Hello everyone,

I have had horses my whole life but this is my first experience as a truck and horse trailer owner. In order to get "expert" advice, I purchased both my 2004 F150 4.6 litre V8 Supercrew and Miley 3500lb 3 horse angle haul trailer from a Ford dealership. I have heard fellow 4H people query if the truck is big enough, yet the dealership assured me that it was. I am only intending to haul two horses (avg weight 1100 lbs) about six miles to 4h meetings once a week and perhaps other very short hauls. My question as a newbie is did I make a mistake in letting them sell me the F150 4.6 V8 or will this be okay for my purposes. I would really appreciate some advice on this. Also, should I add stabilizer bars to help things?

My sincere thanks in advance to anyone and everyone who may generously share their advice.

Regards,

Newbie

Depending on a few specifics that I don't have, I see a tow limit of 6500lbs for your truck.  3500 + 2200 + MISCELLANEOUS, and you can see your getting near that limit. 

If you go here you can find your exact ratings;

http://www.trailerlife.com/images/elements/883783_Towing_Guide.pdf

Thanks for the information and that great website. I feel a little silly for neglecting to do proper research before purchasing the truck. In hindsight, I should have gone for the 5.4 litre. I also need to familiarize myself with the important items of the truck related to towing. Wheel bases, torques, horsepower, axel ratios, etc.. This is all greek to me! Oh well, this is a good (albeit expensive) learning experience. Good thing I only plan to haul short distances and have only two horses (at least for now).

Many thanks again!

J

Thanks for the info and the advice. I got a chuckle from the caution not to drag race. I am an ultra conservative driver to begin with. Dad was an ex RCMP highway patrolman and I was taught to drive defensively, prudently, and I also grew in Northern Manitoba where the weather is horrible and the roads are very trecherous. Bad drivers don't last that long as most roads are not divided and all it takes is one head on collision to take them out of the pool of bad drivers. So yes, I will not be doing any drag racing anytime soon with or without a truck & horse trailer. LOL!

Thanks,

J

Yep, next time I will upgrade to the 5.4. Hindsight is 20/20.

Thanks,

J

Oh I forgot to mention that I have already experienced what it is like to pull the trailer without brakes. When I left the dealership (they hooked up everything) they assured me that the brakes and lights worked fine. However, the first slope in the highway left me feeling like the truck was being pushed from behind. Knowing nothing about how it should feel to pull a trailer I called two knowledgeable friends (didn't occur to me to take anyone with me when I made the purchase). Turns out I had no trailer brakes as the dealership guy had fastened the brake cord to the truck but had failed to secure the notch that prevents the cable from pulling out when you drive away. Long story short, I ended up leaving the trailer at a gas station ( a very helpful and wise attendant helped me unhitch the trailer from the truck). The dealership came and picked up the trailer, replaced the brake cable (nothing was left of the original one) and delivered the trailer to my house. The next issue was the interior trailer ties (none to be found). THe dealerships first response was "interior ties are an add on option". Now I am naive, but not stupid so I found the product monograph for the miley trailer and low and behold, interior ties are in fact a standard feature. THe dealership is sending a welder to install them tomorrow. This dealership is over three hours away and it seems to me that they could have saved themself a lot of time and money if they had had some quality assurance checklists in place to ensure that customers leave with trailers that are equipped with the standard features, and hooked up to the truck correctly. Of course, from a due diligance perspective I suppose that I should have done my own homework prior to the purchases so that I knew the basics. Or, I could have asked someone who did know about trucks and trailers to go with me. Oh well, it has been a learning experience!

J