Information on this board said the Expedition would be fine to tow this trailer with.I had a weight distribution hitch installed. I loaded the truck/trailer with 2 horses, 16 gallons of water, 4 saddles, 3 bales of hay, 2 bags of horse feed, buckets, bridles, 2 human passengers, and 2 suitcases to go for a week of trail riding. When I got on the highway and picked up speed, at 50 mph the truck felt light in the front end and the trailer started to fish tail, it scared me to death! The steering wheel was moving in my hands.

I've towed many trailer/truck combinations over the years and I've NEVER had one fish tail on me!I pulled into a gas station to check the rig out, I also checked tire pressure (the tires are brand new) and it was at 40 lbs. with the maximum being 44 lbs. I got back on the highway and tried to speed up, again the fish tailing at 50-55 mph.

Can you give me an idea of what may be causing this? Do I need a bigger truck? Do I need to load the trailer differently? The dressing room wasn't packed to the gills, it had 2 saddles on the saddle racks, the other two saddles were in the back of the Expedition as was the horse feed, suitcases, buckets, etc. There was a bale of hay in the truck and two bales of hay and the 16 gal. of water in the open space in the trailer between the horses and the bulkhead of the dressing room.

HELP! I'm afraid to haul my new trailer now! I ended up going back to the barn an unloading everything, moving it to a different trailer (also a Gore, this model: http://goretrailers.com/trailer5.htm) and we towed it instead.

You knew up front the Expedition was good for a tongue weight of 500#. That Gore trailer weighs 750# empty.... I bet you got passenger car tire on that truck also.... Did you contact Jackson Gore as I advised...? I pull mine with a 2500 GMC, wouldn't dare try to pull it with a 1/2 ton, too much tongue weight.

Here's the old post and replies.... http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=15919

http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/thread-view.asp?threadid=15976

I thought you were buying this trailer, this is what I have... http://goretrailers.com/trailer3a.htm

I did stand back and look at the loaded trailer and it looked level to my eye.

If anyone had said that the Expedition would not be able to get the job done, we would never have purchased it. I re-read through the original posts and didn't see anyone questioning towing the Gore trailer we have with the Expedition.

Yes, I did call Jackson Gore and spoke with him at great length PRIOR to purchasing the Expedition. He said I would have NO problems and that the Expedition with WDH would have no problems towing the trailer. And to answer retento, the trailer you have is the exact trailer we purchased, it is trailer number 3a http://goretrailers.com/trailer3a.htm on their website.

I just now finished talking to Jackson Gore and explained what happened to me, he wants me to send photos of the truck/trailer hooked up, w/ close-ups of the hitch. He also wants me to look under the trailer and check some things there.

Next thing is trade those "P" series passenger car tires in on some "LT" truck tires. The "LT" tire has a stiffer sidewall making the vehicle more stable....  Have you tried pulling the trailer with your 2500 Suburban?

As I said several weeks ago. I pull the same trailer with a GMC 2500HD, 3/4 pickup and the hitch is loaded to the max. It's probably got 1000# on it when it's loaded.... This is not you every day two horse BP trailer!!  IT'S TONGUE HEAVY...

No you don't need a bigger truck.

My trailer is 15' on the floor with a empty tongue wt of 650#, loaded it goes well over 900# and I pulled it fine with a Trailblazer.........a good bit less truck than an Expe.  I would carry the horse stuff in the trailer, not the truck.  Does the Expe have the air suspension?  

'Eyeballing'and 'measuring' sometimes don't cut it when actual weight distribution is what you're after. A WDH does not remove tongue weight, it distributes the weight evenly between the tow vehicle's axles.  Get yourself to a scale loaded and ready to roll.  Need all the axle weights, and the empty Expe axle weights. 

Two other sources of your tracking problems may include the Expedition's shocks or your rear wheel alignment. If you purchased the vehicle used and depending upon its mileage, the shocks, especially the rear shocks, may be used up. Many OEM shocks will degrade after only ~30 -40K miles, especially if they were subjected to towing or carring loads other than the basic vehicle.

A second source of instability can involve the Expedition's independent rear suspension. Again depending on the mileage, the suspension could be out of alignment. If it is, it can alter the handling characteristics, particularly under a loaded situation. A four wheel alignment can quickly determine, if this is in fact, a problem.

As I previously mentioned, I pulled an 18' 3H BP trailer with an Expedition, without the need for auxillary devises. It should be stated, that there are significant differences in trailers, that will allow one to behave much differently than another of the same or different brands.

The axles' placements are the key. A side loading trailer will have the axles' placements more torwards the rear in its construction. Any trailer with this configuration, will experience more tonge weight.  2H straight load trailers are not able to have their loading weights altered. The horses are placed in one position length wise, regardless of their numbers.

A three horse slant load trailer with centrally located axles, can alter its loading by varying the placement of the horses, depending on their numbers and size. With this variance, the tongue weights can be altered lighter or heavier by simply moving the horses within the trailer. The trailer's axles can carry most of the weight in a balanced configuration, and the vehicle can be less stressed by only pulling, instead of both towing and supporting the additional weights. Without the additional weight on the rear suspension, or mechanisms to artificially alter the weight placements, the vehicle is more near the normal driving configuration originally designed and built by the manufacturer.

To say that brand XYZ trailer pulls well, may not be an accurate description with another rig of the same brand. Options such as side ramps, escape doors, the number of horses, straight or slant loads, the dressing room lengths, the towing vehicles and their differences, will all have an affect on how the combined rig will handle. Each will be different, and each one will have to be addressed individually to find the optimum configuration.

Your description reminds me of an experience I had with a dump trailer full of dirt.  As I got up to speed around 50 mph, The trailer began to sway.  It about caused me to wreck.  I was pulling it with a F350 1 ton truck and learned a valuable lesson about making sure the load is evenly balanced. The tail wagging the dog can happen EVEN with a 1 ton truck.  I've pulled this trailer with that truck for thousands of miles and never had a problem, until I overloaded the trailer and put too much dirt in front of the axles.  I strongly suspect it is more how your load is balanced than the fact you are using an Expedition ( which is basically a F150 half ton truck)

All the things mentioned above can contribute to your problem.  good tires, good shocks not overloading the hitch, how the weight is distributed in the trailer will all make a so-so situation into a scary experience. I pulled a 3 horse slant load for 3 years with a 97 Ford F150 with the 5.4L engine. It did the job well. But I was always aware of where I placed the horses in the trailer. making sure I had the biggest horses over the axle. So I do believe your expedition can pull a bumper pull trailer.  I do not know anything about a Gore and won't comment on how much weight it puts on the bumper hitch. but as Gard has commented, Any trailer that moves the axles farther to the back will add weight to the hitch, which you will have to be carefull about how you load. You can't compound this by packing water and other items into the dressing room.

When we purchased it we had new tires put on and they aligned all 4 wheels. We didn't have shocks replaced, perhaps that needs to be done?

I'm assuming previous owner used the Expedition for towing since it came with trailer brake controller already installed.

After towing our small 2 horse w/ no dressing room trailer, w/ 2 horses, plus gear, I feel like the suspension on the Expedition is too 'soft' and I don't really like the way it feels.

Our Expedition does not have the air shocks, that came with the optional heavy duty towing package, ours just has the regular towing package.

Once we get back in town from our trip, I'm going to get the photos for Mr. Gore, pick his brain some more and go from there.

Right now I've lost all confidence in the Expedition!

I remember yrs ago having the same problem and the hitch on the truck was a little too high. Maybe this will help.   GOOD LUCK