I use a 9 year old Chrysler Grand Caravan. I know, it's a minivan! But, I can lay 49" by 97" sheet goods flat in the back. I can also put an 11 ft. board inside. The advantage over a truck is it is all enclosed.
Jim in Colorado
Bleck, that's what I get for buying a shorty minivan. I have to leave the rear hatch open to get something home in my MPV (older). Still, I swear, they must have thought of this when designing minivans. It cannot be chance that there's exactly the width of a sheet of MDF in there.
--randy
What I have had since 1986 or so, is an '82 GMC Vandura. . .I built a raised platform for my tools, leaving enough space underneath to carry
9-10 sheets of plywood or other long, bulky stuff.Kim
This sounds like just the thing I need, too. I have a Jeep Liberty 4x4 that is rated to tow 5,000 lbs. I have been putting stuff on the roof rack (probably severely overloading it at times, too) and it is just killing my back and getting old doing that. Do you have any specifics about your trailer that might be useful when shopping around for something like this? I've heard that Harbor Freight sells a kit for a trailer that isn't too bad.
Mike
I'm going to weigh in with the full size pick-up crowd. My work vehicle is a '85 chevy 2x4. I'd buy newer, but the damn thing just keeps starting. IMHO nothing beats a old pick-up or full size van for carpentry, (or many other things for that matter). This presupposes that you have the parking space for said vehicle and that the ownership of such doesn't create a social *four paw* for you. Dean
At the place I work, we purchased a "SnowBear" utility trailer from Home Depot. IIRC, it was about $500. The bed tips, tongue extends, and the axle can be repositioned to vary the tongue weight. It's been used to haul lumber, generators, ATV's, steel, sand, gravel, and even a Jet cabinet saw. It work great. See:
The obvious answer is to rent one of the Borg's trucks for $19.99 for 75 minutes. They are stuck with depreciation, insurance, maintenance, etc... It would take 15 rentals to pay for a decent trailer.
Me, I haul my plywood in a BMW X5 SUV. You should see the looks when I pull up to the loading dock. I can stuff about a half dozen sheets of 3/4" ply back there. My problem is I like having 0 to 60 in under 7 seconds (no ply in the back!), slot car handling, and room to haul the family and gear to the beach in the safest SUV on the road.
thanks for the link, Nova, that looks like a pretty useful trailer. I can't seem to find any purchasing info online, though. The Home Depot in my town sucks big time, too, and I try to avoid it like the plague. but, maybe SWMBO will let me spend $500 on a trailer instead of getting a 2nd hand pickup, which is what I was thinking of doing. Seems fair to me :)
Mike
Northern Hydralics and Harbor Freight both have trailer frames with lights and fenders in the $200-300 range. I am still holding out for a garage sale trailer in the $50 range but I am a cheap bastard. I am looking for a small boat trailer that looks like it may have been a "magic tilt" since I already own a tag for my current boat trailer. Florida is a "no title" state on trailers so the serial number is moot. You just need some kind of tag. I have even seen box trailers with "lost tag" and a number painted on them.
I agree that must be pretty funny to see the Borg guys look at your Beemer as you load wood into it.
but, honestly, that has to be the ugliest vehicle out there that I've seen in a LONG time, and it costs upwards of $40K. ICK.
Glad I'm not the only one.
On both scores, really. Not only do I have ~300-pound in-laws, but I also did the crazy car thing.
I bought all the stuff to build a big project. 3/4" plywood and 2x4s and stuff. I had to buy stuff small enough to fit in my car, and I was hell bent on getting it all home in one trip, so I had all these 4x4 sheets and
6' lengths of wood sticking out everywhere. In order to get it all to fit, I had to slide the driver's seat forward and un-latch the back of the seat. I literally had my forehead touching the windshield.So here I go on my merry way with wood sticking out of every window, my forehead on the windshield, and the suspension making crunching noises every time I hit the slightest dip in the road. There were two basically equivalent ways to get home. I took the left turn, for no particular reason.
Right into a *road block*.
Shit!
So here I am contorted into this mess, nowhere to go, and if I try to turn around and go the other way, the cops will just chase me down and things will be a whole lot worse.
So as I ooch through the road block, I somehow manage to contort myself far enough to extract my license, and maybe my registration. I had managed to fasten my seatbelt too, I think. Probably.
I finally get my turn, and the cop just looks at me, looks at my car, looks at me, and says "I hope you're not going far with all that."
"No ma'am, I live just up the street."
"Have a nice day, Mr... Mack... Macken Try."
Someone in NoVA with a pickup truck. I guess you listen to country music too, and think that because you drive a pickup truck and listen to country music, you ain't a yankee... ;)
(Actually, I don't have a pickup truck, and I detest country music, so just ignore my babbling.)
Um. Oh. My point. Right. I tried a Ranger. Too wussy to bother with IMHO.
Plus it's a Ford. Yuck. ;)
Anyway, I'd second the recommendation for an F-150 or some other vehicle (preferably not a Ford) of that size. Working on the other end, as somebody who used to load stuff for people, those stupid wheel humps are a real pain in the ass on the smaller baby sized trucks. Get the biggest, widest bed you can manage.
Depends how much you need to move. Here in UK, I use a 10ft x 6ft flat bed trailer behind a normal car. I can carry almost 3/4 ton legally. No extra insurance or tax and I'm not driving a truck when I don't need it. Downside is that the combination is more difficult to drive and you need space to keep it.
John
I don't know the US market place, but here in UK we use a lot of flat bed trailers like these.
John
Every Lowe's in CT sells the trailer, a 4x8 frame of angle iron, with sides about a foot high. Mine is the cheapest model, with no folding ramp and a heavy wire mesh floor. I screwed a cheap sheet of exterior ply to the floor to protect what I'm carrying and add a little weight when the trailer is empty.
I've had over 1000 pounds in it, measured on our town dump scale, and towed it all the way to Provincetown, MA and Manchester, NH, with great results.
I prefer this one over the HF one, due to it's larger tires, full 4x8 bed, and heavier weight. The HF is cheaper, so if it'll work for you, go for it.
I bought Hidden Hitch hitches and harnesses for my Subaru and Jeep from . The Jeep required 6 bolts and about 40 minutes of work, and the Subie 4 bolts and 20-30 minutes.
Barry
4x8 sheets, or 2x4 sheets? With the tailgate closed?
Barry
The Porsche SUV is twice as ugly, for twice the price.
Barry
Sorry, wrong url
Barry
============================================= I am 60 years old and over the years my needs for a "hauler" have changed greatly... and I have owned a BUNCH of trucks for that purpose...
SO In my opinion
I do not think there is a good (single) answer to your question...
Today I drive a Little Dodge Dakota pick up which meets todays needs just fine...
But 30 or 35 years ago when I was building my house, landscaping my yard, it would have lacked the "guts" to haul what I needed...as the years went on and I expanded the house built a few outbuildings, a couple of garages, etc my needs kept changing.
Today I may need to haul trash to the dump, car parts (body parts,engines etc .... hobby) maybe a couple of hundred board foot of lumber or a few sheets of plywood for a wood working project...nothing exceptionably large or heavy .. so the "little" truck works for me..
Bob Griffiths
Pontiac Aztek. Ugliest vehicle anyone has produced since the Gremlin.
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