We are looking to find a truck that my daughter can use to haul her horses. Max weight of a loaded trailer will never exceed 7800 lb - any ideas or help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Joey Ware
Houston

 

Get a 3.5L '11 or newer ecoboost with a payload sticker that reads 1170 + whatever your daughter, her friends, their gear in the truck and a big gulp in the cup holder weigh combined....that should tow the trailer easily.....not that difficult

 

2011 to 14 STX 4x4 with tow package and 5.0 with 3.55 gears. Towed multiple horse trailers with my 13, both GN and Bumper pulls. It makes for an inexpensive tow rig.

 

 

I have pulled a double horse trailer loaded with horses, tack and gear, 4 people and our luggage with my 2014 XLT 3.5EB...never missed a beat.

AK4wheeler

 

I second the motion. Get a decent used 250. Once you get above 6500 lb. or so, the increased stability is obvious. Especially with livestock, which is not only a somewhat shifting load but also a live creature that should be afforded all reasonable caution. The bigger brakes are nice too. An 11- 16 with the 6.2 and a 4.10 or 4.30 axle ratio would be perfect, in my opinion.

 

It's not that difficult if you understand that payload capacity of a half-ton pickup is the limiter. I had the same problem advising of a new truck for my grand-daughter. A 7800-pound bumper-pull horse trailer will overload ordinary half-ton pickups. With either the 5.0L V8 or the 3.5L EcoBoost engine, she'd have plenty of power and torque to drag the trailer, but she'd exceed the payload capacity of the F-150 if she hauled anything in the cab or bed. She was a high-schooler involved in barrel racing. The obvious choice was an F-150 with the heavy duty payload package (HDPP). But there were none in stock within 1,000 miles of her, so that meant ordering and waiting 6 to 8 weeks or more for delivery. Unacceptable for a teenager to wait that long, so she found numerous F-250s in stock right there in her home town. She bought an F-250 SuperCab with the short bed and the 6.2L gasoline engine. Perfect for her. She drove that pickup her senior year and all through college, towing the horse trailer to rodeo events. She was a "real" cowgirl! And not overloaded.

 

I've hauled thoroughbreds in a 2 horse Trail-Et New Yorker with a 97 Explorer V8. Handled just fine, stopped fine, etc. Just about any F-150 except the Harley Davidson and the like will handle a similar trailer just fine. There is not a lot of tongue weight unless a person goes stupid and loads a lot of junk in the tack room. The tongue weight changes very little loaded and unloaded since the horses mass is centered over the rear axles. They also are very low to the ground to keep the mass in line with the truck. Some don't even need a WDH, but it is a good idea to have one just in case the front tack room pushes the tongue past 500. A Superduty is not needed for a 2 horse bumper pull, I doubt the OP will be hauling draft horses, and don't expect more than 2400 pounds of flesh with two horses in the back. With my two horses the Trail-Et scaled at 5400 pounds.

 

OP stated max weight will not exceed 7800lb... which means it could be as much as 7800lb. I'd set that as the target weight for the truck they are looking for, and work backwards from there if need be.