ive been looking up truck/trailer possibilities for potentially starting up a side lawn maintenance/lawn care business.

at first i was looking at 1500 options then 2500... then i started looking at light duty/compact trucks...

my questioned would be... could i get away with a v6 light duty truck with a 6x10 trailer say a ford ranger?

my full-time job is property maintenance and i travel 75+ miles a day commute so a smaller truck would be the best option for my full time job but i feel like it would be cutting it for landscaping.

It all depends on how much shit you plan on dragging around with you, and if you plan on plowing in the winters.

Here's a list of towing capacitys for most major truck brands and models.
http://www.onlinetowingguide.com/guidelines/towing_capacities.html

well its still a idea up in the air

what would happen if it does work out

id continue to work my reg job 5am- 3:30pm then go grab my trailer and work 4-7:30pm ish for starting... if it works out then eventually focusing on it 100% and expanding the company

so starting out... just a mower/weed wacker/blower/ rack/barrel... nothing that crazy at first

if its just going to be the simple basics like that a small truck would be fine. however if you plan on upgrading trailer and maybe multiple mowers and all that other bs they pack around that small truck is going to be way past its tow limit pretty soon. dont forget to take into account the weight of the trailer you plan on purchasing. also if you are worried about gas mileage then you might as well go with a 1500 and a v8 because most of the v6s arent getting impressive gas mileage. a v8 2wd (if 2wd is feasible for you) would probably get around the same or maybe a little better gas mileage and it would be easier towing for the truck.

eh i hate 2wd ... i live in New Hampshire ( in the winter 2wd sucks)

atm i have a 2002 ford escape... 4wd gets about 20 mpg

so in theory for the business it would go like this....

work my property maintenance job 7am-3:30 pm then 4pm-7:30pm or when ever the job gets done for this summer ( will be a long/tough summer)... looking to maybe do 5-10 smaller accounts (residential) just to get a system going and analyze the business... if it's successful then I'd drop the Property maintenance job and do landscaping full time the next summer and look into getting into plowing/mulching/spring~fall Clean up's... Which will require a f250 maybe even f350 dump truck


but as of now i've been looking at that first starter truck... i saw people use a ford ranger with a 6x10 trailer but i dont know trucks enough to know if this is feasible. i mean start up cost for this business will be about $10,000.00

3 liter v6 ranger will be fine for this purpose. My best friend and I used to haul 4 Big Bears back and forth to the hunting lease with an 03 model. Never seemed to strain, and never had many mechanical problems.

I just went with 2 vehicles, i have a 96 burb i picked up for less than 3k, handles any towing/hauling i need, then i have my DD impala that gets better (if not great) milage