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Your weight will be limited with the 2500, if you go with at least 3500 you will be able to haul 16,000 lbs. safety and not over work the truck and trailer. Or stay with the 2500 and stay below 26,000. Either way it is better to have 4 wheels back there.

 

You need to know the empty weight of the truck plus the weight of the trailer and all the equipment. Find the GVWR on the sticker on the truck and you need the number not a guess of what the number is on the sticker. Next you need the GVWR of the trailer that is on the sticker.

Add the GVWR of the truck plus the GVWR of the trailer together. Subtract the combined empty weight from the combined GVWR and that will give you your weight capacity.

A trailer rated that heavy your capacity of the trailer is far above what work the truck can safely move and thus you will need to set your own limits.

With that set up I would keep your gross under the 26,000 for safety and to minimize the wear on your truck.

An afterthought: check the weight rating of the tires on the truck and keep your weight on the trailer axles instead of loading up the front of your trailer and putting to much weight on the truck.

If you plan on keeping the truck buy a lighter trailer. The heavy trailer will limit the weight you can safely carry.