Need to pickup my tank - anybody have a truck?

[Greg Hiller]

I need a 15 ft truck good for 1000# for the weekend of Jan 14th. Anybody want to loan/rent me one? I need to pickup my glass tank in NJ (and give a talk along the way).

 

[WildBill]

What about a Uhaul rental if you can't find one, and take someone with you for that talk....and to share the driving.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Uhaul charges $1.69/mile on the weekend. Ryder $0.99. Adds up fast.

 

[spectrum]

Greg,
How long is the tank? My pickup is rated for 1/2 Ton and the bed is 6 ft, with the gate done it will hold 8 ft.

Dan

 

[stang8s]

what about renting a trailer from uhaul? Of course if it rains it will get wet and you wouldnt want a fish tank to get wet!

 

[Greg Hiller]

The tank is 8 ft long, 3 ft wide and 30 inches deep. There is also a metal stand for it. Although I appreciate the offer, I don't think it will fit in anyones pickup.

>what about renting a trailer from uhaul?<

This might work, but it'd have to be a darn big trailer for both the stand and tank, and then of couse I'd need to come up with something to pull it as I don't think my minivan will cut it. I don't much care about it getting wet. The stand is steel, and the tank is only glass and plastic.

 

[wrassefan]

Sounds like you will need a cube type truck...

 

[Brimc]

I rented a aluminum open trailer last year when I helped close an arcade last year. The trailer I believe was 10' x 6'. I am going by u haul in about an hour and I will find out the measurements. It was very inexpensive to rent. Spectrum that was my thought, the stand in the bed of the pick up and that tank in a trailer.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Jeff,

You are right, a trailer is a lot less expensive, I could also pick it up near the tank manufacturer and then just drive back. I might also price out renting a truck and pulling my little car back (I did it, looks like this would work out okay). At least that way I won't be driving the truck both ways.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I'm assuming the tank will be on a pallet. One think to think about, I've very rarely seen ANY rental trailer that was in good shape or had any decent shocks.

 

[spectrum]

If you go the trailer route, your welcome to my truck, it's already equipped with a hitch and light package.

Dan

 

[stang8s]

I'm assuming the tank will be on a pallet. One think to think about, I've very rarely seen ANY rental trailer that was in good shape or had any decent shocks.

Hmm yea typically open trailers have just leaf springs and no shocks. Im not sure if bumps and vibration from the road will/could cause damage to the tank or not. A closed trailer may have shocks on it, not sure.

 

[Brimc]

I can tell you from experience of renting many trailers from different companies that out of roughly 24 trailers that I have rented in the past 4 years only one has had shocks and this includes open and closed trailers. As for vibrations and bumps I have transported more than 40 pinball machines, video games and jukeboxes with no problems, well except a low bridge. The key is put lots of flat cardboard under the tank and wrap the tank in many furniture pads and make sure you use many straps to hold the tank in place. The manufacturer should have the tank pretty well wrapped and the corners protected well anyways.

 

[NateHanson]

I once rented a 14' closed trailer from Uhaul for pretty cheap, I think like $300 for 3 days. Seemed to be in pretty good shape with decent suspension. Not positive about shocks.

If your minivan has a hitch I'm sure it would have no problem pulling that trailer. That's a relatively light load. (what, probably around 1000-1500 pounds total?)