Tailgate was bent on mine when I traded it in, I had covered it with a tailgate protector just barely noticable.

After looking at GM and Ford, I went to the Dodge dealer.  This married father of 2.5 and owner of 4 horses with a pregnant wife in college fulltime elected to save $5000 and buy the Dodge with a 6 speed manual transmission.

I got a Ram 3500 dually, diesel, nav, jake brake, and many other options for $35k brand spanking new.  The nav and jake brake were about $3600 worth of options, alone.  Could have walked out of there for about $32k without those options.  ZERO problems with the truck, rattle-free, accelerates my 10,000 pound horse trailer uphill in overdrive, and spins the wheels in 2nd gear with 6000 pounds of empty horse trailer on the gooseneck hitch.

With 9,000 miles on the clock I've been getting about 20-22mpg unloaded at 70mph, 12-14 with the trailer and 2 horses in tow.

(Sorry, tired of the Dodge bashing on this site tonite!!)

Originally written by tncwgrl on 2007-02-20 11:09 AM

Hello all. Just reading about the tallness of the rear-end of the Dodge.  I just traded my 02 Ford 250 automatic single rear axle, 4X4 for an 03 Dodge 6 speed manual 4X4 dually.  I haven't gotten to pull yet as I have to get a new ball for the bed.  So here I am reading about this problem and I am concerned.  I have several places to and from my place that could be a potential problem to go over - would hate to mess up my pretty new (to me) truck through my own ignorance!

I almost changed my '06 order to 4x4, but then canceled all thoughts of that.  Glad I did!  On uneven surfaces my '06 Dodge 3500 4x2 bed rails will come close to touching the trailer.  I know a 4x4 would touch.  You'll have to be careful, go slow, and PAY ATTENTION, which is something ANYONE TOWING A TRAILER SHOULD ALWAYS BE DOING ANYWAY.

No doubt my 4x2 Dodge is too high.  Ford probably is, too, as I know for a fact my Ram sits lower than my '91 Ford did and lower than the new Fords do.

GM sells trucks that sit low...  Never liked that... but it is where trucks really need to be if you're ever pulling gooseneck on unlevel ground.

Actually is you are towing regular...then you need to lose the box and get something like this...

http://www.hillsboroindustries.com/Support/AluminumTruckBedsManual.pdf

then you don't worry about catching the sides...

Actually, I do tow regular. They need to build a truck that is functional, Not me.

That is what the Dodge C&C is for......you then add the flatbed...combined cost installed is less that the Dodge 3500 Pickup...

Only have had to do it once thus far...and it was cheaper...

THE TRUCK IS NOT TOO HIGH IF IT IS FACTORY LEVEL. THE TRAILER IS TOO LOW. PUT DIFFERENT SHACKLES ON YOUR TRAILER SHOULD BE LESS THAN 100 DOLLARS AND THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE A LOWRIDER TO PULL YOUR TRAILER.

The trailers are right where they need to be for the horses to safely load. The older trucks were made at the right height for this, todays trucks are too high. Look at a 2001 and a 2002 dodge 2500 pickups and you will see a big difference in height. A "lowrider" truck is completely different and would be WAY to low, the trailer would ride nose down.

And unless they say 4x4 in the post, most people are talking about the height of the bed sides, not the height of the actual truck.  The difference between the two trucks above was almost 5 inches.  That leaves no room to keep the trailer level and not crunch the tailgate/bed sides.

I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT I AM NOT TRYING TO BE A JERK. THAT BEING SAID IF YOU CAN NOT PULL YOUR TRAILER WITH A NEW FACTORY 4X4 TRUCK YOU NEED TO FIX YOUR TRAILER OR BUY A NEW ONE. YOU SEE PEOPLE EVERY TIME YOU TURN ARROUN WITH NEW TRUCKS 2X4 AND 4X4 OF ALL BRANDS PULLING ALL TYPES OF TRAILERS. ON THE "SAFE LOADING THING" I AM ONLY GUESSING THAT THE TRAILER SITS TOO LOW IF ALL THE BRAND NEW TRUCKS ARE TOO HIGH WHICH THEIR NOT FOR ALL THE TRAILERS I HAVE BEEN ARROUND. AND IF THE HORSE CAN'T SAFELY LOAD IN A TRAILER THATS 3 INCHES HIGHER I WOULD BE SCARED TO DEATH TO GET ON HIS BACK.

I don't think you are a jerk, I do think you are yelling at me. Let me explain this tall truck stuff so everyone can get it.

1. I had a 14' shortwall LQ trailer 29' on the floor. Very Heavy, when I lowered it onto the truck(2004 Dodge 4 door dually 4x4) the truck squated down and rode level, I had to adjust the neck in the trailer but it rode fairly level also. I was not concerned with overloading the rear axle with that setup.

2. I sold the above trailer and bought a 6' shortwall 21' on the floor trailer, same brand. I also bought a 32' Fifth wheel camper. New horse trailer is not very heavy, truck don't squat, trailer runs downhill, truck runs downhill the other way. I was now worried about overloading the rear axle on trailer. Now enter the Fifth wheel, axles on it more toward the center, hardly any weight on the truck(bad), adjusted neck completely up, trailer still running downhill, truck running down hill the other way. SOLD TRUCK.

3. Bought Duramax GMC 4x4 Single rear wheel, tailgate height 5" lower, everything tows level again. I'm happy. Say what ever you want to say the above is not an endorsment or a knock on anybody's stuff, just a real world deal. I still think the Dodge had more power, to bad it was not built to tow fifth wheel/gooseneck type trailers that don't have alot of pin wieght.

My horse ability to walk has nothing to do with his ability to step into or out of a trailer that is knee high to him.  He could probally do it, but I am not going to make him. 

 And you are completely missing the point.  I am not talking abut the height of the truck.  If you take a measuring tape to the INSIDE of the truck bed on a older truck and a newer truck you will see that the sides OF THE BED are higher and causing a cleareance problem.  I am not going to modify my truck or trailer.   My trailer is paid off so I bought a truck that would fit it. 

"YOU SEE PEOPLE EVERY TIME YOU TURN ARROUN WITH NEW TRUCKS 2X4 AND 4X4 OF ALL BRANDS PULLING ALL TYPES OF TRAILERS."

Maybe you do, but they either have dented tailgates or to much weight on its rear axel. 

no i did not realize i was yelling. in tn when people start out saying i am sorry and end with glad everything worked out that is being nice not yelling. if no caps has some hidden meaning i give up.

I talking about a 1998 20 ft, 4 horse slant with stock sides and a dressing room.  Very basic trailer, nothing fancy.  Truck manufactures are not thinking about what people do with their trucks before making "improvements" on them. 

We bought a 5th wheel camper last year that was to heavy for my truck so my husband wanted to buy me a new one.  Because  of the clearance issues I got a 02 model instead because of the bed height.   I just couldn't see spending all that money for a truck I would have to modify (more money) to make it work.