebob! I would have never thought of that. It's not too late for the air compressor as my husband is still not home from his shopping yet. I think I will just keep the compressor in the basement so it doesn't freeze up as you mentioned. I'll bet the people in the south wonder why we live in places like this that get so cold.

Jodie