My U Haul Towing, an idea popped in my head.....................

[joetheis]

Once upon a time............
I had to get a golf cart AND my boat home, (my tow "truck" is a 2005 Trail Blazer. Hard to fit a golf cart inside the Blazer!).
It's a 450 mile(ish) round trip from Clayton N.Y. to my shack.
Picked up a U Haul truck to do it.
Was a 2015 GMC Serria, 2 wheel drive automatic.
Ride up was nice smooth, but what surprised me was I used like 8 gallons up! (like 28 miles per gallon)!
(I hauled up 15 gallon of gas cuz it $.30 cheaper here in Pa. used 1- 5 gallon can and 3/4 of the other)
I kept it at 68 with cruise all the way.
Loaded up, put it in drive and headed home, kept it at 66 mph home with cruise control on (I know your not supposed to use crusie, but hey! It's not MY truck)!!.
I couldn't really tell I was haulin anything, (cart is what #600?), boat/trailer is #1500 most), must be #6000 towing.
It did down shift some, but really not too often, no SCREAMING on long hills out of the engine).
the ride back went well also, (well, 11 miles from home, shredded a trailer tire, must have hit a pot hole on Interstate 81, (imagine that!! A pot hole in N.E.Pa.!!)
Used maybe 10? gallons going home!
Total cost of trip was $291 at U Haul.
So, from one guy who thinks WAY too much...................
I have the Trail Blazer that get 16 mpg @ the city (I use it JUST for towing and going up there), 21 mpg on highway.
I also have a '95 Ford Ranger as my "back up" tow truck, (really it's my work truck, I drive Mon-Fri to job sites).
IF, IF, IF I had say a 4 cyl small truck that got better gas mileage, I'd SAVE $600 in gas a year, AND not have the worry, "what happens IF I smoke my truck on the highway"!
Might be cheaper, (easier) to get a small car/truck, sell my Blazer and rent a truck to pull my boat up in April and home in Oct.
Just a thought, idea........
Joe
I think WAY too much!!

 

[alldodge]

Have several which have done similar. One guy rented a 2016 Doge Cummins crew cab, dove to Iowa from KY and picked up a 330 searay and hauled it back. Truck rental was unlimited miles per day, worked out real cheap.

As for cruise control I use it all the time, only time I don't is in heavy traffic or wet roads

 

[lmuss53]

My neighbor has a rental from Enterprise in the driveway right now while the local Chevy dealer puts a trans in his work truck. It's a 2015 2500 Ram gasser WITH NO TRAILER HITCH. He told me yesterday that he is expressly forbidden by the rental agreement from towing anything with the pickup.

Since uhaul is in the trailer rental business I'm sure they are ok with using their small truck to tow with, but I bet they want to know about it. I rented a car dolly from them a few years ago and they needed to know what I was towing, what I was towing it with, how far, what was wrong with the broken down car, and they told me I would be in violation of the contract and on my own for liability if I went outside the agreement.

I'm not saying you don't have a good idea, I'm just saying make sure you and the rental company are in agreement with what you are doing with their vehicle.

 

[joetheis]

I CYA on the towing.
I asked IF they had a pickup for rent, they asked where I was going, I told EXACTLY, "I'm going to Clayton N.Y., maybe 500 round trip to put a golf cart in the bed AND tow my boat. The boat/ trailer must go for less than 1800#".
They had no problems, when I went back I again told them what I did, that it towed good.
I also asked what happens IF I break down TOWING my trailer.............
As soon as traffic got "thick" I got out of cruise.
A few of my friends busted my ass for renting, but IF I didn't I'd have to rent a U haul trailer, ($50 per day), 2 trips up to get cart. then boat, (maybe $140 in gas) and 2 extra tows on my truck.
My "Virgin White Pimp Mobile"- My Trail Blazer runs great, and why beat it.............
Joe

 

[JASinIL2006]

The last U-Haul truck I rented (a 15' moving truck) was equipped for towing and there were towing instructions inside the cab. They pretty clearly were OK with it being used to tow...

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Last year I rented a Uhaul truck and trailer to take about 6000 pounds of concrete and brick to a local recycler.

 

[JoshOnt]

UHaul is pretty good about towing, I know all of their trucks here you can tow with. Not sure if you have to state it when you pick the truck up or not.

 

[Volphin]

At the end of one boating season, my SUV was down while I upgraded the valve body. I rented a U-Haul box truck for 19.99 and towed it home.

 

[oldjeep]

Or alternately just borrow a truck from a friend twice a year. There is a full sized truck in the driveway of almost every house on my street.

 

[joetheis]

I've been offered trucks by my friends, as well as trailers.
I had a 21' Silver Liner Cuddy and a dead Dodge Dakota, my buddy pulled her back for a pee warm beer he found in the boat cooler
Beer the universal pay!!:joyous:
But, the problems that linger in my head..........
What happens IF something happens to their truck/trailer on da road?
I'd hate the thoughts of having to replace my buddies transmission if it went hauling my sheet back, (I NEVER let him pay for it, after all it was my sheet he was hauling).
Also a empty 5' X 8' trailer bouncing @behind my Blazer for 3 1/2 hours up there to get the golf cart home isn't a pleasant thought.
My son has a Ford Full size truck that's 6" shorter than a aircraft carrier, 302 V-8 that can haul a house!
I can use that, but that is his lively hood.......
I rather pay the $$, let U haul worry about the truck!
The thoughts being, I can sell my Trailblazer, pick up something that is better on fuel, IF I can save $600 on fuel in a year, (that'd cover the rental fees).
Plus maintenance cost of towing, (I do the trans and all the drive line fluid, the trans cooler, good tires etc).
Joe
You think my head would EXPLODE with all the thoughts running @ in there.......... No wonder I forget to take the garbage out!

 

[Frank Acampora]

The only reason I do not use cruise control while towing is because when going up hill the computer gets excited and downshifts about 3 gears on my 6 speed. The engine gets almost full throttle while trying to maintain speed. I suspect that manually driving, speeding up before the hill, and losing a little speed in the hills is more fuel efficient.

 

[joetheis]

My '05 Trailblazer and my old "Blue Monster" Dodge Dakota did that, your cruisin along and next thing you know the valves are bangin on the hood, the motor is SCREAMIN and your not any faster!
This GMC, didn't seem to do that??!!
I could feel 1 maybe 2 gear down shift, but the tach went from 1500 rpm to maybe 2500 rpm, nice easy shifting, no SCREAMIN, just down shift, (I believe the first was the torque converter locking in, then the down shift to 5th).
I was REALLY impressed with the truck performance and best of all fuel sipping!
Maybe a GMC will be my next ride??
Joe

 

[pro-crastinator]

I don't mean to get off track but reading the original post, it seemed to be a comparison / contrast of the different engines and their efficiencies.
To that end here is my tale.
Chevrolet offered three gas engines in their suburban model - year 1989 (i think)
all were v8's. 305, 350 and 454 cubic inches. The 350 got better mileage than the 305, and the moral of the story is that you should choose the engine that fits the job. The 305v8 was having to do too much work pushing around all that sheet metal.
-Bennett

 

[joetheis]

As a Chrysler Tech for more decades than I'd like to say, I can tell you the 305 Chevy motor from day 1 was a dawg!
It has small valves, small intake and exhaust ports, (it is really the 307 which was a big over bored 283- which IMHO was the BEST motor Chevy ever made, with lower compression pistons, and smaller vlaves).
The 350 will breath better. Historicaly the 350 was a powerful engine, but you payed for it in mpg.
the 305 came out in the day when gas was jumping through the roof, O.P.E.C. had stopped shipping it to us and we were drying up.
The first years, the 305's cams went, people would buy a car with it in, pull the motor and find a 283, 327, (now THAT was a good engine!!) and drop it in.
I always thought they'd drop the 350 and go back to the fine 327, but... what did I know!!
IF, I bet you can bolt one of those V-8's to the transmission that this 2015? GMC had, wire in the computer controler, the fuel management system, I bet you get good mpg.
My Trail Blazer has the inline 6 cylinder, good power, good gas mileage, (@ 17-18 city, 22 highway, 17 towing ),but empty not as good as this 2015 pulling the boat (#1700? #1800) and golf cart in the bed, (#500?)!
This truck seemed to tow great, shift gears EASY, and got pretty darn good gas mileage, (when I think about it, Clayton is 275' ? above sea level, my house is @ 1400' above sea level, so in reality, it was a up hill tow home).
The whole point to this thread was,
1) Maybe it pays in the end to rent a truck to do you long distance hauling, (if you only do like I do, up in the spring, down in the fall).
2) the new GMC, 2 wheel drive, standard cab, automatic, truck got pretty darn good gas mpg up AND back and rode really nice.
3) Give # 1 and #2, perhaps rather than owning a GOOD towing truck,van, etc., save the gas all season by running a fuel sipper, to pay for the rental.
I feel for me, it just might be the way to go!
Joe
Take any advice I give with a can of beer er 2!