I just bought a new 2006 F150...fully loaded, super cab, the works. Anyway, I need to drive up to the Seattle area (am from Portland) and haul a horse home. Thing is, I have no clue what type of trailer I can haul. I can rent one or borrow one from a friend....but the whole surge brake vs. electric brake thing is confusing me. Is my truck even set up yet to haul? I know it has a hitch back there....but thats about all I know.

I need help!

 

Just get the tongue and ball and hook it up and as long as it's under about 9,900 lbs you're fine.. just rent a small horse trailer and hook it up including the wires for the break lights and go..

 

You will have to do a little more research than that before you hook up and go.

I know that the F150s supposedly have some kind of brake controller built in, your truck may have some with a relay to add, but im not sure about that.

Surge brakes are about as simple as they get, and do not require any wiring for the brakes, the trailer should use just the basic 4 wire flat connector.

I know a lot of horse trailers are gooseneck, which means a bed mounted hitch, which your truck wont have, and its probably not worth adding. If you NEED a gooseneck, you need a super duty.

So call around, talk to the people who will be renting you the trailer, its their job to know how you can get it hooked up to your truck!

Good luck!

 

You need somebody knowledgable to look at your truck and help you make your decision. As a half ton, you can not assume that it is ready to tow. It depends on how the option boxes were checked off. If your truck isn't set up for towing, or for towing the weight you want to tow, you can do serious damage to the truck, and worse still, you can be hurt or killed in an accident if the truck can't control the load. The most knowledgable people to talk to would be at the Ford Dealership service department . The salesman will try and tell you that your truck can pull the Queen Elizabeth II over dry land, so get someone who is knowledgable about the mechanical aspects of your truck. The service department will be able to let you know what the truck is spec'd out for.

 

Thread moved to Towing forum.

-Matt

 

Ford_Girl21,

Tell us a little more about your truck and I think we can help. First, is it an XL, SLT, XLT, FX4, Lariat, King Ranch, or Harley-Davidson model? What size motor does it have? Does it have the "trailer tow package" option? If you aren't sure, but want us to help, take a few photos, especially of the motor, and the rear of the truck, and upload them to a free photo hosting site (i.e. photobucket.com) then post a link to them here. I will be glad to take a look and give you my thoughts.

I can confirm what Bob Jusnes says about gooseneck trailers - this is the type of trailer that mounts to a hitch inside the truck bed - these are typically larger and your truck is almost definitely not set up to haul this type of trailer. You will need a basic small trailer built for horses. These are usually 14 - 16 feet long. If you have the "trailer tow package" then most likely you'll have no problem towing a horse in this type of trailer.

Also, you could always ask a friend who has towed trailers before.

But if not, let us know!

 

It appears you have the first thing you need a hitch. The trailer you can pull now, would be a bumper pull (ball hitch). You will need a ball receiver (found at most auto parts stores). Since your truck has a hitch I'd assume you also have a 7-pin round plug with a 4-pin flat right next to it. If your 150 has the towing package you should have a big with a wiring pigtail and 2 relay's in it. These only need to be installed if you the trailer to be towed has a battery that needs charging or you trailer has reverse lamps. Depending what trailer you get you may need to buy a electric brake controller, if the trailer is equiped with electric brakes (Most trailer dealers will help you with this and usually tell you the limits of your truck).

The trailer size will depend on if it has living quarters or not in it. Most one horse trailers about about 12-14ft, larger depending on type. What size trailer you find you will have to make sure the ball on the pickup hitch is the same size as the trailer coupler. Also, since it's only 1 horse I'd recommend getting a trailer that is able to have the horse limited room to move around.

I'm going to disagree with the gooseneck comments. On another forum there is a member with a 2 horse goosneck trailer on a 97 150, no problems. Since you have a 06 with higher capacities a small goosneck should be no problem, but if it's only a one time trip, I wouldn't go this route.

Any questions are welcome, and members will try to answer them to the best of our knowlege.

 

all i do is hook it up and go

 

Well, it's always great to hear from another horse person!

It would be great to know if you've got the trailer towing package or not. If you went all-out, I'll bet you've got it.

You'll be pretty much set up to tow a bumper pull horse trailer. You're not going to need a gooseneck for just one horse. Like the others said, you'll need to get a receiver, a hitch ball, and a hitch pin.

To get it set up, you are going to need to find out three bits of information. First off, you need to know what ball size the trailer takes. Most horse trailers are 2 5/16". The next thing you need to find out is how high off the ground the ball coupler sits when the trailer is level. You need that to get a receiver with the proper drop. Once you have that tongue height, you'll want to measure the height of the trailer hitch on the truck. You'll want a receiver drop right around the difference between those two measurements.

The last thing to find out is what sort of brakes the trailer has. It's either surge or electric. Surges don't require you to get anything, but they can be difficult to back up with. Electric brakes give you better control, but you have to buy an electric brake controller for the truck and mount it inside the cab. I prefer electric brakes, but that's just my $0.02. At any rate, if the brakes are electric, you'll need a controller and you might need an adapter to go in the round plug at the back of the truck, too. There are still a lot of horse trailers out there with six pin round plugs.

What really makes the decision for how to approach this one is what your future plans are. If you're new to horses and planning to get into it more, I'd be inclined to say bite the bullet and get the truck rigged up for electric brakes. Like I said, though, that's more about whether or not you are thinking of having your own trailer someday.

You'll be fine with a two horse trailer and a half ton truck. If you rent or borrow, make sure the tires are properly inflated. Good luck, and we'd love to hear how it went.

 

Oh well, it's her only post and she may not find the thread after it's been moved.

 

Just be really carfeul towing a horse trailer with an F150 no matter how small or big it is. When that horse moves around a little you will feel it. I towed a two horse trailer with an F150 from NY to MA and felt every move the horse made. The horse was only around 950 to 1100 lbs. I did it a few months ago with my F250 and it was a much better ride. Just be careful.