car...hauling over 2000lbs worth of weight behind her with the trailer

what the heck was she hauling and why would you attempt to haul over 2,000lbs with a car?

What do you guys think...from what i have so far...could a 24 foot truck work or would i need a larger one?

If you are pulling a car behind it, you will have to fit it in the 24ft.  Even the 24ft is pushing it when towing a car.

I'm not real happy that Marcie's doing this by herself. I understand that it might have been the only choice you guys had, but I'll tell you this much, you better treat that girl to some serious bling.

Best wishes with the move.

24 footer is cutting it close. 

Wow...road tripping all by herself! I really do hope she gets there safe and soon.

That's a hell of a lot of weight to be towing with a car, let alone to be towing over hills. No wonder the car overheated.

I'd say that the 24' van is going to be a bit on the wee side for all of your stuff AND to haul a car with, and you're going through the Rockies as well? Wow. I think you might be asking for trouble there.

I understand that it might have been the only choice you guys had, but I'll tell you this much, you better treat that girl to some serious bling.

I'll second that...hell yes you had!

Good luck...and please, please think twice about that 24 foot-er!

I'm not real happy that Marcie's doing this by herself. I understand that it might have been the only choice you guys had, but I'll tell you this much, you better treat that girl to some serious bling.

Bling? Nah, all a girl needs is love. Marcie will be filled with a sense of accomplishment when all is settled. There's no reason to feel sorry for her, any more than we should feel sorry for Ziggy. Moving is tough but worth it! I once packed up an entire house into a Uhaul all by myself. I drove out the next day, unpacked the whole thing by myself that night (it took me 7 hours; no one showed up to help me)...I slept the entire next day. Any girl can do it! Even this 5'2" 110 lb gal. Girl Power Marcie!

If you pack everything real tightly (leaving no air between anything), a 24 foot truck may do. Good luck!

what the heck was she hauling and why would you attempt to haul over 2,000lbs with a car?

Because the car can pull it. The hitch itself is rated for 3500 lbs. The car could pull that much...but safely...nope. As far as my car...she drove it 1800 miles with a newly rebuilt tranny (following me a mile or so ahead)...hauling my older motorcycle. We are using the came kind of trailer and the new bike is only 100lbs heavier than my old one...but we didnt add anything extra in the trailer this time around so she is actually hauling less than she did when we moved over here.
This time...she decided to bypass most of the rockies and head south, that way...only hitting some hills. The reason the car overheated, I figure is because I just had the tranny and coolant fluids changed before she left and the overflow was probably overfilled as we didnt have any leaking problems on the way over and that was hitting the bad parts of the rockies. Also...when she stopped, she would just turn the car off...which is normally fine...but for a car that is overheating...its best for the car to just let it keep running to keep that coolant moving around. She shut it off...which caused the cooling system to get hotter and hotter until it started to boil over. I told her to leave the car running and she said that helped alot.

If you are pulling a car behind it, you will have to fit it in the 24ft. Even the 24ft is pushing it when towing a car.

Maybe Im reading this wrong...doesnt make sense...can you reword it? The 24 and 26 footers all have the same size engine. Marcie and I took a 21 footer over here last year and that had a Ford V12 which really didnt have much power at all. Now...Uhaul has the same engine in the larger trucks as well. I asked for a diesel, but they said only the older models have them....which to me is dumb. I figure....if you are going to need something half the size of a semi-truck...you might as well have a very powerful diesel engine instead of a puny gas engine. Their trucks are more than capable of towing the car. I cant even tell the thing is back there when Im driving.

I'm not real happy that Marcie's doing this by herself. I understand that it might have been the only choice you guys had, but I'll tell you this much, you better treat that girl to some serious bling.

Im not happy shes going alone either. But...she is a big girl, and a farm girl to boot....if she was a city gal...that'd be different. It was her idea...I think. Didnt really have any other choice either, like you said, as she needed to get up there quick to not only be there on time to show up to work, but also to find a place for us to live. With the time it would take to pack up our place and everything and get on the road, i think that would be cutting it close.

24 footer is cutting it close.

Thats what I figure...Im going to call a guy I know who used to move people for a living....he should be able to tell me better what Ill need. Right now...Im more worried about fiances. Wells Fargo accepted a 260 dollar check I wrote out in April of 04...and Id idnt have the money in my account for that. So with the fine and all...I owe them 300 bucks just to break even. Then the DMV down here cant make up there mind on anything as they are just......totally screwing everything up with my bike and its registration so I owe them 250 more dollars when they finally get their act straight. Who knows...maybe I can just bypass that issue anyways since Im moving to MN...probably not. Then when I fill the Uhaul up...its a 60 gallon tank...lots of money and hmmm...not sure how Im going to pull that off.

I was thinking of hacking into her JU account and blogging daily updates on behalf of her...but...nah. Ill let her do that when she manages to get back on the computer. She was a little frazzled when she stopped and it was overheating as she didnt know what to do and was so far away..but after I talked to her and made some phone calls for advice...she settled down and was ok. The car is pulling the trailer fine...just heats up a lot easier. She called tonight and was about 700 miles away. She is going to call me in the morning when it is lighter and ask me about the tie downs for the bike as one of them is loose. When I tied it down....I had to improvise as the bike should realy be tied down at 6 different spots, 3 on each side...but the trailer didnt have enough anchors so I had to make due with what I got. I tied it down pretty good last night....strapped the heck out of it and pulled it tight to the trailer...Ill have to take a picture of it because it is pretty well compressed down...looks different from usual.

Anywho...Im rambling...back to work.

The hitch itself is rated for 3500 lbs. The car could pull that much..

Ummmmm....I don't think so.  Unless, of course, your "car" is bigger than a Chevy Tahoe, which has less than 3,000 towing weight http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index.cfm/vehicle_number_int/1014885/Action/StandardFeatures

The rating on your hitch has nothing to do with the towing capacity of your vehicle.  Even crown victorias and Caprices (which have the largest car tow ratings) max out at 2,000lbs, and that is for casual tow.

What I was saying about the 24ft trailer has to do with the length of the vehicle.  If you put a towed car on the back of a 24 ft Uhaul, you are at the maximum of what is safe.  Once you get bigger, you're really pushing your luck. 

Their diesels don't have any more power than their gas engines do.  Diesel doesn't produce any more hp than gas, it just depends on the engine that they put in them as to how much hp they have.  You also have to keep in mind that the Uhaul's tranny is geared to pull things.  It's a workhorse.  It's not meant to have "power".  A lot of them are also governed.  In most states, a 24ft Uhaul has to obey the same speed limits as a semi.

 

Because the car can pull it. The hitch itself is rated for 3500 lbs. The car could pull that much...but safely...nope.

Just because the hitch is rated for 3000lbs does not mean the car can/ should pull that much. It just means the hitch can handle that much. I have not seen to many cars that could handle that much. And none of the newer cars can. Every one of them is underpowered for that kind of service. I hope she makes it. Afterwhich your probably going to have to replace the tranny yet again. Your looking at 1000-1500 lbs of tounge weight. That's too much.

Because the car can pull it. The hitch itself is rated for 3500 lbs. The car could pull that much...but safely...nope.

Just because the hitch is rated for 3000lbs does not mean the car can/ should pull that much. It just means the hitch can handle that much without ripping itself off the vehicle or breaking. I have not seen to awful many "cars" that could handle that much. And none of the newer cars can. Every one of them is underpowered for that kind of service. I hope she makes it. Afterwhich your probably going to have to replace the tranny yet again. Your looking at 1000-1500 lbs of tounge weight (that's weight directly added to the car). That's too much.

After all your mewling and moaning about how selfish americans are, i don't suppose it's ever occurred to you that you dont NEED all that "stuff."Give about half of it away to a local church, Goodwill store, or the Salvation Army. Since you've already got a goodly amount of stuff in storage, you have far too many belongings, considering all those starving people in Yemen.

True. But Marcie and I are also planning towards the future when we get a house. The amount of furniture in our place is average. Our sectional ended up being much larger than we thought and if we put it completely together, we wouldnt be able to walk into the living room. Also, we have extra pieces of furniture because a couple that we know from Bible study recently decided to move and didnt want to pay the movers to take their funiture. That is why we have extra pieces as well. But, we figured that it would be cheaper to hold onto them in storage rather than to buy furniture when the time comes that we get a house, and all of the things they gave us are rather spendy pieces of furniture themselves so we are keeping them until we get a house.

Marcie and I arent greedy. She didnt grow up in a rich family and she will tell you that Im more concerned about money issues than she is. We both have considerable amount of loans. She lived on a farm in a 100 year old house. My dad has gone from job to job because of the economy and employers he didnt like and my mom is a teacher, so money has never been a big concern for me. Her article was about.....aww forget it...you'll just twist my words again and she cant say anything to you either because when you blacklisted me, you also blacklisted her.

Ummmmm....I don't think so. Unless, of course, your "car" is bigger than a Chevy Tahoe, which has less than 3,000 towing weight http://www.autoweb.com/content/research/vir/index.cfm/vehicle_number_int/1014885/Action/StandardFeatures

Karma...well...in one sense you are right. My car is rated to haul 1,000 lbs. I did some research last night on it. 1,000 lbs isnt much...slightly more than 3 of me (im 312). Many times people can go over that limit just by packing the heck out of the car. Chevrolet says the car can safely tow 1,000lbs. Thats based on a number of factors. The car can pull well over that amount as well. It has 175 horsepower...which while it isnt much, can do the job in pulling loads. The car can probably pull 4 thousand pounds. SAFELY? No.
It cant safely pull because it: Isnt powerful enough, and the brakes arent designed for that load. However, it can pull the 2100 lbs she is pulling with no issue outside of heating during inclines and longer braking distance.

She hauled my older bike out here last year and the only problems were going up the mountains in the Rockies and some inclines. Otherwise...there wasnt an issue. I think the car also maxed out at 70mph. The only thing I wanted her to be aware of was the cars cooling system and braking.

The rating on your hitch has nothing to do with the towing capacity of your vehicle. Even crown victorias and Caprices (which have the largest car tow ratings) max out at 2,000lbs, and that is for casual tow.

I know that...thats why I said "The hitch itself is rated for 3500 lbs. The car could pull that much...but safely...nope." That hitch is designed to go on a number of vehicles and right, just because it is rated for 3500, doesnt mean my car can safely pull that much weight.

If you put a towed car on the back of a 24 ft Uhaul, you are at the maximum of what is safe. Once you get bigger, you're really pushing your luck.

I guess I still dont understand this one. As the truck gets bigger, so does the engine, but the engine is the same size in Uhaul for their 21,24, and 26 footers. Simply put, I cant put everything i have in the 21 footer as that is what we took on the way down here, the 24 footer is what I have reserved and the 26 footer is what I think I might need. The truck easily has the power to haul everything inside of it plus the car behind it...thats no problem at all. My issue is that it has, pardon my french, no balls for torque in getting up the mountains.

Afterwhich your probably going to have to replace the tranny yet again.

We had to replace the transmission last spring because of something I did. I was going forward at a walking pace or so...shifted it into reverse and pressed the gas ebfore it had time to get into gear...it slammed into gear and blew the tranny. I had it rebuilt and since then it hasnt had an issue. She drove it through the rockies just fine outside of slight heating issues. And over the past year, it hasnt had an issue. The car has 140k miles on it and no major problems outside of the tranny which was my fault. Now, she is going a much flater route and the only problem she has had has not been engine or transmission stuff, just overheating which doesnt surprise me since I changed it last week and they very well could have put too much coolant in. She was also driving in hotter temperatures this time around than when we came down here. Anyways..if it needs to be rebuilt...a rebuilt kit costs about 100 bucks or less.

But...she is a big girl, and a farm girl to boot....if she was a city gal...that'd be different. It was her idea...I think

I'm certainly not trying to imply that she's incapable or not competent enough to do it. It's just a monumental task and extraordinarily stressful. That's why I suggested a treat, hehe.

I was thinking of hacking into her JU account and blogging daily updates on behalf of her...but...nah.

I understand that you don't want to "speak for her," but updates would be great. I've been thinking about her and hoping that her trip is going well.

Good Luck

I'm certainly not trying to imply that she's incapable or not competent enough to do it. It's just a monumental task and extraordinarily stressful. That's why I suggested a treat, hehe.

I understand that you don't want to "speak for her," but updates would be great. I've been thinking about her and hoping that her trip is going well.

She left Santa Rosa, NM this morning and I called me about four hours later when she had to fuel up again. If i remember correctly, the car only gets about 11 miles to the gallon when she pulls the bike and trailer...so she has to stop every 200 miles. Didnt have any problems so far. She said the scenery was beautiful in that area.

Afterwhich your probably going to have to replace the tranny yet again. We had to replace the transmission last spring because of something I did. I was going forward at a walking pace or so...shifted it into reverse and pressed the gas ebfore it had time to get into gear...it slammed into gear and blew the tranny. I had it rebuilt and since then it hasnt had an issue. She drove it through the rockies just fine outside of slight heating issues. And over the past year, it hasnt had an issue. The car has 140k miles on it and no major problems outside of the tranny which was my fault. Now, she is going a much flater route and the only problem she has had has not been engine or transmission stuff, just overheating which doesnt surprise me since I changed it last week and they very well could have put too much coolant in. She was also driving in hotter temperatures this time around than when we came down here. Anyways..if it needs to be rebuilt...a rebuilt kit costs about 100 bucks or less.

"If" it makes it, have the tranny fluid looked at. If the fluid is burned then rebuild it. Cause that means the drive bands will be iffy at that point. What your doing do it is way hard on an automatic tranny. But, God I sure hope she makes it okay!