THE TRUCKING COMPANY BAILED ON ME - Uhaul trailer towing advice

Just ran into this problem last weekend. I bought a '84 Toyota FJ60 Landcruiser, that needed towed across town. I was honest with U-haul and they told me that the Landcruiser was to heavy for the trailer. Total BS, just like people have stated above, tell U-haul your towing a GEO Metro or YUGO. I had to bother one of my old bosses to borrow his trailer for a simple across town tow, wasted a whole day instead of a few hours that the whole deal should have taken me.

 

Pulled a car from Dallas, Texas back to Iowa and had no problems. Hardly new it was back there.

 

Shouldn't be a problem at all. One thing you want to do is ALWAYS check their hookup and check the air in the tires on the trailer. Low tires is one of the biggest factors for accidents with trailers. I have had several problems with trailers with low air in the tires rented from UHAUL and others. Had a box trailer come off the hitch and flip in the middle of the interstate because of an improper hookup. Hood wasn't latched good on the last truck rental and almost came up on me. Double check their work. They don't get paid enough to care. You are driving the vehicle, so ultimately, it's your responsibility anyway.

Bob

 

Larry... Bobwop's got it pretty good, but you can trust what I'm about to tell you... considering my day job is supervising R&D on U-Haul trailers!

When I entered your 'Gal into our "Hook-Up Book," it comes back and tells me that it's "not recommended" as your car is too wide to place on any of our auto transports or tow dollys.

The critical dimensions here are: the track is wider than 79" (outside to outside); or the rockers/doors are wider than 82" (as this is the dimension between our fenders.)

As far as lying to the person behind the counter goes... I've been guilty of it myself (before working here), but it's not such a smart idea. Sure, our trailers are built with a serious margin of safety when it comes to GVWR, but it's the dynamic tongue loads that most customers ignore... especially when some folks put their **** on BACKWARDS! You're really putting your and others' safety into jeopardy when your 1/2-ton pickup with a Cl*** 2 bumper hitch comes apart under the 1500lb static tongue load that your "light," short wheelbase altered introduces. ...hypothetical, but some folks don't think about this kinda stuff, and I get paid to do so...

Anyway, because the weight isn't an issue, I'd recommend measuring the widths I gave you and get back with me... if it's close, you might have some options...

 

When I use to rent them I'd take a grease gun. Some of them have a grease fitting on the wheel bearings.

 

R&D on U-haul trailers? Is that full time gig?

Maybe you can do some R&D to have U-haul offer up some trailers than are better at hauling bigger heavier loads. You would think with all the SUV's floating around there might be a good need for it, but maybe not.

I tried to use them to haul a 3/4 ton long bed Studebaker pickup once and they ended up letting me do it, but said I had to also rent a big *** moving van to tow it because they wouldn't let me do it with my other 3/4 ton long bed truck. Needless to say, I was backed in corner at that point and had to get the job done that day and no time to **** around and argue with them how stupid that was. Wasn't so much about the trailer in the end, after they forced me to go measure my truck and prove to them the wheelbase and width. But still kind of pissed about the box truck thing from 3 years ago. won't make that mistake again. And yeah, both the trailer and the truck definitely had seen some better days. But, I took it easy, drove slow and made it there and back (1.5 hours each way) with no major problems. That truck was a gas guzzl'n mofo too (even though empty) and cost me a lot more than my pickup would have.

 

Sure it's boring... but at least it doesn't pay well!

We've actually raised the GVWR of our latest auto transports by 1500 lbs. (to 7500 lbs... 5290 lbs. payload) for exactly this reason... we've only got 3000 of these trailers in the fleet, as these have only been in production for 1-1/2 years, so you might have to do some calling around to find these particular ones.

 

I have NEVER rented a U-Haul trailer ...

Those who know me ... know I am trailer poor
( 4 trailers in the yard now and have had as high as 7 )

But what I have seen ... with the folks using their trailers is that they ALWAYS run the vehicle to the front of the trailer and then tie it down. Make the trailer nose heavy and then it pulls terrible. I always try to keep the vehicle weight balanced on the two axles with just a little torque weight.

.

 

unless something has changed a 1964 galaxie will not fit on a uhaul or penske trailer. just my 2 cents

 

The thing with U-haul turning down renters is not the towed vehicle, it's the towing vehicle. They literally expect a one ton dually if you're gonna pull a fullsize car on an open trailer. The last time I was honest they made a big stink about bending the rules to allow my 3/4 ton camper special to pull an open trailer with a 2wd toyota pickup. Yikes!

 

I drove my stock 51 ford coupe from California to New mexio while following three friends towing their cars to a car show. the tow vechicles were a 97 Lincoln Town Car towing a 39 Ford on a trailer, one was a 90 chevy 1/2 ton towing a 46 Merc on a U-Haul trailer, and one was a 2000 F250 towing a 54 Ford on a trailer. the U-Haul trailer lost all wheel bearings near Flagstaff Az. a U-Haul dealer in Flagstaff replaced all the wheel bearings no charge and right away. then we were are on our way to New Mexico. there were no problems with any of the tow vehicles, going or returning home. speeds were 60-65 mph except for the grades ,then it was 50-60 mph. Just load the car correctly and make sure the trailer is in good shape and slow down. however, I do not recommend using a car as the tow vehicle...jdl

 

I put a 56 Lincoln on a U-Haul trailer. BIG car. it fit. Pulled it with a Jeep CJ-7.

 

BS, I trailered my '56 Ford all the way from right outside Denver to north FL with my F250 diesel 4X4 (which I was in all the way across CO and 3/4th the way across KS on I-70) and it did just fine. If I can pull my 9,500# travel trailer it will sure pull a 3200# car! I also pull it just fine on the level ground of FL with my Lincoln Navigator.

 

Yep... an easy equation we generally use is that a safe trailer to vehicle weight ratio is 1.5 : 1.

That is, if your towing vehicle weighs 4000 lbs. it is generally acceptable to tow up to 6000 lbs. with it. (Of course power, gearing, suspension ratings, wheelbase, weight distr., etc. all are a factor, so this is just a general guideline.)

 

I have rented the Uhaul auto transports in the past. For the most part just local -- no more than a 5 hour drive. Last time I was in a bind. I bought a non-running off topic 4x4 F150. The guy I bought it from offered to have it towed to my place by AAA, but his wife messed up the transaction when the driver showed up. I needed to get the truck because it was parked on the street and with a possible snow emergency overnight it needed to be gone. I used the website to see if it was doable because of the oversized tire on te truck. Appearently the newer trailers were wide enough, but the website said the 4x4 was too heavy for the trailer -- no issue with my truck. So I cut it down to a 2wd regular cab and it was a go. Ran out got the trailer hooked up saying that I had the 2wd. Winched the 4x4 up onto the trailer. The trailer was too short! I guess the extended cab pickup with 6' box has a longer wheelbase than a regular cab 8' box. The rear wheels just barely rode on the back of the trailer. So I have picts of how not to load a trailer.

The moral of the story, make certian that the vehicle actually will fit on the trailer before you lie about what you are going to pull

 

I towed my 4 door 56 on a flat bed trailer with my Chevy 2500 6.0L gas engine and had no trouble, i also tow a bobcat with the same rig. Duallys are overrated.

 

Good luck going 50 in the Peske truck. They are dogs... I hauled a 67 Firebird loaded with other **** behind a 26 footer all the way to central California from Fayetteville, NC and had no problems. The hills were just really slowwww... but no other issues.

 

I have towed a U-Haul with a 2002 F150 extended cab. First time with a '40 Pickup & the Second time with a '40 Coupe from SoCal to Vegas with no problem. Pulled the long grade comming out of Baker to Halloran Summit with no problem. The only thing about a U-Haul is they are really heavy and check them out mechanically before you leave. Good luck.

 

If your renting a 26 foot Penske box truck, why not just put the Ford inside the box????

I own a 24 foot box truck with a 21,000 GVWR, and I'v put many cars into the back of it and taken off across country.

Get a roll-back to get it up to deck height, or find a local loading dock with a friendly manager.

Chock the wheels down good and wratchet-strap it to the tie-downs... Works every time

 

Rent from Uhaul?
I believe your dealership must be the exception
I rented a trailer in Phoenix and when I pulled out the trailer took a different direction than my truck - it was 'rested' on my tow ball & not fastened
I also had Uhaul install their brand of brake controller on my GMC and the 'qualified technician' put a sheet metal screw thru my wiring harness & then replaced the fuse that kept blowing (wonder why?) until he burned up my wiring harness
Then I had the 'pleasure' of dealing with Uhauls' insurance company which is a subsidiary of Uhaul ...
I travel all over the country - what I see broken down by the side of the road by far is Uhaul equipment.
Between the LONG history of the family business infighting and the company wide failure to maintain equipment I would never rent from Uhaul

 

I wouldn't go that far, they've given me some real junk over the years. The worst junk was for cross country moves. Think the dealers push problem equipment on one way moves instead of fixing them.

On the plus side if you threaten to dispute the CC charge and give them time to have the equipment tracked down & malfuction verified, they will issue partial refunds.

 

Quick update . . . . .

I got here with the whole family, trucking company came through. . . . . . got a call on the second day here to start on a movie, . . . . . . been working 14 hour days, totally exhausted.

Thanks for all the advice guys

L

 

Good to hear, man! Congrats on making the move...

Glad you didn't have to go with the U-Haul afterall, 'cuz they're total turds anyway!

 

Great, I'm ***uming you got the Zombieland movie, then.

 

With that mindset you will be just fine when pulling cars.
Glad you made it safe!