Lance A Lott Posted February 26, 2018 Report Share Posted February 26, 2018 I will be using my 630 Volvo to pull a 4 horse 42' living quarters horse trailer and I am just starting my build. I have Been pulling it with a 3500 Duramax for 8 years. If anyone has do's or don'ts I would like to hear about them. I don't plan on a smart, but my buggy or a Spider or dirt bike will go on the deck. Thanks Lance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shallow Draft Posted February 26, 2018 Report Share Posted February 26, 2018 I pull a 38 ft LQ as well as a 40 ft Toy hauler. I have my hitch at about 38 inches. To accommodate either trailer I changed the LQ hitch to a 5th wheel, I also had to shorten the hitch on the LQ to get it level. 2004 Volvo 630, Freedomline, Rear view camera, Max Brake, Jackalopee, 38 ft 4 horse LQ Platinum, 40ft Jayco Talon toy hauler Http:/www.flickr.com/photos/shallow_draft/ Https://flic.kr/p/fqhyAN You are not lost if you don't care where you are!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shallow Draft Posted February 27, 2018 Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 Also, If you are going to single, I would suggest singling Mid. This will allow a little extra deck space for toys. I am singled short and I do carry my Bike but it would be nice to have a little more room. 2004 Volvo 630, Freedomline, Rear view camera, Max Brake, Jackalopee, 38 ft 4 horse LQ Platinum, 40ft Jayco Talon toy hauler Http:/www.flickr.com/photos/shallow_draft/ Https://flic.kr/p/fqhyAN You are not lost if you don't care where you are!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance A Lott Posted February 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 How much deck space do you have? Last summer i dropped the rear axle and mounted a ball to test drive the truck and trailer. I set it up so i am 64" 6". It seemed to ride and handle well. I drove it some just on the ball and some with a Cody Cushion. Thats a air bag gooseneck ball. That gave me 8300 on the front axle and 10k on the rear without a bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shallow Draft Posted February 27, 2018 Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 not sure of Deck length but I don't have room for a sxs. My Goldwing fits well, even in tight corners. 2004 Volvo 630, Freedomline, Rear view camera, Max Brake, Jackalopee, 38 ft 4 horse LQ Platinum, 40ft Jayco Talon toy hauler Http:/www.flickr.com/photos/shallow_draft/ Https://flic.kr/p/fqhyAN You are not lost if you don't care where you are!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beyerjf Posted February 27, 2018 Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 I am in a Work and Play 34FK, which is a cargo trailer with living space, 13.5 foot garage. Laid out very much like a horse trailer. Since I still use my tractor for commercial use I just hook to it and go when I am in the mood. No issues with hitch or stock tandem suspension. My dream trailer is a Sundowner 3986 OM toyhauler. 39' long, kitchen, living space, "garage" is almost all open, bedroom on deck and bathroom are the only separate areas. Have looked at a few, like the aluminum construction and fit and finish of the interior. Alas a 3 season trailer, but that doesn't present a problem. Would like to hear from others with Sundowner experiences. Jeff Beyer temporarily retired from Trailer Transit 2000 Freightliner Argosy Cabover 2008 Work and Play 34FK Homebase NW Indiana, no longer full time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance A Lott Posted February 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 My first aluminum trailer was a 4 horse Sundowner with a 5 foot short wall dressing room. It was a well built trailer and we had know problems with it. We then had a 3 horse LQ Exis and now a 4 horse 15' Lakoda. They have all been good trailers. The Exis had a better quality interior. I have seen a Sundowner that was open to be a toy hauler and it looked nice. It was not a LQ trailer. If I ever get another one (not likely we really like this one) I would get a higher roof, even 6" would be an improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted February 27, 2018 Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 On 2/26/2018 at 8:41 AM, Lance a lott said: I will be using my 630 Volvo to pull a 4 horse 42' living quarters horse trailer and I am just starting my build. I have Been pulling it with a 3500 Duramax for 8 years. If anyone has do's or don'ts I would like to hear about them. I don't plan on a smart, but my buggy or a Spider or dirt bike will go on the deck. Thanks Lance We tow with a older Freightshaker Century M11 Cummins, 10 speed RoadRager and remain tandem with a Morgan cargo box with various toys inside and two smaller size horse rigs that we tow. One trailer is a old-school four horse straight-load ball hitch older trailer that has been rebuilt more times than I can count (+200,00 miles at least) Our second trailer is a 30 ft toyhauler with a one-horse semi-slant-load removable horse module in the far back area of the garage. We used to have horses but now we have a 1,060 pound pet named Dolly-the-paint-horse so it seem that the module is appropriate for the "pet"............. Recently we picked up a 37 ft DP class A motor home as well so we seem to have much of the RV gig covered but we do not tow the toyhauler with the motor home or our GMC pickup. The Dollymamma only trail rides so we tend to travel a lot of remote roads and boondock in often DRY and VERY REMOTE boondocks so we pack a lot of water with up to 500 gallons and a ton of feed and tack not to mention the various toys and often our Sammy 4 x 4 in the cargo box. We are just under 65 ft total length with the toyhauler and 55 ft with the four horse trailer and it is a chore at times in twisty back roads to get around. If your tractor is still tandem I would recomend that you try tandem first before you dive off into single.........horses tend to weigh more than gerbbles and seems like there is always the need for a few extra thousand pounds of stuff with horses..... Now if you are a big-time goat-roper go ahead and single the truck right away because a days winnings of $50,000 cash does not weight too much and the prize saddles will fit in the sleeper and you are good to go.....Us trail riders just spend money so we need more room to stuff more money in the rig since we never earn any......... One thing you do need to be careful of is.........a HDT with brakes applied hard can really toss the horses around back in the trailer like no pickup ever will...... The best thing is likely the view so IF you pay attention you likely will seldom need to brake very hard since you often see ahead enough to start braking sooner ..........The Jake brake is a horse haulers best friend and the firm smooth action of the Jake is perfect for horse hauling. Drive on...........(more trucks and horses = more $$$$$$$) 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance A Lott Posted February 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2018 We are also trail riders and it seems horse collectors we have 13. Children came to us latter in life and the youngest will hopefully graduate high school in two more years. This gives me time to work on the truck. We dry camp as well around New England , but we don't have to Cary the kind of water Dollytrolly spoke of. I have 32 gallons of fresh water and 30 gallon black tank with mascarater pump under the flat bed on my 3500. I removed the rear axle last year when I first got the truck, I have not had time to switch them yet and have just been driving it on the devider axle. That is my next project. I will also be starting my bed this spring I hope. Our children no longer care to vacation with the old people so we will only be taking two horses. This of course means Nadine can now carry more stuff. Actually the trailer rides a little ruff with just two horses so I am thinking of putting in a Kelderman air ride axle kit. My home state of Vermont does not allow anything but bumper pull with a motor home so I had to shorten the truck and pull my goose neck from the bumper. I still have not gotten the final word if it's a go or no go. I will be running under agriculture plates this year, but that limits me to 150 miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPL Posted March 1, 2018 Report Share Posted March 1, 2018 Lal I put a Kelderman air ride system on a 1999 550 Ford and it really made a vast improvement to the trucks ride. Installed in my shop at the house. It was really easy to install. Don't know about the axle kit but I know they make a quality product. Make sure you have a couple of floor jacks. Pat The Old Sailor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Posted March 1, 2018 Report Share Posted March 1, 2018 Dollytrolly has good advice. Our single axle Volvo will stop in prob. half the distance of the 3500 Dodge. Hard braking is hard on horses. I hauled horses from MT this year using the neighbor's trailer. It has a living quarters and room for 4 or 5 horses. I don't know the make/model of the trailer but would guess it to be 40' or so long. Pulled real nice. These horse trailers have come a long way, and cost a lot. 2004 Volvo 780 singled long Eclipse Attitude toyhauler 79 Shovelhead Electraglide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Dreamer Posted March 1, 2018 Report Share Posted March 1, 2018 On 2/27/2018 at 8:44 AM, Lance a lott said: We are also trail riders and it seems horse collectors we have 13. Children came to us latter in life and the youngest will hopefully graduate high school in two more years. This gives me time to work on the truck. We dry camp as well around New England , but we don't have to Cary the kind of water Dollytrolly spoke of. I have 32 gallons of fresh water and 30 gallon black tank with mascarater pump under the flat bed on my 3500. I removed the rear axle last year when I first got the truck, I have not had time to switch them yet and have just been driving it on the devider axle. That is my next project. I will also be starting my bed this spring I hope. Our children no longer care to vacation with the old people so we will only be taking two horses. This of course means Nadine can now carry more stuff. Actually the trailer rides a little ruff with just two horses so I am thinking of putting in a Kelderman air ride axle kit. My home state of Vermont does not allow anything but bumper pull with a motor home so I had to shorten the truck and pull my goose neck from the bumper. I still have not gotten the final word if it's a go or no go. I will be running under agriculture plates this year, but that limits me to 150 miles. We pull a 44' LQ toyhaulers with 330 horses in the rear. Not quite the same as your horses as I can use ratchet straps to hold mine in place. We have a 48' toyhaulers on order as have few miles on our current one. One of the items I have noticed is our pin weight varies depending of if we are empty vs loaded but that is because of our axle placement. Most horse trailers have the axles pretty far back and have a heavy pin weight. It may not change much when you load the horses in. You do need to plan to change out that divider axle as soon as possible as we have heard horror stories about using the divider axle. We looked at the Sundowner trailers prior to ordering our new one, but while they are a nice trailer, there was a couple of items they could not do that we needed and they were 2nd highest priced out of 4th, with a custom Spacecraft being the most expensive out of the 4 places we got pricing from. Dave 2005 Freightliner Century S/T, Singled, Air ride ET Jr. hitch 2019 46'+ Dune Sport Man Cave custom 5th wheel toy hauler Owner of the 1978 Custom Van "Star Dreamer" which might be seen at a local car show near you! Check out http://www.hhrvresource.com/ for much more info on HDT's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance A Lott Posted March 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2018 Thanks for all the replies. The devider axle will go soon I only ran it so I could experiment with hitch placement. Ok I realy just wonted to hitch on to the trailer and pull it. Dollytrolly is defiantly on the mony with the braking. Even the exhaust brake is much stronger than on the 3500. My primary job for the last 36 years has been as a school bus driver so I have to be easy on the brakes. Star Dreamer you are right about horse trailers not chainging pin weight a lot. I have found that with only the wife's and my horse the bigger problem is harsh ride due to less weight over the axle. I had my Yamaha gene in the tack compartment and it broke some plates in the battery, and knocked the saddles of the rack. this never happend with 4 horses. That's why I am considering air ride for the trailer. Yes horse trailers have come a long way our first gooseneck was a 2horse steal trailer that would rain on you in the morning from condensation on the roof and had one light that only worked when the parking lights were on. Where can I get frame bolts for less than $5 each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance A Lott Posted March 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2018 Vermont has decided that if I title as a RV that I can not pull anything. So it will be agriculture for now and then LLC I Suppose. It almost $900 a year to reg as a truck and that would only be spread out over a couple of months use so not real justifiable. That's a neat setup for Dolly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigredhdt Posted March 3, 2018 Report Share Posted March 3, 2018 I pull a 41' 4 horse bloomer that weighs around 19k. I would recommend that you use a full size air hitch such as the Trailersaver TSLB2H or the low profile gooseneck myairhitch.com product. I chose the myairhitch because of the height. Both of these have heavy duty air bags that are dampened by shocks lime you see on your truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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