Hi guys.

I have a few questions about towing. I originally thought it was all so simple. Don't exceed your GVW on your truck or the trailer hitch capacity.

So here are the truck specs:

1997 DR 1500 ST Club Cab 6.5-ft. Bed 4WD 5.2L
Tires upgraded to 245/75/R16 instead of 225/75/R16
GAWR Front 3850lbs Rear 3600lbs total 7450lbs
GVRW 6400lbs
Max Towing 7400lbs
Reese class 3 receiver hitch (older, installed 2001) with brand new Reese electric brake module. Hitch is WD 7500lbs with 750lb TW or WC 5000lbs with 500lb TW. I don't have a WD system, so WC it is.

My horse trailer specs (all I know):
1975 Road Runner horse trailer
3086lbs empty
Has electric brakes (of course)
I have no clue what the axle weight is on the trailer and it's been sanded and repainted so many times that I can't find a sticker on it anywhere...

My horses are 980lbs and 1100 lbs each. So far I've only ever put one in the trailer at a time because if I put both it I would go over my WC limit on my hitch by 166 lbs. The horses haul quietly, so quietly that when I tow, it feels like I don't even have a trailer attached and I'm just driving the truck around.

So now the questions...

1. Does GVWR only include the trailer's TW, but not the actual trailer weight? I have been told that GVWR includes the weight of the vehicle itself plus fuel, passengers, cargo, and trailer tongue weight, but not the trailer weight (or anything in the trailer) since it's not technically "on" the truck as a payload? (Because my GVWR sticker says 6400lbs but if I research towing capacity it says max towing is 7400lbs.)

2. How do my tires affect the towing capability since I upgraded from stock 225s to 245s?

3. I have been told by many know-it-all horse people that my 1/2 ton DR could not safely stop itself (including all cargo and passengers) and my trailer (and a horse in it) in time in an accident-scenario (ie. a deer jumping out of in front of me) due to the braking system being too light on the 1/2 tons for hauling purposes. Is this true or it is a bunch of BS? (You would think that if the truck is rated to haul a max of 7400 lbs, it should be able to safely stop that amount as well).

I think that's all the questions I have for now, guys. Thanks a bunch

- Missy

 

Need to find the Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating for your truck. That includes the truck, and everything in it, and the trailer, and everything in it. Basically, if the engine has to move it, it counts.

Going to slightly larger tires is going to make the engine/trans work harder to move the same amount of weight, and, your speedometer is going to lie to you.

In a panic stop situation, you are indeed going to be in some trouble. The brakes on the half-ton trucks are just fine for an empty truck, but, add in people, gear, a trailer, and HORSES...... and they become 'barely adequate', if that. In the event of a deer jumping out in front of you, HIT THE DEER, stay off the brakes. You will do more damage when you jackknife your truck and trailer, than the deer will do from impact at whatever speed you happen to be going. THEN you can stop, and inspect the damage. (your horses won't be real thrilled with a panic stop either...... imagine an 1100 pound projectile thrashing its way up thru the truck........)

 

According to manual, GCVWR is 7800 lbs.

 

The GCVWR for a 96 5.2
man trany 3.55 gears 9,500lbs max trailer 4,800lbs
man trany 3.92 gears 10,000lbs max trailer 5,300lbs
auto trany all gears 12,500lbs max trailer 7,800lbs

Info is from my owners manual, I have towed enough with my dodge that I can tell you that there is NO panic stopping these 1500's when towing; when yoiu get over 4000lbs on the hitch.

 

Thank you for the GCVWR specs... My truck is automatic. Nobody to teach me how to drive stick actually :P

PS. Nice truck!

 

Your Welcome and Thank you

You live out on the island, are you planning on doing the horse thing in the interior of BC and out to Calgary AB? if so your 1500 is not up to the task at hand, we live in Sicamous BC and see people hauling horses all over the place and most are using 0ne tonne duallys or one tonne single wheel trucks any less on these roads will not be good for your wallet and you. We had a camper/horse person in the campground last night and towing with a v-10 dodge ram two horse trailer; he was getting 300km to a tank of gas, he is going to look for a diesel when he gets to AB.

 

i don't know if it is the same where you live but when i plated my truck they asked what weight rating i wanted to register it as. between how much truck weighs a trailer and what in the trailer has to weigh less than 3000kg which is what the truck was rated for when i plated it.

 

We use our Dodge to pull our horse trailer as well. Yes ours is a 2500 but the theory is the same. I would slightly disagree with the statements being made about braking under a panic stop because the OP specifically mentioned that he has a brake controller and electric brakes on the trailer. I would absolutely agree that without either, the brakes on the truck are not adequate for the added trailer weight; however the brakes on the trailer (assuming they are working correctly) will stop the wieght of the trailer. If the braking controller is set up properly and you have load leveling bars on the trailer the whole combination will stop as one. Not as quickly as the truck alone but it will still stop quite well.
We tow all over the Northeast of USA with my daughters horse trailer and have seen all kinds of things happen on the road in front of us and never have we felt out of control.
Make sure you have everything working properly and setup correctly and you will have no issues.

 

Not here, what ever is on the door sticker or by vin thats what you can tow max, anything over 4,600kg you need a endorsment on your DL and out here yes they check big time, most of BC's roads are mountain roads.

 

Thanks a bunch everyone.

No I'm not hauling off-island at this point. If I do I will borrow my grandfather's 3/4 ton (even then I don't think it's any more powerful than my truck) but highly unlikely that I'll be showing off-island anytime soon. I have a great trailer as well, but it's just not a trailer I'd want to haul long distance to places off-island.

I have an electric brake controller in the truck and electric brakes on the trailer, they work flawlessly. Brakes on the truck are in excellent shape too. Mostly I highway drive since we're pretty rural, only go into town to get to the fairgrounds to ride.

There have just been a lot of people (not on here) beaking off that a 1/2 ton isn't strong enough to haul a 2-horse trailer. From what I've read and from the specs on my truck it appears to me that my 1/2 ton is fully capable of doing local hauling with the horse trailer.