Adams has a 2+2 I’m in love with, with a 4’ tack and just two 10.5’ horse sections, giving a very workable 25’ length (or so).
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I looked at Adam and Cimarron (my 2+1 was an Adam) and one of the main reasons I went with Cimarron was I wanted some extra width and Adam only offered 7’ wide or 8’ wide, but Cimarron let me do 7’6". I didn’t want 8’ because I didn’t want the wheel wells all the way inside.
The other thing I did that made a huge difference in how much inside space I needed was to enclose the front nose with a roll down door. The amount of space that provides is massive - feels like it’s equivalent to about an extra 2’ of space in the tack room. All of my tire/safety stuff, chairs, blow up mattress, sleeping bag, DEF fluid boxes, tool box, etc etc fit up there.
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And here I loathe going to the truck side of truck stops. I absolutely hate how much time it takes to run in to pay; never can tell when you pick a truck stop from the interstate whether or not you’ll be able to pay at the pump. This is the only reason I will restrict myself on length.
OP whether or not you’ll notice the difference in length depends on your experience and comfort level with long trailers. Considering you have experience with a 28 foot trailer, you’ll probably be fine. Even if it takes a few drives for it to come back. I can whip my 4 horse slant just about anywhere I want, including the occasional fast food drive through. Most standard gas stations work just fine (read: not your typical inter city pump). But I can easily switch to my trainer’s 5 horse with LQ or 6 horse head to head easily when needed; it’s usually the first turn out of the driveway where I am reminded of the length behind me. We just have to use the big truck side of truck stops, and well, see above about my thoughts on those…
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I’ve been chewed out too, when I pull in and don’t know the majikal trucker code that there’s a line for the pumps, but they’re parked half a mile away. How the heck was I supposed to know that?
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… there’s a code? I assumed everyone, truckers included, had to go in to pay.
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Not always, because they have a DOT number they enter at the pump that does the tax deduction. Us plebs hauling our luxury pets around don’t have that so we have to go in to get the pumps going.
But the “line” was for the pump itself. I pulled up behind a semi, waited for him to finish up, then pulled up to the pump and promptly got my ass chewed out because apparently there was a line for the pumps… about a half mile to the east of the pumps. I guess they back into “special” parking spaces to indicate they’re waiting for a pump. Whatever, I don’t know trucker code.
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2 buc-ees in GA, both on 75. Also there plenty of Loves in ga/fl.
To the person going back to a BP and a tent, I have a BP that I use for not so primitives camping at shows. It’s configured like a 2+1 without a tack room. The entire +1 is my tack room and LQ. The trailer is insulated and has a 30 amp hookup plus outlets/lights and I had a shelf built in the nose which stores a ton of stuff. It’s also 8’ wide (to fit my carriage) so there’s plenty of room. Obviously a custom, but that floor plan is out there.
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Interesting, I prefer Pilot truck stops but use what’s available when needed, and have never encountered this. Do you recall the truck stop where this happened to you? I’ll make a mental note to avoid those…
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I don’t recall with 100% certainty, but if I had to make a guess it was a one-off Speedway that had a truck side.
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Same- no matter how big the trailer, I’ll get it in the regular car side rather than deal with the trucker side lol
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You mean the nose? Or something else?
Like this. I had a local welder add that shelf on the right hand side - it’s so useful I’m going to have him add one on the left too.
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.
I am perfectly capable of backing a 3/4 ton and a two horse into a driveway with 5" on either side, but a gator with a little dump trailer hitched to it?
Good night.
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Hahahhaha same same, the little ones are evil 
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Try it on a hill. KMN. I officially gave up. I walk the newer spreader the approx 10 feet away from it’s “spot” to the place all the full muck buckets are sitting, then back the ATV up to it. Saves me 10 min at least… 
Meanwhile I have to make a blind 90 degree turn up a short hill then down a long hill and tuck my trailer in between 2 flatbeds with inches to spare on either side and a no till drill inches behind the back ramp… and this causes me considerably less grief than backing 3’ on level ground with the newer spreader/atvorutv combo ever did.
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Oh yes, after re-reading I realized what you meant. Luckily I have not been in that scenario. Just pull up and wait in line. As in, an actual line.
Which is why I will keep myself limited to around 26-28 feet or so on the trailer. I am currently looking at a 2+2 that will be 2 feet longer than my current set up. That’ll allow me the option still of getting in and out of the auto pumps at larger gas stations, and not having to go around to the truck side. Wasting time on long cross country hauls just grates at my every last nerve.
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I have an Adam 2+1 and a short bed Ram 2500 diesel. I’ve driven my trainer’s dually with her 4H center load (she can stick a pony in that space) and holy cow those extra feet make a huge difference! In mine I always tell myself to go forward too far before I turn and it will be perfect, but with her rig I am paralyzed and spend long minutes figuring out how to turn without landing the trailer in the ditch.
Of course, she can whip these things around and get them into any space ever, regardless of the circumstances. I call her the Wizard. She wants to get one of those extra wide 4H with the bumped out sides and I’m like: NEVER WILL I DRIVE THAT.
Where I park mine I have to back it up past a dumpster with a large office shed thing across from it, past my friend’s 2+1 with an iron pipe sticking up several feet from the ground across from THAT, and then swoop around a BP or two and possibly a car, and slot it next to another 2H GN that is parked at an inconvenient angle. It’s horrible and I want to kill myself every time. Or, I want to kill the random non-horsey, has never driven a rig of any kind before dad who always seems to be there (and it’s always a different one), when I’m trying to park. Staring at me and then offering to help and then staring at me after I politely decline while I try not to hit anything, including the indoor, which is inches away from the front of my truck by the time I get the trailer angled correctly to back in and not hit the pasture fence behind me. [I just triggered myself]
When I first got my new diesel I had to learn about DEF because my old one didn’t have any of that fanciness. I pulled up to a trucker DEF pump and was like: Oh, how convenient! I can just put it in here and not have to buy a jug! <-- naive! I ended up splashing DEF all over myself and my truck because those pumps are designed for semis with big DEF reservoirs, not my little 2500. DEF stings a lot, by the way, in case anyone was wondering. 
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Oof! That’s an ordeal. Glad you said that about the DEF, though. That’s exactly the kind of thing I would have tried. My new (to me) truck uses DEF, and I haven’t had to fill it yet. Will definitely buy a jug instead of attempting to pump it!
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Same thanks for the intel! I just had to put a jug in mine and apparently it was way low because the jug is supposed to fill it and it only went to 3/4. Now I know! I thought a warning light would come on…
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Hah- I do have a warning light but had no idea what it was the first time the light came on. I was all: WTF is this DEF nonsense? Luckily, I had a friend with me and she looked it up so I knew not to ignore it, which is my usual M.O., sadly.
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