I’m not sure if I’ll end up regretting this, but we’ve decided to take the plunge and get a used 3 horse living quarters trailer. DD and I are both doing more events and clinics, and the hotel bills are adding up. I’m looking at two possible trailers this weekend, one an Exiss that’s 8900 empty, and a Silverlite that’s around 7800. With the new trailer comes the need to get a new truck, and I’m a bit lost since it’s been 15 years since I’ve been truck shopping. I’ve had two Fords and have had really good luck, my mom still has my 1992 F250 as her farm truck and it’s bulletproof, and I have a 2002 Expedition that’s been perfect for pulling my lighter weight aluminum bumper pull. I assume I’ll need to upgrade to a diesel, although it looks like the Ford V10 with the 4.3 axel might work. Most of our hauling is on flat ground, except for an annual trip up North from CA to Washington. We have two pony crosses and a larger 16.2 mare, but often we just have two horses in the trailer. I’ve always liked Fords, but I’ve been reading that the Ford diesels have been problematic since they switched from the old 7.3 power stroke diesel. We would primarily be be using the truck for hauling since I have a hybrid as my daily car, so I want to get something in the 5-15 year old range, since I don’t think we’ll use it more than 5,000 miles a year. We need 4wd since the parking is often squishy at spring events, and either a crew or supercab. What I can’t figure out is the whole Dodge/Ford/Chevy dispute, and whether we could get by with a V10 gas engine with the 4.3 axel. I don’t love duellies, but I could live with them if the consensus is that they are really safer or better. I know diesel engines are supposed to last longer so I don’t mind some mileage, but how many miles are too many? Please share your collective wisdom!
Get a yellow pad (or use Excel) and cost out your trips (miles, time, meals, etc.) and see if an LQ is really more economical. It will be more comfortable in that it’s your “home away from home” and there’s no place like home…right??? 
IIRC most duallys are going to be one tons. I’ve heard of 3/4 ton duallys but have never seen one (in person or advertised).
Gas has advantages in lower cost to purchase, lower interest costs if you’re financing, and ease of finding fuel.
Gas, at this size, has a big downside in the low mileage. I’ve heard 7 mpg. We had a big Chevy gasser one ton and we got 7 towing on flat ground, heading downwind. Unless you add an aux tank you’ll be refueling every 2-3 hours. If your runs are short that might not be a such a problem.
Gas engines don’t have the life expectancy of diesels but a light truck diesel is unlikely to go a lot more than 300,000 miles. A rebuild on gas engine (at least an 8 cyl.) will be maybe half what a rebuild on a diesel will be. Diesels also not infrequently “eat” injectors and that’s a big expense (like of couple of grand anyway).
Since the 7.3L Ford has had a lot of “turbulence” in its diesel engines. The 6.0s were catastrophe. The follow on (a 7.4L ?) was better but was was a maintenance pig according to the people I know who owned them. The follow on to that has done somewhat better but the price is truly impressive.
Brand loyalty, even in the face of serious issues, is a strong thing and people still buy Fords. Go figure. 
You are in CA? I’ve been told that CA needs money and is trying to balance the state budget on the backs of small truck owners!!! Seriously, check the difference in registration between a gas and diesel engine. I’ve been told there is a significant diesel penalty. I don’t know this for a fact!!! Check and see if it’s true so you don’t get “surprised.”
KNOW the GCVWR of the truck so you know how much trailer you can buy. It’s found in the owner’s manual. It’s a legal number so pay attention to it.
There are a bunch of “moving parts” to this decision. Take your time and buy wisely!!!
G.
P.S. Treads about trucks are not uncommon around here. Check and see what there might be in the archives.
yeah it is a BIG issue there, I know if several business that just closed up and moved to get away from this
here is an official CA web site that has most of the answers but they forewarn anyone buying a diesel truck to make sure it meets their standards
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/truckstop/azregs/buyerbeware.htm
OP at 5K or less miles per year a gasoline would be fine and would survive the setting around all the time, diesels thrive on constant use but if they tend to problematic if left to set
I drove a 2001 good ole 7.3 for four years. It was the rockstar that strangers would approach me about at gas stations, “Is that a 7.3?” And yet it was a serious drain on my bank account. I had acquired it when it was about 10 years old, and don’t know its history before me. But it had a variety of problems that left me stranded and keeping running back to the repair shop … .to the tune of $6K in one year. And at the end of that year and those costs, the transmission went out. I decided that was enough, I’d had it.
So in 2015, I upgraded to a 2013 model - F350 diesel dually. You’d think newer should be better, right? Well I bought an extended warranty on it for about $2500. It’s been in the shop so much, and that warranty has been hit for almost $8K in repairs.
I’m finally starting to seriously think Dodge. I’m keeping this truck now ONLY because I just put a bunch of decals on it. One more trip to the repair shop for non-standard stuff in the next 12 months, and it’s going bye bye. Being Found On Road Dead is no Fording fun. (Thank goodness I didn’t have my beasts in the trailer at the time, I was only taking an empty trailer to go buy hay.)
Also, in CA if your trailer is over 10k GVWR you must have a Class A license. Make sure you know the licensing laws well. We cannot tow a 3 horse LQ here without a class A currently. And the combined GVWR of truck and trailer must not exceed 26k.
Another Dodge Ram Cummin’s fan here. 3/4 ton, Diesel 5.9 litre. 1995 model. Been pulling my 3 horse slant with full living quarters for over 20 years now. Can’t kill this truck…amazing! No maintenance. Hauls beautifully. Wish they still made this engine.
Thanks for all the advice and tips, especially on CA law, which has changed a lot since the last time I bought a truck and trailer combo. I was leaning towards getting a duellie until I learned about some of the recent changes, which have some pretty onerous requirements if your truck is above a 11,500 GVWR rating. If it’s above that then you have to get a special registration from the DMV (much more expensive), and you have to go through all the weigh stations, which normally exempt pickups and horse trailers. There’s also new requirements for diesel engines, and the reality is that we don’t haul enough to really keep a diesel happy. I found a 2008 V10 gas Ford F350 XLT crew cab that has the heavy duty tow package and higher gear ratio, and it’s rated to pull 14,000 and 20,000 GCWVR, but the GVWR is 11,000, so we didn’t need to get the special registration. It’s only got 80,000 miles and wasn’t used for towing, and since it has low mileage and I got it from the Ford dealer I was able to get the Ford extended warranty for 3 years. We pulled the service and warranty records and it hasn’t had any warranty repairs and looks pretty solid. The dealership had just gotten it in when I called and hadn’t detailed it yet, so it looks from the cookie crumbs like it was primarily used for hauling kids around. It was under 23k which seemed pretty reasonable considering the mileage. The trailer already has been weighed and has it’s CA permanent registration card listing it as 8930 lb, so we are under both the special license and registration requirements. I am beginning to see about California being a state with excessive regulations, this was crazy!
Reasonable solution in an unreasonable state. Best of luck moving forward!
G.
Guilherme I normally love your posts - but really?? Yes, it makes perfect sense that the 6th largest economy in the world would focus on small truck owners to find money.
Also, California’s budget is balanced. Yes our taxes are high but that is further evidence that the skewed source of your rumor is just spreading propaganda about a liberal state being out for the little guy. Fact checking & critical thinking are our friends.
Now back to a subject I love…horse trailers and tow vehicles…
“3 horse living quarter” = dually pickup at a minimum.
GCVWR is important but I find that rear axle rating is where a non-dually pickup truck hits the rating wall. This is not a minor matter as it would be easily measured using portable scales.
For your own good too - because running an overloaded axle can blow out a tire in the worst way.
The weight ratings are a big deal with these bigger trailers. Be careful, they will happily sell you stuff you can’t legally tow and send you on your way assuring you it’s ok. But they don’t pay the 4-figure tickets.
David
You’ll pass everything but a gas station with that v-10. I’ll ask hubby if that’s the year that blows spark plugs out of the heads. He’s been a ford mechanic for 18 years.
the new regs on diesel engines in CA is retroactive to neatly all diesel engines down to lawn mowers if over 25hp, they must re retrofitted nearly every diesel with the new equipment… average cost for a commercial/industrial engine upgrade is in the ten of thousands of dollars
How I found out about was after doing repeated work for clients who just moved from CA to Texas, they are all small construction companies …two were people who built horse complexes
So hubby says they now make an aftermarket repair kit, so if the truck blows the spark plug out of the head it’s now a tap, die, thread job instead of a year the motor down and take it to the machine shop job.
I got the comprehensive Ford warranty, so that should cover spark plugs and almost anything besides tires, and it’s transferrable, which should help with resale if I do decide I’m under trucked, although I’m within all the specified weight limits. It has the heavy duty towing package, which included a beefed up suspension and rear axle, and the person who owns the trailer currently has towed it with both a 3/4 ton and older F350. Most of the time I’m hauling to shows/clinics within 3-4 hours and on relatively flat ground, and I think the higher gas bills will probably be offset by the lower maintenance costs. We are spending 25-30 nights in hotels currently, so I think it will end up saving us money considering how expensive hotels are here (like everything in CA!), and it makes it easier to bring our dog along.
I spent some time researching the diesel rule, and it looks like it does not apply to diesel trucks operating solely for personal use under 19,500 lb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_C…k_and_Bus_Rule. The higher registration fees and onerous logbook and weigh station requirements do apply to any truck with a GWVR over 11,499, which pretty much ruled out getting a duellie for me. Apparently many 1 ton trucks are now being shipped to CA dealers with a special CA 11,400 GVWR rating, even though it’s the same truck that would have a higher weight rating in another state, but there’s no way to claim a duellie has that low a rating. I have noticed that prices for used duellies seem to have dropped in CA, so it’s probably not a bad place to shop for one if you are in an adjacent state.
What is the GVWR on your trailer? Will you not be instantly over your GCVWR with this set up? If your truck has a GVWR of 11,000# and a GCVWR of 20,000, that gives you a maximum (legal) GVWR for your trailer of 9,000#. With a dry weight of 8930#, I’m assuming your GVWR would be significantly more than that.
