Over-loading a U-Haul?

[illflem]

Anyone ever done it? Any problems? I'm going to, they say the rating on their two axle trailers is just 4k, loading it with my tools it seems like it may be much more. Only going 450 miles.

 

[LSMITH]

I have done it to a smaller trailer, about double the recommended load. Look at the tires and make sure they are at max pressure before you load it. Some of the trailers they rent have tires on them that are not fit for a go cart. Make sure the one you get has good tires on it.

 

[Champane Flight]

Be careful and don't let them shove some old peice of $%#@ on you. I have had some real peices from them in the past. Had a car trailer(that they overcharged me for)that had no lights and a slow leak in one of the tires. Took it back and told them to fix it. Came back and picked it up,"Oh yea its fixed". About 100 miles down the road the same tire was almost flat. Checked the lights and had the same lights out!At this point had no choice but to fix them myself. Kept receipts on the tire repair and tryed to get something from them on my labor for the lights. That didn't work. I will never rent anything from them again. So be careful Bill and check there #$@% real well... . Good luck on your trip... . Let us know how it goes.

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95 Dodge 2500 Luverne grill guard,headache rack,running boards and Amzoiled. Soon to be mildly bombed. 84 Dodge d-150, 318 Hooker headers,Edelbrok intake,mallory ignition,Carter Afb,Accel coil,and Custom dual exhaust. Boat,fifthwheel,motorcycles,and shop. 72000 as of 3/1/01,not even broke in yet. Old Dodge 126000 miles and running better than new.

 

[Guest00]

Two broken springs, right side and stuck out of town. Had to unload it and hide the overload at local storage house befor calling for replacement trailer. PIA
It was a pretty new unit, when it tried to climb the curb. I was lucky as I was off the highway and looking for a resteraunt doing 35.


[This message has been edited by JNutter (edited 05-28-2001). ]

 

[RobG]

Here's the thing with U-Haul that I learned after having a POS truck when I moved from Nebraska to California back in late '98:

U-Haul dealers are NOT reimbursed for any service done to their equipment, which is why they will rarely willingly do anything to the trucks. They'd prefer that it break down on you on the road, because you then call the 800 number and the main office pays for the repairs.

The truck I had was a 14' (Ford van chassis) with the non-turbo 7. 3 diesel, towing their auto transporter trailer with my '98 Z28. I didn't look the truck over all that closely, because I didn't know about their lack-of-service thing at the time. It turned out that the alignment was so far out that you had to FIRMLY hold the steering wheel at a 45-deg angle to the left to keep it going straight. Let go of it, and the truck would LUNGE to the right as if you'd thrown it into a sharp right turn at the last minute.

I later noticed that the left front tire had at least four degrees of negative camber, and the inside edge of the tire was completely bald.

About six hours into the trip the first day, the inside right rear tire blew with a huge KABANG. I was able to get it fixed without much trouble (thankfully), but it still cost me two hours of travel time.

When we replaced the tire, I had the shop set all the tire pressures. Not one tire was even close to the correct pressure, which is probably why one of them blew. I also didn't know about the left front tire at that time, or I would have had them replace it and align the thing at the same time.

The alignment was a big problem, and I think we overloaded the truck a bit too. The trailer and truck swayed REALLY badly. Anything above 60 mph and it'd get so bad I'd have to back off. My friend following me in my other car said he couldn't watch because it was making him nauseous.

So... I suggest you avoid U-Haul at all costs. I filed a complaint with them and was treated like a criminal by their "claims rep" who reminded me of some of the worse used car salesmen I've ever met.

Ryder uses near-new equipment, but doesn't have that much in the way of trailers.

Budget is the cheapest by far, and are much nicer to deal with. I had a little Isuzu NPR-based moving van a few years ago, and it's little 4. 0 4-cyl turbodiesel and 4-speed auto (175 hp/350 lbs-ft) was actually pretty nice, though it wasn't all that fast going up hills.

Rob


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2001. 5 RAM 3500 QC 4x4 ETH/DEE Silver/Agate, 4. 10, USGear OD, Rickson 19. 5 Wheels, DD EZ, DD3 Injectors, HX-40, Southbend Clutch, SPA Guages, Psychotty, Firestone Airbags, Hellwig Rear Swaybar, Torklift Superhitch & Camper Tiedowns, Mag-Hytec Diff Cover, DD 4" Exhaust, US Gear Exhaust Brake, etc.

 

[Straight6Jeff]

One other thing, make sure you use a credit card. I had a POS U-DONT-HAUL trailer that lost an entire wheel. Well, the wheel hit a parked car. U-haul said I overloaded it, but thenn I pointed out that I had just picked it up 30 min before and it was EMPTY. The chuckle-head service tech didn't tighten the lugs. Then they tried to charge my card with the trailer damage. Mastercard had NO problems with reversing the charges back to U-haul.

 

[DennyDay]

About 6 years ago the DOT Motor Carrier Safety group was all over U-Haul. They straightened up for about 6 months and are now back to where they were. You guys with CDL's remember equipment violations now go on your drivers record because you drove the faulty equipment!!!!!!

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Denny
'99 2500 4X4 White short Q cab to much added to put here
Mom's Ram 2001 Qcab CTD with auto trans and all the bells and whistles

 

[BV]

Having worked for this rental company I can honestly say that they had very few corporate centers with people that cared about the service of the equipment and none of the dealers seemed to care at all. Even their repair practices had much to be desired.

Why do you think they put the 45mph speed limit on the fenders? This puts the liability on you since no one tows at 45 on the hyw/freeway/interstate or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods.

[This message has been edited by BV (edited 05-29-2001). ]

 

[QRTRHRS]

After one to many rags from U-Haul, I started renting from Penske. Last three trucks were either new or as new. My dealer usually has box trucks but one time just happened to have a 26' stake with a lift gate. I had a bunch of 10x10 panels at 100+ lbs per to move. Sure made that easy.

 

[illflem]

It worked well for me, 8. 2k in a trailer rated for 4k, although when I returned it it sounded like a wheel bearing was going out. Good trick for those of you wanting to weigh your rig or load, pull into a closed weigh station, the scales are always on, you just need to look in the window.