Need some help in choosing the right size trailer?  I do not have a good understanding of what I’m able to officially tow with my 2009 DRW Diesel 6.7 engine. It’s rated at 16k GVWR and 21K GCVWR. There are so many different answers out there. My guess and take on it is once I’ve topped off on propane, gas, water horses, tack and food…it cannot weight over 16k as per GVWR?

Can I get some big old 16' LQ with Slide out or will I have to scale it back to a 13' non slide LQ? (4 horse). Do these trailers always require a Peterbilt or Frieghtliner type truck?

I currently have a 4 horse Classic (no LQ) with zero issues. I am looking at Bloomers, Harts and Platinum’s for the upgrade.

I have a 3h 17 ft short wall with a slide out and have pulled it with a 02 F350 7.3 DRW that does OK on flat land but causes white knuckle dring in the mountains. Because of this I bought a Peterbilt and this is a different story. We had deciced to continue going to the mountains we had to upsize the truck or downsize the trailer and decided we like all our creature comforts to much so we psized the truck

You NEED to take your loaded trailer-truck across a scale to know where you are.   Not only handling and your and your horses safety are at stake.   There are legal ramifications to having a overload condition..

By you discription it sounds like you are OK. 

The 16k GVWR and 21000 GCWR i pulled from the door information and from a dodge website. I'm just trailer illiterate to what they legally mean. I've read a whole bunch on it and think I know what I’m talking about, but could still use a crayon drawing.

Currently would like to get a non slide 15 SW. The owner says it weighs in at 12,100lbs loaded with water and propane. If I add 4500lbs of horses and tack I’m looking at 16,600lbs. So I’m already at 600 lbs over and then I’ve read about 15% trailer hitch ratio I shouldn’t exceed. So does this put me at only pulling a 13,500 lb trailer loaded?

Doesn’t make much sense to me with a 2009 dodge 3500 4x4 Cummins dually. Any more thoughts out there?

Found an old weight ticket on my truck when i moved to NC.

9920lbs fueled up with some extra items for the truck. 4580lbs without the horses on the trailer. Total the two and I had 14,500. Add three horses of 3000lbs. I then towed a 7580lbs trailer which is under my Dodge GVWR of 16,000lbs. Total weight pulled was 17,500 which is still under my 21,000k authorized GCWR.

Seems like I don’t have a lot of wiggle room for much of a LQ trailer that’s more than 9'? How does everyone else get away with pulling LQ trailers? Are my numbers off, am I being over cautious, or is everyone just biting off more than they can chew with their loads? Thanks’ guys.

Good ole' boys will tell you anything, especially if they have a trailer or truck for sale...that being said I pull a big 4-Star 4 horse, with a slide-out mostly on flatland...but finally after white-knuckles and having to color my hair more often and finding out I couldn't stop in any real emergency situation and actually had to use a "runaway" lane - I upgraded to an International 4400 - actually these trucks, if you do your research and purchase a little older truck - mine is a 2003 but only had 70K miles when I bought it 2 years ago - it was and still is cheaper to purchase and operate than my Chevy 3500DRW truck!  Plus then I could have a gas-sipper car to daily drive instead of the 3500 dually!   This is just one gal's opinion...but it took 2 different "regular" trucks and 2 different trailers and I wanted the bigger trailer with the amenities not something smaller.  Big loss of $$ when you have to sell or trade in and buy up AGAIN!  Do your research.  AND the insurance on the International is cheaper than on my Chevy dually..and the gas mileage pulling the trailer is better....go figure...truck is easy to drive and I actually used it as my daily driver for 4 months before I leased a car...even to church and the grocery store...got a lot of looks from the guys!  One more thing - I lost a lot of money when I re-sold my Chevy - but I think after watching the market prices that the International will stay the same or maybe even be worth more than what I paid for it - and that price was way lower than the new Chevy, Ford and Dodge trucks - it has the aluminum hauler bed and all air-ride everything!  Much more efficient to pull my big trailer! JUST MY OPINION.