I'm looking at buying a horse trailer, well actually, I have bought a horse trailer, and its a 6 horse one. I'm going to need a new truck to pull it as my little 1500 Silverado isn't really up to the task.

Fully loaded it will weigh pretty good, horses alone would be 5500 ish not counting the trailer weight, feed, tack, etc.

On top of this, my general plan is to do hauling of personal riding horses as a new 'job'. I've gotten to a point that I am sitting on a small nest egg I can live off of without much issue, just need a little more income a month to make ends meet. Weirdly enough I've already gotten tons of people wanting me to haul their horses or cars when they see I have trailers for this (I race my little camaro on the side) and so I'm thinking it could be something I could do to make some $.

I've browsed FMCSA's site for their rules and basically I'm needing a DOT # (and slightly considering just shelling out the 300 for the MC number too to be safe, as I was already planning to insure more then they are asking anyway).

My questions is what pickup's can pull a 6-10 horse trailer easily where I am LEGAL (not pulling more then rated for) and safe? Or am I about to go buy me an old peterbilt >.>

Also any idea what the general cost on fuel is for a pickup pulling, I know they are like 15-20 mpg unloaded but when fully loaded does that drop to big truck bad? Do I need to worry about IFTA in a pickup vs a big truck? Cause if so I might just go buy an old pete after all. If I can expect the same mileage and I'm already paperworked for a full CMV I might as well go and get one if I'm not going to save anything by staying small right? Or is that not realistic?

PS: Sorry I've been away I've been going through some marriage crap and its always hard to come be talkative when feeling like crap.

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I am a Camaro Girl because IROC!

You have unlimited chances to go too slow, but only one to go too fast.

Dodge 2500 with cummins is pretty good, but i personally like the Chevy 2500 with duramax diesel and allison transmission, at work we have several Chevy 2500's with the duramax and they pull like crazy and have a good top end speed to boot-

Good luck with your side venture

Peterbilt79

while the 2500 is nice, if you're towing, go for the 3500 w/ duals & a crew cab, duramax 6.6L diesel, (365hp/660lb torque), 6-speed allison tranny, and will tow 16,500 w/ a 5th wheel hitch.

Can't you see yourself driving one of these? Doesn't have to be an 08 either ... they're all pretty decent.

good luck!

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And it's official: I Start school in Lewiston, ID - 15 Oct 08

i love my duramax! you cant go wrong with the chevy or the dodge diesel trucks. i would buy an 06(or earlier) pre emission truck. stay away from any fords with the 6.0 diesel!

A-MEN! they're turds compared to chevy/dodge/gmc. dodges i think are pretty good, those guys have one hell of a diesel ... i just don't know much about them.

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And it's official: I Start school in Lewiston, ID - 15 Oct 08

the ford 6.0 has many problem's. the worst is the head gasket/head bolt issue. the 7.3's are ok. but im not a ford guy. but their transmission's keep me in business!

It sounds like you may want to look at stepping up a class (or two). All of the Big 3 now have offerings in Class 4 & 5. Ford and Dodge use the same cab as their Class 2 & 3 pickups (3/4 & 1 ton). In fact, Ford uses the same cab for their Class 6 & 7 truck. Chevy/GM uses a slightly larger (and much uglier) option for those classes.

Probably a Ford F-450 or Dodge 4500 would fit the bill nicely. Get it outfitted with a flat deck and you're good to go. You should be able to get low double-digits for mileage.

I worked for a guy that has a ford f350 with the 7.3 powerstroke, pulled a 30 foot gooseneck with some pretty heavy loads on it, never slowed it down nor did it pull hard,he still has it still going strong.

dodge 4500, 4 door with a western hualer bed......or a F550, same setup

im not a big fan of the cheby or gmc's

come to think of it im not a big fan of the 6.0 or 6.4....if a ford go with the 7.3 or even a cummins conversion

IFTA is at 26,001 lbs.

Basically when you are pulling with a pickup, you are subject to the same rules as the big trucks. You will have to consider permits and so forth at some states.

You have a sleeper problem in the little trucks, because the area does not comply.

Pulling will drop the truck down anywhere from 8-12 mpg. It is affected alot more by the wind.

The new motors in the trucks.
Ford 6.4 has had alot of problems.
Dodge 6.7 has had alot of problems.
Chevy 6.5 has had alot of problems.
Basically, the problems have all been tied to mileage, emissions and the problems encountered with the higher temperatures.

I have been doing hot shot and when I replaced my last truck, I got the Dodge 2007 with the 5.9. I got it in June last year. Now has 195,000.