[Seahawk]

I've been going through the same math yet again.

When I bought this farm I had a 1990 Toyota truck with a four cylinder R22. I bought a utility trailer sized to the towing capacity of the Toyot and managed to work the farm well with that rig for five years.

I bought a Tacoma in 1999 to replace the older truck, which I gave to my Dad.

Same trailer.

My rationale was that is was far cheaper for me to either rent a truck or hire someone when I needed the extra towing capacity, which was a few time a year, mostly farm equipment to get sold or repaired. After a few years trading favors with guys with big trucks solved all towing issues.

We then sifted a bit, adding horses to the farm, and a horse trailer, two horse bumper pull.

So, I looked at the options. Everyone told me to get a diesel. So I looked at all the big three. This was in 2004 (2005 model year).

The price difference between that an an F150 with all he towing capacity I needed for the set up I had was simply too much. I went with the F150 with the large motor, towing package, trans cooler, etc.

It now has 115000 miles on it, 15K of which I was towing something (I keep track).

I am, however, doing the math again. I still own horses, but we've added a dump trailer, a 22ft flat bed, etc. All are still within the F150's capacity, but the truck doesn't pull them well at weight.

I like metrics so I assign weighted criteria to the tasks the truck will do. The key metric for me was distances involved in the tows: The dump trailer is always a local get (rock, gravel, mulch, etc.) so I can manage two trips if needed. The 22ft'er is mostly local ops, with a few long hauls. For the long hauls, the weight is much less on the trailer so that is not an issue.

The horse trailer is easy. Tracks like a dream.

So, should I get another truck (in debate) it will be an F150 or a Chevy.