I own a featherlite 2 horse trailer and would like to know if anyone has experience pulling a horse trailer with a Tacoma truck. ? Is it strong enough with the towing package to haul 2 horses comfortably?
Nope. Unhappy truck. VERY stressed out driver. Hauled in an emergency or two with mine and it was NOT fun. Lots of downshifting and very defenensive driving required. I only hauled about 10 miles with both horses when moving out of a boarding barn on short notice and it sucked. I vote no unless it’s an emergency. Not enough truck to stop. My Tacoma only had a 3500lb tow rating too. Now, my new Tundra… LOVE that thing for hauling my 3h GN Eby. Tacoma… not so much.
[QUOTE=PalominoMorgan;4220247]
Nope. Unhappy truck. VERY stressed out driver. Hauled in an emergency or two with mine and it was NOT fun. Lots of downshifting and very defenensive driving required. I only hauled about 10 miles with both horses when moving out of a boarding barn on short notice and it sucked. I vote no unless it’s an emergency. Not enough truck to stop. My Tacoma only had a 3500lb tow rating too. Now, my new Tundra… LOVE that thing for hauling my 3h GN Eby. Tacoma… not so much.[/QUOTE]
Toyota claims the new Tacoma can pull 6500 pounds and is as good as the old Tundras. What year was your Tacoma??
Its not just about pulling - its also about the tow vehicle being a heavy-enough vehicle to stop the trailer &/or handle the trailer under duress.
IMO - no, this is not enough vehicle. I’ve hauled with just about everything out there - and for my own comfort, will never haul my horses with less than a 3/4 ton truck.
I know, I know - lots of people haul with SUVs & 1/2 tons - been there & still do that for others - just never felt safe when I had incidents with these vehicles (incidents in which I’m grateful that when I was a kid, I had a grandfather that made me haul all over the place unloaded before they let me drive a “live” trailer!). 20+ years of hauling now - FWIW.
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[QUOTE=oldenmare;4220350]
Its not just about pulling - its also about the tow vehicle being a heavy-enough vehicle to stop the trailer &/or handle the trailer under duress.
IMO - no, this is not enough vehicle. I’ve hauled with just about everything out there - and for my own comfort, will never haul my horses with less than a 3/4 ton truck.
I know, I know - lots of people haul with SUVs & 1/2 tons - been there & still do that for others - just never felt safe when I had incidents with these vehicles (incidents in which I’m grateful that when I was a kid, I had a grandfather that made me haul all over the place unloaded before they let me drive a “live” trailer!). 20+ years of hauling now - FWIW.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the advice. I will do some more research on trucks.
Ours is 2004, the last of the little ones, and it is TOO SMALL. The 2005’s were bigger, the same size as the old T100 trucks, but still TOO SMALL IMHO.
Mine was a 1994 and it was tiny. My 2008 Tundra replaced my 1999 GMC 2500CK Crew Cab. A much better truck in my case for what I needed. I’m thrilled with the turning radius on it and no long have nightmares about brake failure. (Always had those with the GMC. It was just a big slob of a truck that took a country mile to stop and to turn.)
We have an '04 Tacoma 4x4 V6. Would it haul a horse trailer? Sure, if it’s empty. I would never, ever consider hauling a horse with it unless it was a dire emergency, and even then it would be only one horse and we’d be taking the least hilly route possible. :no:
They just aren’t big enough or stable enough, IMHO.
They do work well for hauling loads of mulch and moving furniture. I will miss that about ours when we trade it in at the end of the month. :yes:
I have an '08 Tacoma with towing package. I have no problem pulling an older 2 horse Kingston with no dressing room with my one (large) horse- he’s an 18 hand warmblood. It’s certainly not ideal, but it works for trips every now and then. I used to pull with a 2500 and I feel safe pulling just the one horse with the Tacoma. Hope this helps!
You probably could, but I wouldn’t.
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I have seen it done, but would probably not attempt it myself, unless I owned a Brenderup or Bockmann type trailer! :lol:
I sold a 2H Trailet to a person that pulled it off with a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Yikes.
Depends on what kind of driving you want to do.
A friend of mine got a V8 Tacoma, and I used it once to haul my 2 horse BP (no dressing room) and 2 Paso Finos (800 lbs and 1000 lbs).
I’m definitely the kind of person who prefers to be over-trucked, but surprisingly I never felt like the tail was wagging the dog or anything like that. Granted it was only a short trip on back roads–I don’t think I’d take it on the interstate or anything though.
If you were going to do long trips I’d add a transmission temp gauge to keep an eye on the tranny and make sure it’s not getting overheated.
For extra assurance, get an Equal-i-zer hitch.
http://www.equalizerhitch.com/
Another thing to keep in mind is that most SUVs and light trucks come with P-metric tires. I prefer LT tires so that I don’t have to mess around with changing the pressure.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tirespecskey.jsp
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[QUOTE=Leather;4221422]
Depends on what kind of driving you want to do.
A friend of mine got a V8 Tacoma, and I used it once to haul my 2 horse BP (no dressing room) and 2 Paso Finos (800 lbs and 1000 lbs).
I’m definitely the kind of person who prefers to be over-trucked, but surprisingly I never felt like the tail was wagging the dog or anything like that. Granted it was only a short trip on back roads–I don’t think I’d take it on the interstate or anything though.
If you were going to do long trips I’d add a transmission temp gauge to keep an eye on the tranny and make sure it’s not getting overheated.
For extra assurance, get an Equal-i-zer hitch.
http://www.equalizerhitch.com/
Another thing to keep in mind is that most SUVs and light trucks come with P-metric tires. I prefer LT tires so that I don’t have to mess around with changing the pressure.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tirespecskey.jsp[/QUOTE]
This info has been very helpful, thank you very much . I really don’t plan on going on long trips, but want to have the option of taking the horses to a local show, to the state park, or in an emergency get to a vet clinic. I have used stabilizing bars before with a Yukon, which pulled the 2 horse featherlite like a charm, but I don’t have that vehicle anymore…
I am reluctant to buy anything bigger, because I don’t want to deal with 12 miles to the gallon.
[QUOTE=dralthea;4221455]
This info has been very helpful, thank you very much . I really don’t plan on going on long trips, but want to have the option of taking the horses to a local show, to the state park, or in an emergency get to a vet clinic. I have used stabilizing bars before with a Yukon, which pulled the 2 horse featherlite like a charm, but I don’t have that vehicle anymore…
I am reluctant to buy anything bigger, because I don’t want to deal with 12 miles to the gallon.[/QUOTE]
The most dangerous part of any hauling is dealing with stop lights, stop signs, freeway offramps, and driveways. Curvy mountain roads, of course, are also an issue, but most people realize that that will be hard on a vehicle.
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Oh, I forgot the most important thing–get yourself a GOOD brake controller.
The Tekonsha Prodigy is awesome. It’s not the cheapest one out there, but the extra $$$ is well worth it if you get into a sticky situation.
It’s self-leveling so one less set-up step. And it’s got a “boost” option that works well for towing empty vs. loaded with minimal adjustment.
http://www.tekonsha.com/product/details.asp?ProdID=90185&cat=1435
My friend has a Tacoma and easily pulls a 2 horse slant with dressing room. She usually ships a pony and a big TB with no problem.
I think that is for the I-4, not the V-6? We have an 07 V-6, and the manual says it can pull 6500, although I’ve never been tempted to try that out…
No, that was for a V-6 model.
It’s not just about the max weight the truck can pull. It’s also about tongue weight and payload. My half ton said it could pull 10,300. When you factor in it should only safely have so much tongue weight and so much payload, it reduced the weight of the trailer significantly. Down to approximately 6500. lbs.
