Ford , Chevy ,Dodge,Ect. Which truck?

[Guitarz]

Getting ready to buy a truck. It will be used to tow horse(s) off and on. Just trying to get a better idea of the most dependable truck. Any takers?

Thanks, TomF

[PigPen5150]

It comes down to personal preference mainly, and what do you need in a truck? You mentioned towing a horse trailer. Do you want a diesel? Automatic or manual? Four wheel drive or two wheel drive? How much weight will you need to tow? If it were me, I would get a 99-02 Dodge 2500 (3/4 ton) Quad Cab with a Cummins diesel and manual transmission. The Cummins is dependable diesel when taken care of, and gets decent fuel mileage. But Dodge makes a crappy auto trans.

[Guitarz]

Thanks for the info. I do want a 4wd,ext or quad cab, V8, prefer auto for my wife. Probably tow 5-6k max,most likely lower than that. My friend has a cummins diesel and he loves it ,but it does have an auto tranny. The horse she will be towing is a Arabian,which is small for a horse,and she will be towing 2 donkeys around on occasion. We were going to go for a midsize ,but not sure now. Depends on the trailer we get.

Thanks again, TomF

[PigPen5150]

If you're thinking of a mid-size, I would go with the Dakota. Not sure if you've read about it on here, but they're still working out bugs on the Colorado and Canyon. The Dakota has been around a while and the small V-8 would probably tow more than the Colorado's I-5. The Dakota has a decent Crew Cab too. Do your research and make an informed decision.

[jrmcx]

Figure out max combined weight of animals and trailer and come up total tougne (sp?) weight. All the horse trailers I've seen look pretty heavy to me. Dodges are known for towing ability.

[dougger222]

All three American manufacturers will work for what you need. Even the Titan will pull the weight you mentioned no problem.

If most of the miles used with the pick up are towing I'd only go with a diesel. The mileage will be better than any V8 gasser and the power will be better and the resale value will be higher with the diesel.

The Duramax Alison combo is ok just be planned to deal with faulty Bosch injectors as there on a month long back order. The Duramax (Isuzu built) is however the most quiet diesel out there in a heavy duty truck.

The Cummins is probably the best motor available in a medium duty truck but it still will have problems such as injector and lifter pump failures. The automatic tranny used over many years in the Dodge is weak at best. The front ends are also known to have problems. Some of the best mpg but the most diesel noise with the Cummins but could last up to 1 million miles.

The Powerstroke Ford (Navistar/International built) is my choice. In my opion Ford has the toughest frame/ truck with Dana 50 or 60 front ends with lock outs and Sterling rear ends. The cab room in the crew cab Ford is the largest on the market. The Powerstroke although loud can last 500K miles or more. The Ford auto tranny the E40D or R4100 are also not the strongest if towed with a lot. In March of 2003 Ford came out with the new 6.0 Powerstroke with the new Torqueshift 5 speed auto tranny, great tranny horible motor. By mid year 2004 Ford finally figured out the motor problems however.

If you thinking gasser motors I'd go with either a 5.4 Triton, 5.3 Vortec or 5.7 Hemi. 5K lbs is not that much work on a V8 gasser but your mileage will be around 10 I'd bet.