does my pickup have enough??

[montananative]

ive got my doubts on this but here it goes. I have a 99' ford ranger. its a 4.0 and i was just wondering if thats got enough go to pull a two horse trailer with one horse untill i get a good job and can afford payments for a newer, bigger truck next year. i wont be pullin all over the country or nothin, just to take short trips to the mountains or emergency visits to the vet adn really dont want to blow my truck up. thanks for your help

[Big Horn Posse]

I highly doubt it!! I had a V6 Chevy S10 Blazer that I hauled a 2 horse with, but even that was a tough job for a V6. I have driven a Ford Ranger and it lacks power just hauling a 4 wheeler on a light utility trailer around. I would not risk it. You will probably rap out your engine and mess up your transmission. That will cost you more than the payments on a bigger outfit. That is just my opnion!!

[Sammy]

How well do you like to drive in 4 low?

[montananative]

big horn-
thats what i was thinkin. pretty sure my moms honda crv has more nuts than my truck ive been waiting my whole life to get horses, but i grew up smack dab in billings montana so it never panned out cause of the haulin and bording horses. ill be a certified welder come may, so ill be makin good money there after. i think i can hold off another six months, ill jsut have to watch "man from snowy river" a couple hundred more times to hold myself over

sammy
dont like it much at all!! drains the gas tank in a hurry!!

[Big Horn Posse]

Montana,
What kind of game do you hunt with your dogs? Where do you hunt around Billings? Do you go down to the Big Horns any?

Horses are a nice asset to have. I used to own my own horse breeding business up until about 5 years ago. Sold a few up there at the Billings Sale. That is a good place to buy a horse, not much for the seller though.

[Buddyw]

I'm going to disagree here..

Yes It will, I pulled a 3500 lbs boat all over oregon and washington for Years. It was the only truck I had. I Had a 98 Ford Ranger with a 4.0L my biggest problem was I needed to put it in Low range to pull it out of the water or I would spin the clutch.

Get a trailer with wither hydrolic trailer brakes, or electric brakes if you can and use the trailer brakes instead of your truck brakes..

When I was in Ireland, those folks don't have trucks like we do here, when you got out in the country I seen several Two horse trailers behind a Sedan(CAR). Really put things into perspective.. We like more Power and Horsepower than we really need..

My Superduty goes longer, Pulls harder, and has more power. But truth was I would get around just fine in my ranger with a two Horse trailer.

now three/four horse loaded, Or a 32 foot toy hauler loaded with liquids.. maybe a 14,000 dump trailer loaded with sand..That's a different ball game and that's what desiels are made for.

With an Automatic tranny, I would install a Temp Gauge to monitor.

Just take it easy and you'll get where your going.

Everyone want's more power than they really need.. I'm guilty.. I got a Horsepower Chip in my Superduty.. Fact is it works fine without it.. It's just funnier with it..

Good Luck!

[montananative]

Montana,
What kind of game do you hunt with your dogs? Where do you hunt around Billings? Do you go down to the Big Horns any?

well, i hunt alot of coons at the time being. there are a couple sections of blm i hunt out buy laurel on the clark fork, and then i have some private lined out smack dab on the bighorn river out by hardin, ive never seen an area with more concentrated pop. of coons, HUGE COONS!!. my female is two and a half and im hitting the lions hard this year. i dumped on two bobs and a lion last year, she took em both but we could not finish em out. plus over by the drummond, montana area (where i was living till august) there are fifty times more wolves then cats. i cut more wolf tracks then anything else, im not about feeding my dog to those bastards. ive been in the bighorns, but only to four wheel and snowmobile. ill be doin most my runnin on lions in the pryors and up at redlodge, or where ever else i can. i would really like to get her with some seasoned cat hounds, she is my first hound and we are learning new stuff everyday. are you from wy. if so how much would i have to pay to run my dog down there bein from montana, do you need a kill tag or can you just get one of them "hound trainer" permitts. the big horns are about only an hour and a half from billings, correct?sorry for winded reply.

buddy- good to know. how much more money will a guy have to shell out for a trailer with them hyrdo brakes. also, would putting a cool air intake help put out a little more power, or would i be wasting my money...thanks for the input everyone!!

[Machias]

Your problem is not pulling power but stopping weight. You get that thing in any kind of steep terrain with less then perfect traction and you'll probably end up in a heap at the bottom of some hill. I wouldn't recommend it myself.

[Buddyw]

I wouldn't worry about Cool intake or anything.. your not going to ever make it a power house and like you said it would just be for a year for short trips until you could buy a real truck??

Putting Brakes on that would probably be a project? You could probably install them yourself for 500 bucks, or find an Axel with electric Brakes and just swap the axel out for 500-700 bucks.

I think a 4L is rated for a 3100 lb trailer.. which is probably going to be about where you are. No different than me towing my dad's 9000 lbs trailer Cat hunting, My ass puckers up once in a while on the down hill grades that's why I want to get something smaller for cat hunting!

Keep the weight under 3K and try to load the tounge right. horses move and your probably going to feel it.

Since your loaded Heavy for that truck your going to want to stay away from Slippery downhill grades.. machias definately has a point!. might become that heap Machias is talking about..

Later,

[Big Horn Posse]

Montana,
The coons are a plenty around the rivers in Montana and Wyoming that if for sure. I remember when I lived in Johnson County we treed 10 in one tree one night and caught one that weighed 45 pounds! Had that one mounted. There sould be some good bobs around the pine ridge and rims around Billings and even along the river there. Most definitely need to watch for the wolves around Redloge and anywhere close to Yellowstone. I know areas around Cody are infested with them. I have seen a few sign over ther years in the Big Horns. I document and report any wolf sign I find. They have even made it as far as the Black Hills now. Pretty soon they will be populating with the ones in Minnesota and Wisc. Guess that situation is never going to get better.... Especially if the Liberal gets in.

What line of Redbone do you have? I have a good old red girl myself.

[montananative]

im not sure of her exect line but her sire is nitech peels burning pepper, and the dam is pr borgstadts moonlight jewels. shes an ok dog so far, not a whole lot of hunt drive unless she is running somthin, she dont range far to find the coons, very frustrating at times; but when she does strike, she is gone. im anxious to get her on some lions this year. i just got a pup from a fellow in helena. hes out of grch grnitech bates bawlin boomer, and ch pr bates moonlite molly. he is only about 11 weeks here but i already have higher hopes for him than my female as far as turing out to be a solid cat dog. extreamly bold for a 11 week old pup, not scared of anything, and ALWAYS has nose to ground...

im probably not going to fool with the ranger. i can hold off another six months or so to get another truck. no use in riskin the lives of me and my animals. i would not forgive myself if i killed the horse that i really want to buy because i piled my rig up. thanks for everyones input.