Question about 8' wide trailer

[inca]

I am looking at a 2011 Sundowner LQ trailer that is 8’ wide. Because it is wider than standard, the wheel well sticks into the horse area. It is covered in a rubber material so should not be a huge safety issue. But, I am wondering what people’s experiences are with this. Does it bother the horses at all?

Also, do you notice the extra width much when driving? My current trailer is 7’ wide. I assume like anything else, you get used to it pretty quickly.

Here is a link to the trailer - if you scroll down you can see what I am referring to in a picture about half way down. (THe ad says the trailer is 7’ wide but the salesman said it is 8’ wide when I asked about the wheel wells being in the horse area.)

http://www.dhmco.com/sundowner-horse-trailers/living-quarters/2-Horse/6735/

Trailer is exactly what I want otherwise and that extra room in the LQ would be nice.

[poltroon]

You will notice the extra width when driving on the smallest rural roads. Just a little less margin for error in where you need to be in the lane. It can also be a factor in getting into narrow driveways or gate openings, especially off a turn.

It’s not a big problem though. There’s value in the extra width for the horses.

Mine is the max width but the wheel wells are outside the horse compartment. I’ve had friends with the wheel inside the horse compartment … it’s a bit of a nuisance and if it’s a slant, the horse whose stall ends with the wheel well is at a disadvantage. If you haul larger and smaller horses, you can put the larger horses in the stalls not impinged and smaller horses in the stall with the wheel well… ie, it gets you at least one longer stall that might be useful. Otherwise, I would say I would prefer the wheel well external. It wouldn’t be a dealbreaker necessarily for me though, particularly when shopping used.

Those wheel wells only seem to half-impinge and it looks thoughtfully designed. I would buy a trailer like that.

What I would personally like less about that trailer is that I don’t like loading/unloading the end horse from a tight slant like that especially without a ramp. Your horses may be fine with it, and lots of people like them fine.

[GoForAGallop]

You definitely do notice it when squeezing through construction areas, where they are well-aware that the max-width of vehicles is 8’ and don’t allow for too much over that. As well as small rural roads, etc. It doesn’t seem like it would make that much of a difference, but it does, even if it’s mostly mental. :lol:

The wheelwells in the horse area is a little bit of a drag…if you have a LONG horse you’ll want to bump them to an area without wheel wells…but slants are tough on LONG horses anyway. But no, it doesn’t really bother them. They poop on it, which is a hassle when cleaning it out.

[poltroon]

Oh yeah. I forgot about white-knuckling through Vallejo all those times when they were building out Hwy 37! :lol: But I’ve never actually had a problem in that situation.

[inca]

My current trailer is a non-LQ 2 horse slant load that is a step up. So, my horses are used to loading/unloading like that. I will remove the rear tack because I hate them. Horse in the first stall can turn around and walk out. Horse in 2nd stall isn’t as bad without the rear tack - doesn’t seem quite so tight to them unloading. I have never had an issue (knock on wood.) But, I do have one mare that I will NOT put in the back stall. She does about kill you unloading out of it but we have an unorthodox routine that works perfectly for her if she is in the front stall.

Also, probably 80% of the time I haul one horse so they can just go in the front.

Hadn’t thought about construction zones. Those concrete barriers literally give me a panic attack with my 7’ wide trailer. I might have to avoid all construction zones with an 8’ wide trailer! Wonder how much wide it is wheel-to-wheel? Since my 7’ wide has the wheels entirely out of the horse area. Might not really be that much wider as far as the wheel base goes?

My trainer’s gate seems like a tight squeeze with my 7’ wide trailer. But, worse case I can park on the road and load there - it’s not super busy.

[inca]

One more question…

I have a Chevy 2500 HD diesel. Weight wise, this trailer is no problem. But my truck is a full extended cab (4 full doors) so I am 99% sure my truck bed is only 6 1/2 feet. Seems like this could be an issue with the wider trailer and backing up?

[Magics_Mom]

I have a wide trailer - love it with the living quarters gives you more room. My horses don’t have a problem with the inside horse area at all. This is my 2nd one. It isn’t any different then driving the smaller trailers. You will love it!

I also have a GMC with a 6 1/2 ft box, no problem backing up or u-turns. Just keep on eye on turning and adjust for it. Turning has no effect if it is 8 or smaller.

[poltroon]

Yeah, without the rear tack it’s way better for loading and unloading.

As for your bed length - go measure it. They make the crew cab with the 8’ bed.

The issue with a goose and a short bed is that you can’t tuck the trailer around so tight. Less an issue with backing up, but can be an issue again in terms of turning in very tight spaces. Still, depending upon where you haul, it might never come up for you. (How it can be that places with 70+ acres can have the tightest, most difficult driveways, I will never understand …) To be honest I am pretty unhappy if I get into a situation where the trailer is jackknifed like that.

(You might also need to check that the nose of the trailer doesn’t have square corners that would hit the back of the truck.)

[poltroon]

With the LQ, I really think you’ll be happy to have the full width.

[inca]

Looks like an offset coupler is a super easy fix to the problem. Sales person thought I may not need it but I think it would give me peace of mind!

[CHT]

its a cute LQ trailer.

Someone once told me that will the wheel wells on the hind quarter side, horses that like to lean their bum on the wall will strain their hocks as they can’t keep their hind legs under them properly.

[Magics_Mom]

Only problem I see with it is that is it a Sundowner - :no:

[cgray0983]

I am so happy I went with an 8’ wide (ours also has a 32’ short wall so a lot longer than the one you are looking at). I find the horses have enough room and the mangers are built in so I don’t have to worry about hay nets or detachable mangers. I didn’t notice the extra width because our narrower trailer had the wheel wells sticking out.

Bottom line, the LQ changed our lives, it’s pretty much our second home and we can go to a lot more horse shows since we are saving so much not having to book hotels. And the dogs have a place that feels like home.

[moving_to_dc]

The 8’ wide trailers are no wider at the outside edge of the wheel wells/fenders than the 7’ wide trailers. Seriously, go measure one of each. The difference is in the INTERIOR width. An 8’ wide trailer is wider INSIDE, which is why those wheel wells stick into the interior.

So, no difference in “fitting” into narrow roads, construction, gates, etc. If the wheels of your old trailer fit, than the new trailer will fit, too. You WILL notice a difference in your side mirrors, though, when you are looking back… Where you used to be able to “see around” your 7’ trailer, you will now only see trailer.

I have two 102" wide trailers that I haul - 102" means they are 8’6" wide, and if I forget to take off the side ladder, or have the flatbed loaded with hay, they are actually closer to 9’ wide. Those 2 buggers do take a bit more attention, as they are both wider than the lanes of the roads around my house. I hang over the white AND yellow lines. Not fun when I meet a logging truck with the same problem. One of us has to give way.

[cherham]

We have an 8 foot wide LQ slant load trailer and LOVE it. As mentioned above the width of the trailer itself is exactly the same. So if you can fit a 7 foot wide you can do so with an 8 foot wide. Obviously with the LQ it does make a huge difference (the pop outs were way too expensive for our limited use and do add a ton of weight to the overall trailer so we did not go that way). We needed the 8 foot width also to accommodate the extra wide and long slant stalls for our big warmbloods. The 7 foot trailers were just a little short in my opinion. We also opted for the mangers as we could store all our camping equipment, chairs Bar B Q etc without storing all of that either on top of the trailer or in the living quarters themselves. Hot shower, private toilet, air conditioning and heating, fridge, microwave(for popcorn) and a TV and DVD player for watching your show rounds…priceless! Best money we ever spent.

[poltroon]

The width at the wheels is not necessarily the same. Horse trailers do come in different axle widths. The maximum axle width is 102" and some horse trailers are this full width. Others are at 96". (I think I’ve seen some older stock and two horse trailers even a little bit narrower.) At either of these widths it’s possible to have the box for the horses go to the inside or the outside of the wheel well, or straddle the wheel well.

In the case of the trailer we are discussing, I’m pretty sure it’s on a 102" axle, though of course it’s always good to check.

[GoForAGallop]

@moving to dc;7854184

The 8’ wide trailers are no wider at the outside edge of the wheel wells/fenders than the 7’ wide trailers. Seriously, go measure one of each. The difference is in the INTERIOR width. An 8’ wide trailer is wider INSIDE, which is why those wheel wells stick into the interior.

So, no difference in “fitting” into narrow roads, construction, gates, etc. If the wheels of your old trailer fit, than the new trailer will fit, too. You WILL notice a difference in your side mirrors, though, when you are looking back… Where you used to be able to “see around” your 7’ trailer, you will now only see trailer.

Well yes, they’re the same width.

But there’s a huge difference between hanging up your fender on something, and scraping the entire outside of your trailer.

Not that I’ve done either, but it’s just what goes through one’s mind.

The visibility is definitely affected, and like I said, a lot of it is mental as well.

[inca]

Quick update on this…I did buy the trailer and it will be delivered next week! I believe it is actually 7’6" wide but didn’t measure. I went to see the trailer and it was exactly what I wanted. The dealer made 2 upgrades to it AT NO CHARGE (added drop down bars to the head window and reinforced the rubber on the horse area walls.) The only issue I had with the trailer when I saw it was there were a few holes in the coating over the inside wheel wells but the dealer fixed that.

I am still debating about getting the B&W offset coupler for the trailer. I think I will probably end up doing it just for peace of mind since my truck does have a 6’6" bed.

I hope to upgrade to WERM flooring (I upgraded my current trailer a few years ago and LOVE it) but that might have to wait until next year. Although hopefully I can do it this summer.

The extra width did seem to make a difference in the LQ and this will be plenty roomy for just me. Can’t wait until it arrives next week and can’t wait to use it at our first show in February!

[Tom_King]

I wish they were legal, wider than that. I raced a Hobie 21 on the Prosail circuit, which telescopes from 8-1/2’ wide to 10-1/2" wide. I built a trailer that telescoped to widen the boat. I pulled it up and down I95 wide a number of times without going to the trouble to telescope it in, and never got stopped, even when passed by HP several imes. The only tight place was toll booths in Jacksonville, Fla. back and forth to Miami. I telescoped it in to go North beyond Annapolis, and headed across country. It didn’t look wide out of proportion behind the dually, that is 8-1/2 feet wide.

[Plainandtall]

I need a wide trailer because I haul my carriage inside. I had to do some very careful measuring when I was buying it because my carriage hubs are wider than the space between the wheel wells- but they are about three inches higher than the tops of the wheel wells- So it fits in there like a puzzle piece. Very satisfying to winch it in slowly and know it’s all going to clear.