Search For My First Vehicle.. Will it Haul?

My riding practices are in my 4H horse a pony club, we have them at 6pm every monday. I don't have any ability to change the time/days. But my dad doesn't work, so I would have access to the truck most of the time. Just occasionally if he has to go somewhere with it is when I would need to haul.

It really is up to them for the most part, I'll be happy with having a car if that's what I get, seeing as they previously didn't want me to drive until I was 18. They are only letting me because my dad got tired of driving me so far to get to school everyday. But a truck/SUV would be great.
I'm supposed to go look today so I'll talk to them about it.
Thanks for everybody's input!

Thats what my dad's truck gets, so it would have to be better mpg than that for it to make any sense even buying another vehicle to my parents.
I'm not really concerned about it being great on gas while hauling, just when I'm not as it won't be all that often.

I have a 4cyl auto s10 and it only gets 20mpg. My Chevy 3500 dually gets apx 18mpg with a carbureted 454. But my 77 f150 with a 300 straight six gets almost 30mpg. Also the 300 6cyl has near the same torque rating as the ford 460. For your price range it may be worth looking at older 1/2-3/4 ton trucks that are either low mileage originals or have been restored. Not necessarily suggesting a 70's truck but that's one I have hands on experience with (all 3 are in the drive as I type).
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this is not necessarily true. This is why I've always kept at least one 88-98 chevy pickup around. Have two even tho I don't drive them a whole lot. Theyre good solid 4x4 pickups. One of mine has 216k and the other has somewhere in the 290k's. Now I would still recomend finding one with lower than that. But you can find those z71's for under $5k pretty easily.

Newer vehicles break too. The older ones you obviously have to expect it a little more. But parts are so cheap for the 88-98 years. And theyre easy to work on and its easy to come across parts for them. You don't have all the computer stuff and sensors like on the new truck, so while parts are wearing out on the older ones, theres less that can go wrong on them to an extent. Heck, last year on my 91 z71, I went thru and replaced both upper and lower ball joints, tie rods, pitman arm, brake pads all the way around, and all 4 shocks. Was still less money than the truck payment on my powerstroke

ahh I love the old straight 6's! That is another great option

Ahh I love the old straight 6's! That is another great option[/QUOTE]
Me too. I would actually of used this truck as my horse hauler if I hadn't done a tandom axle build on it. Now I'm pulling the walking beams and going back to how it should be drivetrain and suspension wise. It'll be our daughters first vehicle in 8yrs.
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I had a 99 f250 7.3 and got around 18mpg highway ( I thought that was good) not sure were you live, but a 96 f250 7.3 would go for around 5k or 6k in indiana. Not trying to still this thread, but I did sell my truck :( my boyfriend has a 2500 so there was no need for 2 big trucks. I bought a jeep liberty 4x4. Now the towing cap. On those is 5000. I have heard people would pull a 2 horse trailer with them. Not every weekend, but would be fine to haul every so often. What do you guys think. Don't want to blow it up

Ls6firebird,
Yes, the price will be at the $5-6000 mark, but with taxes (if bought at a dealer), registration, notary, transfers, etc..that can easily add up to almost 10k depending on your area and other things.

I just found myself a nice little '01 Dodge 1500 with only 73,500 miles for $6800. But, I'm going to have to replace the bumper most likely, which adds to the price. The guy seems nice enough and truthful..but then you also have the price of getting a mechanic to look at it for you before you buy it. Unless of course, one of your relatives would be knowledgeable and willing.

So, in no way was I trying to say that the price of the vehicle itself will be $10k..but when it all adds up, it'll probably be closer to $7.5-8.5, and maybe even $9k. You have to make sure your parents are offering $5k as just the vehicle and not the total price (my mother at the beginning of the week). If they only want to spend $5k total, including transfers and everything, you won't be getting anything with 4wd, let alone a truck that can haul.
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How often will you be towing with it?

My truck is a Ford Ranger and it tows just fine. BUT we don't haul far (10-20 minutes away), we don't go over hills or much faster than 45mph with a horse trailer. Usually we don't trailer more than one horse. Getting a light weight trailer is also important. My Ford is a 1999 and still going strong, but we are planning on replacing it this year. Make sure you have breaks on your horse trailer as well.

We actually bought the truck before we bought our first horse, so having something that could tow was an after thought.

It did just fine on our 400 mile round trip evacuation for a hurricane in 2005. Although that was an emergency and not something I would ever recommend!

My only concern would be the mileage on the truck you are looking at. My truck has half that mileage. My dad says most cars and trucks don't live long past the 200,000 mile range without lots of repairs.

Another issue- do not buy a truck that already has a tow package. You don't know how much towing the person before you did and if they wore out the transmission.

We don't have snow in FL, so I think that might be a consideration for you as well.

We did look at a Jeep liberty, but my dad (he's the car expert) thinks they will flip over too easily if you are in an accident.

You have two different needs that one vehicle can't meet. A good towing vehicle will not be good on gas mileage traveling 80 miles every day.
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