Pickup Trucks? Any suggestions for my situation?

[kentwiles4563]

Hello,

My wife, young daughter and I will be moving to the country in 30 days. Yep! Leaving the city of Portland (Oregon) and extremely liberal and crazy Multnomah County. We bought 5 acres and would like to have a couple horses.

Can anyone suggest a good pickup truck that can do the hauling with a horse trailer and two horses?

What towing capacity should my truck have: 5000 lbs, 7000 lbs, Other?

I know I want a 4 x 4 and I am thinking about either the Toyota Tacoma or Tundra. Can the Tacoma do the job without stressing the transmission?

Thank you for your insight! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[lynxpilot]

TACOMA SPECS

Pretty skimpy for towing.
TUNDRA SPECS

Not much better. If you want to do any serious/safe towing, you might want to be looking at 3/4 or 1-ton pickups. I'd also recommend diesel.

[jwstewar]

I think the Tacoma is a definitely a no-go, Tundra a probably not. But I would think any of the 1/2 tons from GM, Ford, or Dodge would be fine as well as the Nissan Titan.

With 2 horses, I'm guessing (no experience with horses) around 2k lbs. each + trailer, so you are looking at around 5500 lbs. or so. I know Ford and Nissan is around 8900 - 9200 lbs. towing and I read somewhere that Chevy is upping their towing capacity to 10,400 for 2006, but that might be 2007 when the new truck comes out - btw, these are all 1/2 tons I'm talking about.

I've done a fair amount of towing with my '99 Silverado 4x4 w/ extended cab and have been pretty happy with the performance and the gas MPG being right at 20 MPG. I would think that type of setup would be fine for what you are looking at and right now with the GM employee pricing you can't beat the GM pricing.

[kokopelli]

personally I would go with atleast a 3/4 ton (pref. diesel) reg. with a goose neck double axel trailer. You will be able to haul all supplies in the trailer this way. sure the tundra might be able to pull 7000 pounds, but you are not just pulling that weight you are pulling 2 live animals, possibly part of your family so to speak. Tundras don't weigh that much and if two horses get to movin in the trailer cause they are spooked, have fun.

just my 2 cents.

[Inspector507]

Why dismiss the extended cab? You can get one with an 8' bed. Makes for a bugger to park and turn around, but they're out there.

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue">( right now with the GM employee pricing you can't beat the GM pricing. ) </font color>

Does GM also give the CASH BACK with this pricing? If not, I'm not sure how good of a deal it really is. Usually you can buy a truck for invoice (or $100 over), and with say $2500 cash back from Ford you may do just as good or better than the Employee Price of GM.

<font color="blue"> ( Why dismiss the extended cab? You can get one with an 8' bed. Makes for a bugger to park and turn around, but they're out there. ) </font color>

I have a Chevy K3500 Crew Cab with a long bed. I almost always have to back into a parking place -- but it's all second nature now.

[jwstewar]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Does GM also give the CASH BACK with this pricing?

[/ QUOTE ]

Some of them still have some rebates going, but what we've been looking at, Ford, etc. can't/won't even come close to the current GM offers. Why do you think Ford just had to extend the offer to their employees to give them cash to encourage people to use their employee pricing. The prices for the others aren't even close. The prices that GM is offering right now (on at least the vehicles we've been looking at) is below invoice pricing.

[Gatorboy]

<font color="blue"> [ The prices that GM is offering right now (on at least the vehicles we've been looking at) is below invoice pricing. ] </font color>

But is it lower than the invoice price PLUS the cashback that Ford gives? Just curious -- I have not really looked into it.

BTW, who asked about a Spray Rig? [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[jwstewar]

Ooops, [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] sorry that was left over on the clip board from another post. That is fixed now. Guess that is what I get for replying too early in the morning before I've had my Pepsi. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

But, yes the price is still lower than what Ford is offering with invoice + cash back.

[bczoom]

Let me throw out my 2 cents.

First, like others have pointed out, the Toyota's might be a little light.

How often are you going to be hauling the trailer? If not very often, I would size the truck for other things as well.

Where I'm going with this... I would consider/propose the 1/2 ton GMC with an extended or crew cab. (I got an 05 crew cab). It'll have no problem with 7000# which is more than a trailer + 2 horses would probably weigh.
The extra cab space will be handy for storing things as well as a place for your daughter.
Fuel prices/fuel mileage would be much better than a 3/4 or 1 ton diesel.
As for box length, the standard box for the crew cab is short but adequate for most of my needs. It is a lot easier to maneuver/park than one with an 8' box.
Not sure where you're going to park but many standard size garages aren't big enough for a larger truck.

As for pricing, I got mine last winter when GMC was having a "red tag" sale. The price I got was at least the same as what they're offering now with their "employee discount". I got it for $3500 or so under invoice. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]