I have 97 Dakota SLT with a 318, CLub Cab. I am interested in purchasing a one horse trailer to haul my horse to local horse shows, and am wondering if this truck would do the job. I am sure the engine could pull it, but don't know much about towing capacity etc. My horse weighs roughly 1000-1100 lbs, a small one horse trailer am not sure of the weight. Do I just need to put a ball hitch on the bumper or do I need to do more to make it ready to tow? All the info I have found says it can tow 5-6000 lbs. I am not so worried about towing, but stopping and hauling stability. ANy info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Don't use a bumper hitch, they are at the wrong height most of the time and are limited to 2,000 lbs. You need to add a receiver hitch with a high enough rating to handle the load. I put a 5,000 lb. hitch on mine. Also, you need to install a lighting kit that will handle the electrical load for the lights on the trailer. My hitch installer took care of that for me for another $150. The light switch of the basic truck is not rated for a lot of additional lighting, and a trailer with a lot of lights on it can burn out the switch, leaving you with no lights at all.

If your truck has a towing package already installed, check that out and you may be able to skip the light kit. But I doubt you have one because you have no receiver hitch on the truck.

If your engine and tranny are in good shape, they will be fine. I have towed more weight than that with my 3.9 V6 and a 5 speed....same with the brakes, just allow a lot of room to stop until you get the feel of stopping a load like that.

 

Your truck will have enough power to pull the trailer with no problem. As was already mentioned, you'll need a class 3 (5000lb.) receiver hitch and wiring for lights. The easiest way to hook up the lights is to buy one of the adapters that plugs in to the harness connector in the rear of the truck and has a trailer harness coming off of it. A one horse trailer won't have enough lights to cause any problems with excessive amp draw.

If the trailer has electric brakes (and it better have SOME kind of brakes!), you'll also need to wire an electric brake controller (fairly simple 4-wire hookup). If the trailer doesn't have any brakes, stopping will be pretty exciting. I just towed about 7000lbs. with mine over the weekend and it did fine. I just made sure to leave a little extra stopping distance, even though the trailer has surge brakes.

 

Has anyone towed with the 2.5 I have 97 2.5 5spd stock trans motor an rearend with 30in tires im in So Cal a would like to get a jet boat can I tow with this or do I need to step to full size or Durango v8 I say step up cuz I aint stepping out im dodge for life