Loading/Unloading cars

Yup, G...every wagon I've seen or messed with has a minimum of 3" x 3" vertical tubing sitting on a pretty much standard 3" x 6" frame rail or 2 3x3's stacked. Either way, that's 6" already off that 102 wide mark measuring from the outside. That's 96 without any arms, lips, etc on the inside. The hips on a Ford F-450 dually would be about 95 1/2" wide...so figure it out.

My guess is there was lotsa crunch at origin & destination...but he probably didn't have to chain it cause it was wedged in there.

Top back is usually it nowadays but I don't even like to take them there. Them tanks will tear your stuff up. Let the other guy haul 'em. We have loaded up on the top 2 rear ramps and then get out and raise ramps all the way up and drive across the top above the rails and sit down on a low-side headrack. I ain't that ambitious anymore...I leave 'em for somebody else and raise the rates on a small car to make the difference.

:smt114

 

Today it is EASY....but back in the day...BANKHEAD trailers....building ramps to make jumps....was scary....but today you can do it with your eyes closed...not recommended but you could do it....I have seen people back off the front of the truck....thats funny to me but not for that driver!

 

I owned a high mount that I had to slide the fifth wheel forward to load the head ramp. You could not use a jump ramp because you would not be able to get the ramp free. So, I had to get the trailer close enough so that the tires would not fall through the space between the trailer and headrack. Once you loaded the car on the headrack you moved the fifth wheel all the way to the rear and then finished loading the trailer. It wasn't bad as long as your ramps were in the right position. Ahh...the good old days. Another thing that was fun was the trailer ramps for the upper deck. The ramps were in two sections. If you hit the ramp too fast you could collapse the ramp and it was a bear to get it where you could load the vehicle. I had a guy at a dealer once who wanted to load my trailer. He hit that ramp full speed and the ramp fell underneath him. It nearly scared the s#>% out of him. It was a pickup truck and they had to get a wrecker to lift it up so that we could reposition the ramp. I told him to take it easy when he hit the ramp, but he decided that he knew better than me. It is much better with the stingers or even the newer high mounts have a dovetail that allows the upper deck ramp to be low enough to use a single ramp.

 

I have loaded some full size pickup trucks on a 96" wide trailer. Off hand, I don't recall if I ever put one in the belly. I usually put them on the rear of the bottom or on the top. Back then the trailer was built similar to what we call a quick loader today. Basically, it didn't have high rails on the sides of the trailer.

Corvette's are also a lot of fun to load, especially on the bottom of a 96" wide trailer. I have done that before, but don't recommend it with the newer, lower and wider Corvette's. The car is too wide for that type of trailer as are the angles you need to drive into the trailer. It is very easy to damage the undercarriage of a Corvette on an old Bankhead.

 

Good ole days for sure!

 

edit: double post. Please remove. Thanks

 

The older Miller deck holes were straight front to back, so you could line the tires up evenly side to side & know you were straight. The newer Millers vary per deck. Throws you off a little bit if you get distracted.

I bought a 07 used, not sure if someone put a inop over the tandems that was dragged out or ah~hem got distracted. The marks from which still remain.

 

GM makes a lower GVWR 3500 dually chassis that has a narrower rear track. State of SD is the place I've ever delivered one. But they are just narrow enough to fit between the posts, the only way I can see a regular dually fitting is on one of those shop-built trailers with the smaller posts.

I picked an old Impala a couple miles from home, one time, no transmission and no brakes. Used my pickup to drag it out of the tree plot and onto the back deck. It was the first car on and last off, so I used my p/u to snub it and rolled it onto the nose.

It went to some warehouse down near Long Beach (a block or so from the OCC shop there.) No forklift, no pickups, nothing! So I slowly work it to the back top deck, using the decks to roll it; and secure it so I can lower everything down. I used a wheel strap as a ratchet strap, hooked in a frame hole, and undid the chains. Getting up next the car so I could steer it through the window, I had the guy release the ratchet.

And then? Well, once the car and I hit flat ground, I did the best Fred Flintstone imatation you ever laid eyes on; it must have taken 200 feet to get that tank stopped, but stop we did!

I hauled a load of race-prepped Vettes several times, and kept some plastic mudflaps around to 'slip' the undercarraige over the tandems. Worked like a charm except that they'd get shot halfway across the lot by the rear tires if you were driving on...

 

I have noticed more older cars being transported lately. They sure bring back some memories. Hauling cars was never boring. I picked up a 2 1/2 ton vintage military truck several years ago on my step deck. I didn't know that it didn't have any brakes until I picked it up. That was rather interesting. The shipper was sending it to be refurbished.

 

One of my last POV loads was all 40's and 50's rolling (and I use that term loosely,) shells, intact bodies but hit or miss on glass, motors, or trannys. That load got so much attention you'd have thought I had a load of naked redheads working out on stripper poles back there! I pretty much gave up on lane changes after Barstow as I always seemed to have two or three escorts pacing me at any given time.