hey guys,

i'll be driving cross country and i was thinking about renting a truck with one of those car carriers where the entire car is on the dolly/carrier (not just two wheels), but i'm not sure if my stock suspension t/a is too low to drive up on one of these. anyone have experience moving a 4th gen around like this?

see first pic:http://www.budgettruck.com/budgettru...es/default.asp

 

You'll want to do two things:

1) Find a place like a cul-de-sac, where you can drop the ends of the ramps on the curb and drive the car off the lawn and onto the ramps. If you don't have exactly that situation, or if it isn't enough; at least you kjnow the trick now... keep the ramp angle shallow. There are many ways to make it happen, and a lot of them involve lumber.

2) You may want to buy four 2" x 8" x 10' boards to put on the floor of the ramp and have the tires sit on. Reason being, if you have the kind of trailer that has a low floor and the tire wells rise aboive the floor level, then once you're ON the trailer, it may be difficult to open the door and get out of the car; because the bottom of the door might be hitting the tire well.


Beyond those two things it's practically impossible to predict exactly how YOUR car will fit on the specific trailer you rent. But now that you know the main issues, you should be able to work around them.

 

hmmmm....some good suggestions there. i was also thinking of maybe backing up onto the trailer rather than nosing in...lot more clearance in the rear.

the wood plank thing is a good idea too.

thanks.

 

When i sold my old car the guy who bought it lived a few states over and used a u-hual car carrier to bring it home. It was a thirdgen Z28 and nothing but the front spoiler scraped going on. The front spoiler on those cars apears to hang down quite a bit lower then my 4th gens front bumper so I would think you'd be fine, if not, those blocks should do the trick. You most likely won't be able to open the door, you can just climb out the hatch though, that's what i did. Then i had to climb back in because i forgot to remove my registration heh.

 

Here it is on the carrier. I know it's not a 4th gen but it will help you get an idea.
http://3gc.net/misc/car-leaving3.jpg

 

U-haul trailers suck ballz!!! They don't allow for you to center the weight of the car over the axles and put a ton of toungue weight on your hitch and will make the tow vehicle really a$$ heavy. This will make the trailer pull like crap, and give you limited steering authority in an emergency situation. Go for the dolly type like the first pic on the Budget website...looks like a much better option.


P

 

thanks guys. i don't plan on renting from uhaul, either budget or penske. heard bad stories about u haul with old equipment, $hitty service etc.

 

I've had my car on both Penske and UHaul trailers, and both times simply drove the car on to the trailer. No worries.

 

cool thanks all.

 

I used a Penske car trailer. I had to unhook it and when I drove up it, the front of the trailer came off the ground (about a foot). I drove slowly up the ramp and and the trailer eased back down. Then hooked it up to the truck, it makes you feel a little nervous, but take your time and it'll work just fine. Two other things, you'll have you rent atleast a 15ft Penske truck, that's the smallest with a trailor hook. Also, don't tell them it's for a F-body, according to their books, it won't fit and they won't rent you a trailor. They don't have to see the car you're towing, see what their website says fits and use that.

 

you'd better just pull it onto the trailer and not back it up b/c it will throw the balance off and "wag" with you down the road.

 

I towed mine on a U-haul from Tacoma, WA to Albuquerque, NM no problem.

 

wow....seems like some folks have a negative experience with these things. i'll have to see what budget says, cuz i don't need a 15 foot truck.

 

When I shopped around, U-haul was the only one that would rent the trailer ONLY, others required that you rented one of their trucks to go with it.

 

how much did uhaul charge?