Wanted: Somebody to tell me I'm a fool for wanting to do this...

At least get a Ranger, their way more heavy duty....lol

 

My dad has a Ranger. I drove it recently for the first time. Man, it's so "Ford"-y... not that it's a bad thing. It's just way different than an S-10. It did make me wonder if it could tow a little more - I mean it IS a V-6.

~Jason

 

For the hour a day that you meet cool people and see cool garages, there's about 15 hours of hammer down, gotta get there, fast food eatin, white line chasin boredom.

Weekend gigs would be possible IF you had a 3/4 ton or bigger truck, a trailer with brakes and lived in southern California. Otherwise there's no such thing as a weekend gig in the midwest. I'm lucky if I don't have at least a 6 hr. deadhead somewhere during a trip. Factor that into a two day run, minus all the leg work, cell bill, fuel, truck payment. Well, you get the picture.

Not saying it isn't possible, but it's damn tough.

 

Ok- I will wade into these waters- I have "been there-done that".

You are a complete fool for even THINKING about doing this, much less doing it with a 4cyl ANYTHING.

The legalities are unbelievable. If you get caught doing inter-state commerce without authority I think the initial fine is 10K. Then each and every state that you traveled through has the option of going after you for "fees" and licensing requirements. If you get caught without the proper level of insurance ( which I think these days is a minimum of 1mil liability), there are additional fines.

MOST people who are out there doing this stuff with their 3/4 ton diesel truck are illegal. Most people don't have a clue what their max COMBINED weight limit is. Most people don't even plate their trucks correctly. If you are involved in an accident AND you have exceeded the Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating for YOUR vehicle ( which by the way on a 4cyl S-10 would be anything much more than an EMPTY trailer) your insurance Company can DENY responsibility because you "knowingly" created the problem by overloading the safe operating limit of your vehicle. Try explaining that one to a guy whose car you were hauling and suddenly after a little fender bender you don't have insurance to cover his losses.

Unless you have ANY experience in transporting you would be better served going to the local burger place and picking up a spare job.

Sorry- but I did this for a living for a brief period and I can tell you- there isn't much money to be made IF you are doing it legally. Now- if you are running illegal- that is up to you.

One more thing to consider- Most states are lowering their requirements for vehicles that are REQUIRED to go over a weight scale. Let me tell you how much fun it is getting caught at a scale over-weight. It's NOT.

Another thing most people don't realize- Once you hitch a trailer to whatever it is you are towing with, you have now become a "combination vehicle". If you do not have enough plate to cover the MAXIMUM weight carrying rating on the trailer AND the tow vehicle, you can get a ticket for improper tags EVEN IF YOU ARE UNDER THE WEIGHT of the tags on the tow vehicle. I know this one first hand. I had a Ford F450 and a 48' Tommys trailer. The truck was tagged for 26K ( the maximim GCVR for the TRUCK). The trailer was capable of carrying 21K ( three 7K axles) BY Missouri calculations, the truck needed to be tagged for 48K to cover BOTH vehicles. Even though I NEVER scaled greater than 26K. ( the day I got ticketed I was at 18K)


Oh I could go on and on and on......

It is NOT as simple as hooking up a trailer and transport for fun and profit.

Any questions- you can PM me and I can give you some more details.

 

You know, this thread reminds me of when I bought a '59 Pontiac site unseen from a guy somewhere out west of Rochester. He had some buddy who'd haul it for me for $100, so I just had him do it.

He turns up with this cobbled Ford flatbed that you could see where the frame went from like 3/4 ton just behind the cab to like a 2-ton or bigger frame - no gussets, just lots of ugly welds. The ramps didn't match and the bed was just long sections of ramp type material, with no center to it. It had a dually rearend on it and he needed to borrow a lugwrench to tighten some of the bolts on it. The cab was like an 80-81. It basically looked like it had been built up out of whatever junk was laying around. But it wouldn't fall apart hauling cars.

Even flat towing with a towbar, the Hudson I towed today, 50 was about max speed.. above that she'd start wandering and pulling me around. So I went slow and took a back way home. Of course, I spotted about 3 cars I want to go knock on doors and bug people and see if they could be had, cheap...

 

One more horror story....

A couple of years ago my buddy bought a 66 Ford wagon off of evil bay.... he asked me to haul it, but I couldn't get to it in time for the seller. SO he answers this guys ad about a transport company. The guy quotes him some ridiculously low figure and tells him he can go get it immediately. So this guys picks up the wagon ( TWO DAYS late) in some beat up old Ford dually and a rag tag trailer....drives down the street to the local Walmart ( with my buddies wagon in tow) and goes inside. Comes out and the local Sheriff is there. Arrests the guy on the spot for shoplifting at the Walmart. Searches the guys truck, of course finds cash and a gun, and off to the pokey he goes. Meanwhile, my buddies wagon is sitting on the trailer with an OPEN title in the glovebx and a full set of keys..... The Sheriff wouldn't even let the guy lock up his truck....

Long story short- my buddy could not get a hold of the guy for a week or so and was just about to go hunt this guys down.... he finally got his car, but not after some awful sleepless nights....

 

THIS is the kind of thing I was looking for. Damn man... this shit has scared this idea right the hell out of my head.

~Jason

 

A full size pick-up (maybe 6 or more lugs) and an decent trailer with a electric wench (I haven't got much in mine, but it "New and Used", Wence came out of a catalog) should be good for pick-up and delivery within about 25-50 miles.

We've used non-dualie trucks to haul plenty of stuff (cabs, cars, parts, most of a house).

But If you've never drove with an trailer before, I wouldn't reccomend it.

 

This is a bad idea, but back in the 40-60s didnt regular cars pull big long travel trailers all the time? like 20+ footers? like on that I love lucy movie episode deal?

 

Hey - I always wondered about that!

I've seen old pics of early, early 60's Cadillacs pulling race cars on trailers. Granted, they were pretty light race cars, but it makes one wonder... maybe an old pickup with no drivetrain would be about the same weight?

~Jason

 

All the plating issues and other crap is why I went and picked up the Uglytruck. Got it plated for 11,999 lbs, and empty it weighted 6800lbs. GVWR was 11,999lbs. I got stopped a few times by the police and they had me weigh it on the truck scales looking for tickets and I never broke 11,000lbs loaded. Never got a ticket.

Made sure that I had good straps and always tied the car down really well. They will stop you if it doesn't look like its tied down in a complete overkill sort of way.

Painted a "Not for Hire" on the side and hauled crap all other the place. The only time I went accross boarders however, is when I picked up cars for me.

 

An early 60's Cad weighs as much as a half-ton Suburban, 4500-5000 lbs, has a long wheelbase, and a powerful engine. For the day they could do a good job with a trailer.

I've seen pictures of race track infields back in the day and almost no one had a truck to haul their car - and not that many had a trailer, either, they flat-towed their cars with towbars. That's why they would cut out the doors on them - not as much for ease in getting out in a wreck as to make it easy to throw some spare tires and tools in the car to get the stuff to the track.

I know a guy who hauls cars all over with farm plates on his truck. He did get a DOT number, but has never had a problem. Although he runs a lot of back ways to get places and avoids the spots where they set up scales and so on, locally.

 

I haul scrap and junk cars on the side. I use an '89 Econoline 250 to pull a 16' car hauler. I have a 10K winch with battery and the chains, straps and what-not to secure the load. The van has the 4.9L six, C-6 and 3.73 gears. It pulls ok, unless the hill is steep. I like hauling with a van because I can hide the load and small pieces like drums/rotors/crash parts can't fall off.

I can tell a few horror stories. The latest was last week. I picked up two junk trailers made from old pickup frames. I had winched them up onto the trailer and strapped them down. On the way home, I went down a steep hill into a valley. On the way up, I felt a shudder after a bump in the road. The rear-most trailer had come off and rolled (thankfully) off the right edge of the road! The deck of that trailer wasn't even attached to its frame! Fortunately, traffic was very light for a state route. It was evening, and all I could think about was THANK GOD no one was behind me!

Now I had to winch that thing back on, uphill, on a 2% grade, before a State Trooper came by. While I was reloading the trailer, I local construction firm employee stopped and helped me. I had to stop two more times to tighten the straps before I got safely home.

The moral of the story: Take your time and make sure the load is secure. Then check it again a few times during the trip.

I'll never haul with anything lighter than a 3/4 ton. My dream is a crew-cab Ford F350 [gas or diesel] pulling a goose-neck trailer.

 

Not trying to scare you- but rather warn you of the VERY serious consequences that can happen. If you haven't ever been "inspected" by a DOT officer on the road, it will make an audit by the IRS seem like a date with ___________ ( fill in the name of whatever suitabley hot model/ actress spins your crank).

Don't get me wrong- I LOVED the travel and the cool people I have met doing it, BUT as BenD says- it is limited at best. Most people you are picking up from are only glad to see you actually LEAVE and when you finally get to the drop off point, the people there are more interested in their new "toy" than talking with you ( and rightfully so).

I also suffered the same fate as BenD apparenttly does- I used to get hung up out on the left coast for weeks trying to keep busy and eventually find something heading east to go home.

Sad part is- I would do it all again IF I had the $$ to go BIG. You get beat up trying to run a 1 ton truck and a two or three car trailer 48 state wide. You really need a big truck and a BIG trailer.

 

Man, the thought of what COULD happen is what swayed me towards not being so gung-ho about this. Perhaps an in-state thing might not be so bad, but MO is a state that seems like there's not a lot of intra-state business in (correct me if I'm wrong here).

And I agree about going big.

At first I thought I could do something like hauling around the state in the summer, and getting a blade and scraping parking lots in the winter with the same truck. I'm out of a job at the moment, and this would be a way to be employed, etc, and bring in some money.

But the consequences of what happens to you if you're stopped and "not right with THE MAN" are daunting, especially for a newbie like me, who's afraid that I'll forget something and screw up.

But you're saying that it's really not all that bad, once everything's in order?

Man, I saw the FUZZ weighing a guy in a van towing a boat today. I swear I've never seen that before in my life, but then again, I've never had a trailer before in my life, and wouldn't have noticed.

But my mom even noticed, and said that they were weighing folks on such-and-such street all day, so maybe it's a new thing here in KC.

~Jason

 

Which is better? Flat towing, a dolly, or a trailer (or rollback, for that matter)?

~Jason

 

I saw that movie. Can't remember the name though. Anyway, they had a mid-fifties Buick (1954?) pulling a 40 foot camper. To stop, poor Ricky had to push the cars brakes, and at the same time, pull a lever for the camper brakes. Of course, hilarity ensued!

 

Wasn't the name of the movie " The long, long trailer" or something like that? It wasn't a "I love Lucy" episode, it was a full length movie if I remember correctly...

 

T think the movie is A Long Long Trailer or something and I think it was about a 54 mercury. It was nuts.

 

Moving stuff in state is a whole 'nuther ball game. Again there are regs and restrictions to that as well. That is call intra-state transport and in Missouri it is actually MORE difficult ( and expensive) to get "legal" to do INTRA-state than INTER-state.

The mobile scales- yeah they suck. The biggest problem in Missouri is that NO ONE at the local DMV actually understands what the plate requirements in this state mean. I have seen several 3/4 or 1 ton diesel trucks that don't have enough plate to even cover the weight of their own truck, much less a truck and trailer.

The plate you have on your truck MUST cover the weight of the truck, trailer AND anything on the trailer. Most people buy a 6K truck plate thinking that it covers the PAYLOAD when it doesn't even cover most full size trucks. A typical diesel truck weighs 7K plus, add a trailer and some cargo and you are even over the 12K plates in this state.

I ususally run an 18K plate on my trucks so that when I scale hauling my own stuff, I am legal. And trust me- go past a scale in any state that you SHOULD go across and they WILL come after you. Then they make you back track to the scale and weigh anyhow. Not to mention the hassle for "avoiding the scale" in the first place. ( I actually had an Iowa trooper Thank me for not " making [him] come chase me down")

I know it seems like an easy way to make a buck, but by the time you do any maint. to the truck and or trailer, fuel, food on the road, the money is actually pretty thin.

As I said- I can go on and on about this.......

 

The Long Long Trailer, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnez, directed by Vincente Minnelli, 1954. Supposedly the Long Long Trailer was all of 28 feet long (only what 2 1/2 times as long as the "tow car"?). Hmm how things have changed, I don't know if DOT would let you haul anything that big behind any kind of car now. I saw this on AMC last year.

 

I am surprised. I used to tow with a 86' Ford E350 with every heavy duty options thrown at it. It had a GVWR of 9945lbs - heh. It also had a 300ci six (4.9l), C6, and 4.10 gears. The thing ran great and got good milage, and you could put ungodly amounts of weight in the thing, and with its class IV hitch, you could hook up anything to it. It was the hardest working truck I have ever had.

The only problem was it was gutless. Towing a loaded trailer was a downright scarey at times since it would top out at about 65mph on flat land. I would want at least a 351W to tow with again. It would pull it and get it moving - but you had to really work the motor. Foot to the floor or quarter throttle didn't matter - it made nearly no difference.

 

Man, I know!

After I got off the phone with the KCPD Traffic guys the other day (and figured out how to read a truck plate), I've seen all kinds of trucks with tags that don't even cover their own weight!

The ladies at the DMV had totally no clue when I got my tags renewed a few months ago! If I knew then what I know now...

So I take it that when hauling, you have to either take a sack lunch or starve to turn a profit?

~Jason

 

Eat? What's that? I used to buy "lunchables" at the local Wally world.... and learned to sleep in my truck at the rest stops.

 

MMmmmmMMMm... Lunchables.

I'll bet it's hard to make a little cracker sandwich ay 75 MPH, dude.

~Jason

 

i see a LOT of guys doing that very thing. . . driveaway service dudes and small one-man hauler outfits.

hell no... i've made coffee (yes, in a 12v brewer), microwaved a sammich, and even posted to the HAMB goin down the road (NOT recomended in traffic ) ... all depends on how accessable things are meng

 

Ah come on,go for it!!!After all those"fees"and other costs,you'll make a"small fortune".Just make sure you start with a"large fortune".

 

You sir, are hardcore!

~Jason

 

SOmething makes me think that the hard work and licensing fees, etc vs the profit is kind of out of proportion. Kind of like these guys that look for sunken ships full of gold - they spend millions, and lots of times don't even find anything. Still, by a roll of the dice, others do.

I wonder if I have enough to drop on taking that gamble...

~Jason

 

HA HA HA HA...Hotrodbrad, That was the funniest video I have seen all day! I think it makes the perfect point to this thread.