[AT] Transporting a Massey Ferguson 135 across country

Scott Williams swillia5 at rochester.rr.com
Thu Sep 29 12:33:22 PDT 2016


I really didn't figure that a 1/2 ton would be a good towing option.  I'm a big fan of diesels, anyway.  My '05 Sprinter is a 3/4 ton, and though it only has a 5 cylinder turbo-diesel engine, it would probably pull better than an old beater pickup.  However, if we rent two box trucks, my wife will be driving the Sprinter, and there's NO WAY she'll pull a trailer.  That is not an option.  But I could leave my tractor behind and come back for it, so it's still an option.

I'm still hoping to buy a diesel pickup, but they're pretty expensive, even the rotted out rust bucket ones.  Once we move to Arizona, we'll be coming back to NY every summer for a few weeks, at least for the next few years, so I'll probably want an extra-cab diesel pickup to pull a fifth wheel trailer for us (we've got 6 people living at home, though not all will be making that trip.)

I'm considering the shipping container and trailer ideas, just need to find out how much they'd cost vs. the rental of two U-hauls.

Scott in Penfield NY

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Offiler
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2016 8:05 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: Re: [AT] Transporting a Massey Ferguson 135 across country

Hi Scott:

On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 11:29 PM, Scott Williams <swillia5 at rochester.rr.com>
wrote:

>
> We figure we’ll rent a couple of the big U-Haul trucks (or Penske, or 
> whatever’s cheapest) the biggest box trucks you can get without a CDL, 
> and load up most of our things in those, but I’ll need to get my 
> tractor out there somehow, and I don’t know what the best option for that will be.
>
>
>
...I could probably buy an old car hauler
> trailer or other dual axle flatbed trailer for around $800-1000.  To 
> pull it, I’d use either my ’05 Sprinter, or maybe buy a pickup truck 
> to pull it – but that might just be something like an old 1500 
> Silverado, not a ¾ ton or anything heavy duty like that.


Do not purchase an old pickup truck and expect it to reliably tow a trailer across the USA.  Furthermore, my personal opinion (and this will be
controversial) is that 1500's or 150's or 1/2-ton's or whatever you call them are either the perfect compromise between a heavier truck and a car, if you want to drive them daily; or they are stuck in a no-mans-land of compromise between being too big and thirsty for daily use, and too light for serious hauls like a cord of firewood or 55 bales of hay or a sizable trailer.

Others have mentioned that a purchase of an older trailer will open you up for reliability problems.  True, but, also very easy to avoid by putting on fresh tires and wheel bearings before the trip.  That cost might put you up near a new trailer.  So be it!  You did say you want to own a trailer.

And why not pull your new trailer with that biggest of box trucks you can get without a CDL?  That seems so obvious that I feel like I must be missing something.


SO
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