Carefully not being overloaded

Hey folks. First post here. Haven't had much luck getting legitimate answers on some of the actual car hauling boards, as most of us simply get that we're crazy for hauling 3-4 cars behind a dually. I've enjoyed reading this forum where quite a few of you are using the dually wisely, and for a long time, successfully. I use Amsoil and have ran all kinds of vehicles, and farm equipment hard for a long time. Well now I've had a 2013 Ram 3500 drop in my lap for free/willed. It was my wife's grandfather's, so you already know what's coming........ He didn't drive it much, and only pulled a 7500lb RV. It has 48k on it. They knew I've been pondering going into the car hauling business for a while, so he decided to just give it early. He believes that Mr. Trump will have a great opportunity/economy for me hauling cars in a few short months, and I hope he's right no matter who's in charge.

Anyway, I've been looking at 3 car drop decks, and true 4 car haulers like Infinity and Wally Mo. With all these setups a car would go on the back of the truck. This truck is decked out, and has a 14k gvwr, but after doing the math, it seems a 3 or 4 car would have to be loaded very carefully by putting a decent weighted car in the #1 spot, then make sure I have the heaviest car in the last spot, to pull as much weight off the truck possible, and hopefully it works out to 15-20% hitch weight. We were this careful loading stuff on the farm, but never weighed it. Just make sure the rear truck tires are in the ground firmly, and not squatting too much. After the math, a 4500 would be better, but the 4500's math only amounts to another 1600lbs or so possible payload. In other words I don't see how I can haul too many trucks/Suv's that way 6-7k. Plus Infinity is way too expensive, for starting out, and both it and the wally mo are 9k+, so again the math gets difficult, or are these trailers well balanced to carry most of the weight on the trailer? They would have to be, otherwise the 38k gcwr would be impossible! I've also looked at kaufman, but the configuration for the #3 spot is very low, and the Appalachian Micro 4 doesn't sound very stout, even if I upgraded to punch hole decking, but I like the configuration. So that leaves me looking at some drop deck trailers and all are well built and around 8k unloaded, however a 48ft 3 car is the only possibility with the length limits. What advice can you give me on loading these and staying legal with weights? Thanks, Chris

 

Flatbed, thanks for the reply. I actually want to do both cargo and vehicles, but that's absolutely impossible and there is no insurance for both......at least not on the car carrier forum, and those same forum members are on other sites as well, so it's hard to find the right info. In that 2nd photo with the tall cargo and 1 car, how did you get up that high to tarp it...folding ladder? Also it looks like you also have some cargo on the hitch, and I'm assuming you have a flat deck over there? So loading that.....was that cargo lighter than that 4500lb car? It has to be because that cargo looks big.

I see 1 trailer that is definitely a wood floor and in the other photos I see the back of the trailer is steel, but I can't tell about the rest of the floor. I was actually initially looking into a steel floor or steel runners and a wood or steel grate in between, with hole punched runners to load cars easily, which is what most dealers want, as opposed to the way you have them strapped. Do you find people you haul cars for, doesn't matter how to strap them? Just trying to make a trailer as strong yet versatile as possible.

I know that CD is low now. My neighbor actually hauls cars. He is semi-retired. He has a 3500 with a camper in the bed, and a 2 car behind. He at most has hauled 2, 1/2 tons. He has a few contacts that he hauls for that do custom vehicles and they pay well. So he's had to be very picky in the past 3-4 years. He's 75 though now, and getting ready to move back to CA for the last years. He's been trying to get me to take over for 3 years now. Typically when he hauls he's gone for 1/2 the month or more, and stays with family in CA, or he and his wife just stay out and sight see as well, typically in the NE, USA.

Lastly I'm in DFW, TX. I'd like to stay within 500 miles at least 60% of the time, as I'm just not an over the road person. I used to be a professional musician and have traveled extensively, and it was fun, but it's not a good life balance. I'm looking into cars because there is a lot of auto auction stuff here, as well as a lot of cars moving around TX, but yes, low pay. My wife is the main bread winner and we will always put her job first, as she works from home and has now for 13 years, and will also be able to move into management from home. I'm 45 and have actually been a stay at home dad for 13 years. The 13 year old can now almost take over, but I'm looking into 3-5 days of hauling still. Looking at how much the auto auctions pay, yes I'd have to haul 4 at a time to make any kind of money. I was looking at the Infinity and such because I can use a true 4 car hauler and stay under 65 ft, because I'd still like to be able to use the truck as a truck with the bed on. So the trailer's that were flatbeds, were the 48 ft drop decks, where I could still fit 3 full size vehicles.

Don't want to make it longer, but still loading the loads I see in the photos or what I've described above with a flatbed, it just seems that it's difficult to not be overloaded on the payload for the 3500. So the bigger question should be....what does DOT hold you accountable for in weights? The GVWR of the truck and trailer combined and individually, and/or the GAWR individually? If it's the GAWR, then that is like 9000lb on the 3500, but to have anything over 6000lbs, maybe even 5000lbs, of payload, would put me over the 14k GVWR of the truck at least.

The last thing for sure with hauling cargo, is all the strapping, and sometimes strapping difficulties. Boy I thought I'd seen a lot on the farm strapping stuff, hauling from farm to farm, and for the neighbors as we had a big farm operation, but looking at photos of LTL's, there is some crazy cargo hauls! Thanks for your time and help! I appreciate it! Chris

 

No problem, but my long write up is a problem! Just trying to get answers, and the car haulers mostly hostile to dually guys, even though I've run a dually to about 600k before we finally had to sell the parts off of it. Chris

 

Ryan, thanks for the info. Yes I've read through all of your posts, so I was familiar with your story. Thanks for the info on the different boards. I looked at all of them, but haven't done anything more. You just saved me some money! Chris

 

Flatbed, I know you're busy, but could you chime in, sometime when you have time please? Especially on the GAWR question at the end. Even the 4500 with a GVWR of 16500 only has another 1500lbs. of payload available to get to that 16500, so by my math, 6000-6500 would put me over that, but the GAWR of the 4500 is 12k on the rear. It just depends on what DOT measures, because I don't see how guys aren't overloaded on the GVWR truck, without carefully loading to make absolutely sure there is no more than 15% tongue weight. No hurry for an answer with the holidays and such. I'm not moving forward til the end of January anyway. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Chris