Best way to tow over the road

[Red69stepside]

I need to tow my pickup behind a 16-foot U-haul about 700 miles.

What's the best way to do this? Any approaches that might cause damage to the truck?

Thanks in advance.

[cdowns]

hook the u-haul up behind your truck and get on down the road

[Shane65]

Unless the U-haul trailer has a wierd axle location, the truck goes on the trailer front first. This keeps the weight towards the front of the axles. If a trailer is too heavy at the rear you can get some severe trailer whipping. Tongue weight should be 10% of the trailer and load weight. Assume the truck weighs 4000 pounds and the trailer 1500 pounds then the tongue weight should be 550 pounds.

[junkyardjohn]

U-HAUL IS THE CRUMMIEST TRUCK & TRAILOR RENTAL SERVICE YOU CAN GET.MOST ALL OF THEYRE EQUIPTMENT IS SERVICED BY 17 YEAR OLD PIMPLE FACED KIDS, OR SO CALLED MECHANICS THAT YOU WOULDN'T LET WORK ON YOUR LAWNMOWER. IF THEY WERE SUBJECT TO THE SAME INSPECTIONS THAT OVER THE ROAD TRUCK WERE ..... 98% OF THEM WOULDN'T PASS.
RENT FROM ANYBODY BUT U-HAUL!!! JOHN

[Red69stepside]

JYJohn:

Got an alternative?

[junkyardjohn]

Originally Posted by Red69stepside

JYJohn:

Got an alternative?

YEP --- ANY , & I MEAN ANY!! RENTAL COMPANY IS BETTER THAN U-HAUL.
U-HAUL IS NOT THE ONLY RENTAL CO. AROUND... JUST THE WORST.
JOHN

[Shane65]

When you say tow your truck behind a 16 footer i assumed you were talking trailer. If the U haul(or other rental truck) truck is a 16 footer then that's a different story. Best bet would be to use a tow dolley. If the pickup is automatic then the driveshaft has to be disconnected from the rear end.

[Red69stepside]

BTW, you're both assuming I was going to use a trailer...I guess that means my idea of just hooking the pickup up to the back of the 16-footer and letting it roll on its wheels is not a good one...??

[Red69stepside]

Junk yard: Gotcha

Shane65: What is a tow dolley and whare do if find one? Would the trailer be better anyway? I'm pretty new at this.

[thisolechevy]

if the "16 footer" is a actual vehicle, then I would opt. for a car hauler. It is a trailer made specifically to haul a truck, with all 4 wheels on, NO CHANCE OF DAMAGE!!! but if you can't find one the next best thing is a car dolley, it supports only the front 2 wheels and the rear roll on the ground. Any rental company will have these, even budget rental.

['70_402]

just from experience if you can get all four wheels off the ground (completly on a trailer) instead of the dolly. just my two pennies.

[chevytruckfan]

If you are not going to trailer it the only safe way to do it is to use a tow bar. you could do it that way but not many of those around and you have to mount it to the front bumper or frame. The best way it the 2 axle auto trailer specifically made to haul cars.

[mrein3]

10 years ago a VERY good friend of mine sold me his pick-up and towed it all the way from the state of Wyoming. When I made that drive it was 1100 miles one way.

He welded two hunks of metal on the home-made front bumper to hold pins. Then made a tow bar and connected it to the truck with the pins. For signal lights he simply bought 4-wire trailer wire and patched into the harnes that goes to the tail lights under the hood where it comes out of the cab. He then just plugged this to his tow vehicle trailer hook-up.

In fact I think I just solved my fuse blowing problem. Every time I turned on my back-up lights I blew a fuse. The old school way to determine what circuit it is that is fowling up - IF THIS ISN'T A FUEL PUMP OR SOME SUCH DEVICE - is to put a 20-amp fuse in and look for burnt wire. I smelled the wire burn but never saw the burnt wire until I pulled the engine a few weeks ago. The piggy-backed trailer wire harness was grounding to the fender and causing the short.

To make a REALLY long story short just use a tow bar if your tow vehicle is big enough.

[Beefcake]

Oooor.... If you see towing stuff alot in your future. You can buy a car hauler. I bought one for 1000 bucks. Just brought home my burb on it. The trailer has pretty much paid for it self- considering I used to pay 300 bucks for a weekend rental.

[1972_K5]

Doh Just saw SHANE65's post
One thing to consider is that if your towing an auto tranny a long distance with the rear wheels on the ground some of them have trouble self lubing. I'm no expert on the subject but it has something to do with the internals of the tranny being moved from the rear by the diferential instead of the front from the engine. So even though your in neutral some of your internal parts are moving and there is no tranny fluid moving around inside. I would disconnect the rear drive shaft to get around this problem.

[Red69stepside]

Thanks to all. Sorry I wasn't clear about what I would be driving. I'm actually not even sure yet, but I was figuring I'll rent a standard 12-to- 16-foot panel truck and tow the pickup behind.

Looks like a trailer or dolley is the way to go. I'll send pix when I hook it up.

[Red69stepside]

PS just a little web research and I come up with this.

http://www.pensketruckrental.com/per...ing/index.html

Looks good at first glance

[jcueckert13]

use a tow bar and disconnect the drive shaft

[whitesswj]

Here's my two pennies:
On May 1 2004 me and i wife moved from Springfield, MO to Marion, ARk (Memphis) the tirp is roughly 600 miles, maybe a little less, there was me, in my 17 footer deisel uahul pulling my CE68 on one of their car dollie, behind that my CS68 loaded w/ my 75 honda CL360, behind that, my wifey 99 voyager and behind that my mom's 2000 sunfire.
I had no problems w/ the uhaul and tow dolly, i'd pull it again.

When i went and picked up my CE68 for PHOS in Dallas. I rented a tow dolly in sprinfield, drove deadhead to Dallas, loaded up the CE and had absolutley NO porblem.

I did have only one probelm w/ uhaul when i rented the truck. At the time the gas was getting too high, i was fully loaded and pulling a 3300 lb c10. I figured i needed a desiel motor so i could use less fuel, and i'm glad i did. spend 50.00 on desiel fuel. I had to go to 2 different uhaul places to get the E350 pwrstroke and then the 18 year old pulled up the wrong one. a 17 year old girl went and got the right one.
when i finally got on my way and started driving i noticed and Horriable fume smell, noticed that the stripping on the dog house wasn't tight. so i stopped by the 1st uhaul and they jumped right on it.
they took the doghouse off, and noticed that one of the fuel rails was comming loose. (this is a common occurance with the pwrstrks w/ 200K+ miles) they fiixed it within 30 mins. i was on my way no problem.
I paid 135.00 for the truck for thrusday, friday, sat, and Sunday, and .5 of monday.
i paid 40.00 for the dolly for the same time, go with uhaul if you can. they have better support and better rates, if you find someother place cheaper, tell them , they'll match it and take some off normally.


oh if you do use a tow dolly, then besure to disconnect the rear driveshaft so that your tranny isn't spinning. just disconnect it and secure it on one of the trailing arms (instead of totally removing it and loosing your oil out of the tranny) and you'll have no probelm.


sswj

[Red69stepside]

Thanks for the input.

I'm just an amateur mechanic, and most of my tools have already been shipped and put in storage.

I think I unhooked a drive shaft once a long time ago, but don't remember much (got theat over-50 CRS disease).

Do I unhook it right in front of the differential, or just behind the tranny? and what kind of tools do I need? Do i need a lift?

[whitesswj]

na no lift., if you're going to use a tow dolly, you won't need to disconnect the front shaft. just the rear at the rear diff. i think its 4 7/16" bolts holding the u clamps on. disconnect them and push the drive shaft forward a little ( loossen on the carrier barring bolts on top and don't forget to tighten them back up when you disconnect the shaft) then bend the shaft at the center bearing so that it can get to the trailing arms and get a good strong short bungee cord and latch that shaft on. I'd disconnect the shaft onece on the dolly, so then you don't have to squeeze under it.
sswj

[Red69stepside]

Just got some quotes on this move

Penske wanted $2140 for a 15-ft truck and trailer. But the lady said her system only goes back to 72, and a 72 C-10 was "too wide" for the trailer.
Budget wanted $1235.
Ryder won't rent for a one-way trip.
U-Haul wants $1176 including a dolly and moving blankets, gave me a month free storage near my destination, and was the only one to offer a diesel as well as a gas truck.

Going by price and incidentals, UHaul's looking pretty good.

[busterwivell]

Write back if you get there. U-Haul stinks!

[Red69stepside]

I'll do better than that. I'll post pictures--good or bad.

[thisolechevy]

Yeah I just recently towed my '69 k-10 from south Fl. to where I live in north Fl. about a 5 hour trip and used u-haul it worked great! anyways there data base only went back to 73 and they said anything before that wouldn't fit and that it would be too wide. Well guess what I have Mickey Thompson 33x12.50 and they just fit, rubbed a little going up and down but it traveled great!!! Good luck and post pics.