Posted 2012-09-29 8:55 PM (#147320) Subject: Do we need a bigger truck
Member
Posts: 24
Location: Pennsylvania
We just traded our aluminum trailer today for a bigger 2h straight load with a huge dressing room. The trailer is lighter than what our trucks advertised towing capacity is, but after hauling it home, Im wondering if we have too much trailer for our truck.
Truck is an 89 Chevy Suburban 1/2 ton, silverado if that matters
Trailer is an 03 titan two horse straight load with a dressing room, 18' from hitch to bumper, and unladen weight is 3,600, GVW is 8,000.
We dont plan to ever be hauling the GVW, I haul a quarter pony and a miniature horse, but I do want to be able to handle it if I ever had to.
Hauling today we struggled a little on hills, but most noticeably was that when passed by other vehicles, the trailer swayed, and would pull towards traffic. Is this something that can be fixed with a weight distributing hitch and sway bars? Our old trailer was an aluminum miniature horse trailer, we NEVER had to worry about weight with that trailer lol.
I know ideally we would have a 3/4 ton, and thats the plan for our next vehicle, but am wondering if we can safely haul like this in the meantime, and if so, is there anything we can do to make it easier to haul and less sway. Of course, we do already have an electric break controller. We had planned to get a 3/4 ton truck around tax return time, as I should have a settlement around then, as well as our tax return, and trading my daily driver car in.
Posted 2012-09-30 3:40 AM (#147322 - in reply to #147320) Subject: RE: Do we need a bigger truck
Veteran
Posts: 233 Location: Pataskala, Ohio
Your ‘burb can pull that trailer without issue.I don’t have the numbers in front of me but I think it is rated around 6500-7000.
My most difficult experience towing was with a tandem axle U-Haul trailer, loaded and empty my truck struggled to pull that thing.It pulled harder than my 4 horse Lakota with a 10 foot LQ fully loaded.Pulling on the freeway at 60MPH I was getting 8MPG with that thing and with my horse trailer I can get 12MPG at that speed on the same road.
Take your new trailer in to have a good checkup.Check the alignment and the trailer brakes, bearings and tires and so on.
Do we need a bigger truck
