Need Horse Trailer Opinion

[jgrreed]

Based on your photo, I don't see the slope being all that bad. I have seen much much worse. What kind of miles are you looking at hauling?

Not a lot. 1300km run from Grande Prairie to Calgary to Regina next week, but other than that just locally, maybe one Alberta trip (1200km round trip) per summer.

I would be a bit nervous about the top of your bed.

It's OK, I inadvertently tested it within a minute of hooking up while leaving a parking lot with a steep approach. Some part of my body was VERY puckered, but everything survived, puckered parts and all.

-Jer.

 

[Ken45101]

Seems to me that most gn horse trailers going down the road are high in front. Seems to me that they should design these trailers with more clearance.

I've had to raise ours because of bed clearance issues with our driveway.

I don't know if it was related, but I did have a rear tire blow out. We were only carrying one horse.

I really don't think the slight incline bothers the horse.

We added a ramp to ours and love it. Much easier on the horses, especially backing out.

We have a Sundowner 3 horse living quarters. Nice trailer.

Ken

 

[Iplayfarmer]

...It's OK, I inadvertently tested it within a minute of hooking up while leaving a parking lot with a steep approach. Some part of my body was VERY puckered, but everything survived, puckered parts and all.

-Jer.

Keep in mind that the clearance varies as you drive over different terrain, especially rough terrain. Be careful when you're making any kind of approach where the nose of the truck drops relative to the rest of the rig (i.e. driving off the shoulder of a road). Turning in a situation like this seems to compound the problem. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I hear ya. I had to pull a guy off a rail road crossing many years ago. He was driving a Dodge Dually and had a large 5th wheel, maybe 33', behind it. When the front of the truck broke over it got hung up. He was sitting there smoking the wheels even in 4 wheel drive trying to get it off. A tug from my F-150 was all it took to get him rolling again but the camper and the bed of the truck were already damaged.

Chris

 

[Reg]

I'm sorry if I offend anyone by posting a horse trailer Q on TBN, but I trust a lot of the opinions and experience on here.

Just bought a used Sundowner 3 horse slant. My truck has a 6" lift, and of course the trailer sits a bit nose high when there's no horses in it. It's 5" higher at the front of the trailer floor than the back, the drop is spread over 18' of floor. From what I can calculate thats a 2.3% grade, or about 2 degree slope. I need to hear your thoughts on 2 things:

1. Is this OK for the horses?

2. Is this OK for the load sharing on the front vs. rear trailer axle and tires?

I'll post a pic when the sun comes up.

Thanks, appreciate your input.

-Jeremy.

Ahh, lets see now...
I believe approximately as follows;
1) The horses probably won't care.
2) You can do some arithmetic about like this;
18ft of floor plus usually 8 1/2 ft on the front = 26 1/2 ft overall.
The "Pin" is all the way at the front, but the 6 inches of excess height is relative to about the center point between the trailer axles - measure that to figure the real pitch.
Figure what that pitch translates to between your trailer axle centers.
At a guess the next size up tires on the front axle will bring you back very close to an equalized load, e.g. 235/85 16 on the rear axle, 245/85 16 on the front.
This is legal, mixing tire sizes on the same axle isn't.
This is simpler and more likely to work than hacking around with spacers, safer to DIY and could work out cheaper too.

Let us know how the arithmetic works out and don't make mistakes with RADIUS vs DIAMETER.
The tire section is all that varies, e.g. 85% of 235mm vs 85% of 245mm = 8.5mm
which is about 1/3 inch .

 

[timswi]

Just a thought, what about getting a cheap set of wheels and the factory tire size for the truck. Might buy a few inches. If you're not towing it every week, it's a minor hassle to swap them out. Kinda kills the look of the truck though.

Having no clue what the factory size was and the what the current size is, I could be all wet on this one. From the distance picture the tires look to be pretty tall and fill the wheel wells even with a lift.

 

[jgrreed]

Just a thought, what about getting a cheap set of wheels and the factory tire size for the truck. Might buy a few inches. If you're not towing it every week, it's a minor hassle to swap them out. Kinda kills the look of the truck though.

Having no clue what the factory size was and the what the current size is, I could be all wet on this one. From the distance picture the tires look to be pretty tall and fill the wheel wells even with a lift.

I could do that, but you're right, it'd look ridiculous. The truck tires on there are 37" x 13.5 R20's Toyo Open Country MT's.

'Filling' the fenders is an issue when it comes to aesthetics. If there would've been a 3 or 4" lift option I would have done that and gone with 35's. That would've saved a lot on rubber costs too.

-Jer.

 

[jgrreed]

Ahh, lets see now...
I believe approximately as follows;
1) The horses probably won't care.
2) You can do some arithmetic about like this;
18ft of floor plus usually 8 1/2 ft on the front = 26 1/2 ft overall.
The "Pin" is all the way at the front, but the 6 inches of excess height is relative to about the center point between the trailer axles - measure that to figure the real pitch.
Figure what that pitch translates to between your trailer axle centers.
At a guess the next size up tires on the front axle will bring you back very close to an equalized load, e.g. 235/85 16 on the rear axle, 245/85 16 on the front.
This is legal, mixing tire sizes on the same axle isn't.
This is simpler and more likely to work than hacking around with spacers, safer to DIY and could work out cheaper too.

Let us know how the arithmetic works out and don't make mistakes with RADIUS vs DIAMETER.
The tire section is all that varies, e.g. 85% of 235mm vs 85% of 245mm = 8.5mm
which is about 1/3 inch .

This is what I was hoping to hear in the first place!! The trailer does need rubber soon, so I'm going to take the opportunity to go to 16's and level it out a bit. The guy at the dealership is a retired Rodeo Cowboy and he didn't think it was the end-of-the-world either.

Learned today that the ramp that came with the trailer (not installed) doesn't fit!! Not too happy about that.... Trailer dealer offered me a Sundowner ramp for $1400!!! I declined. Maybe I can make it work with my welder, or at minimum, I have some scrap aluminum to play with.

-Jer.

 

[Reg]

Road camber tips/tilts horses in a weird diagonal way in slant load trailers anyway.
Plus up/down hill and acceleration/braking dominate any slight nose high attitude of the tralier floor.

BTW, a LITTLE bit more load on the rear axle isn't a bad thing for stability.
Just check that the front isn't so lightly loaded that the brakes lock up WAY too soon and that the rear tires aren't overheating - quick check, 15 minutes down the highway with the trailer empty, feel them and compare front/rear on the same side.
Don't compare front left/right if you are driving in sunlight, solar gain is TRUE on black tires and if you are heading east/west the south side tires WILL be warmer.

Oh yeah, be sure your tire pressures are right when cold before heading out for this check (-:

 

[Reg]

I only just saw the picture.
Yes, that DOES appear to be too close to the truck's bed rails.
One driveway entrance could put some nasty scratches on the top edges of that truck bed.
If you will be hauling to/from horse shows you will almost certainly be doing some "pasture parking", so getting the truck tilted one way while the trailer is angled and tilted the other way will happen - figure worst case, or 90% towards it.

I would pull the tube out another 3 inches, maybe more.
Other than that, it doesn't look to be that much nose high ("Up hill").