We are going to be moving about 550 miles in about a month, from Sioux Falls, SD to Springfield, MO. We will get a shipping container for the not-very-fragile, bulky items. I estimate the rest will fit in about a 14-16 foot cargo trailer. I would like to rent that kind of a trailer for a one-way trip then and pull it with my '11 F-150 rather than needing to rent a straight truck since it would be a lot less expensive and much simpler. Apparently this is not an easy task as it seems only U-Haul does much for one-way trailer rentals and their largest trailer is only 6'x11'. There are a lot of local trailer places that will rent out units but they're local and thus don't do one-way rentals. I don't particularly want to drive an extra 1100 miles just to bring a trailer back.

So, does anybody know of a company that will rent a 14-16 foot cargo trailer for a one-way trip and deals in the part of the country I am in?

 

Sorry, I don't. But have you considered buying one outright and selling it when you get to MO? Not the greatest option I know, but...?

Maybe you can find a used one for sale on CL or local paper?

 

Having moved A LOT over the years I can say with some assurance that even fragile items, packed correctly, will survive some of the worse movers you can imagine. Perhaps your solution is to simply move more in the container and then go for the biggest U-Haul trailer.

 

I got the storage container a few days ago and started loading it. I found out that it holds a lot more than I thought it would- either that or my meticulous (i.e. slow) arranging and rearranging of furniture and boxes with liberal use of a measuring tape and tiedowns is more efficient than I had anticipated.

I reserved the 6x12 U-Haul trailer as it will hold everything that is still left pretty easily. Thanks for the advice and I'll let you know how it goes.

 

don't forget the bed of the truck. Load that thing tight as well with all the outdoor items.

 

Have you cleared all of U-Hauls weight/load calculations? I wanted to rent a car trailer from them to haul my 95 F150. I was going to use my 99 Dodge 2500 QC 4x4 V10 5 speed, with 1 ton factory suspension option. They told me that my Dodge wasn't capable of hauling that much weight. Really, I said. They refused to rent to me.
U-haul sucks IMHO.

I rented one of their trucks to move a friend from Austin TX to Sacramento CA. I picked it up they said your al ready everything is OK. I got a 100 miles to find the oil was 4 quarts low. Made it to Flagstaff AZ with a major fuel leak. Fixed that in Flagstaff by Las Vegas the A/C quit with a cat with us in July at 110 degrees.
When it was over U-haul never even said we are sorry or anything. Just a crap hole outfit as far as I'm concerned.

 

No problems, I was in and out in about 10 minutes. I was mildly surprised that the trailer I got was in decent condition with approximately the correct amount of air in all four tires and all of the lights worked properly. My F-150 didn't know it was back there when I hauled it home empty. We'll see how it does when it is full.

@Senix

I already have the bed stuffed full of things

 

I have rented a ton of the trailers and car haulers from uhaul and always had good luck.

Keep your speed no more than 65 due to st tires.

 

I have to agree with Senix. I have never had anything wrong with a rental from U-Haul. I do think it has more to do with the particular local rental agency than U-Haul in general.

The only time I have heard of a problem with a tow vehicle has always centered around Explorers. Heck, they let me rent a car hauler to pull with my Toyota Tacoma with the cargo a 1992 Toyota Hilux.

 

Cannot rent a u-haul trailer with a soft top Jeep either.

just sharing


Dan - NJ

 

They only have a handful of restrictions and they have most of them on their website:

- No towing with MY2010 and older Explorers (not officially published but widely reported on various forums like this one.)
- No towing with soft top vehicles
- Must have a receiver or drawbar (Class I) hitch, bumper hitches not officially allowed.
- Tow vehicle weight must be greater than or equal to the loaded weight of the trailer for unbraked trailers and 80% of the loaded weight for braked trailers.
- Ball, mount, and hitch must be rated for at least the loaded weight of the trailer
- You must have a 4-way flat electrical connection

They would have actually let me pull the 6x12 trailer with my wife's '02 3.0 Escape, which I thought was pretty sketchy. I have pulled a 5x8 single-axle enclosed trailer weighing about 2000 lbs fully loaded with the Escape and the Escape certainly knew the trailer was back there when doing so. That's about what that 6x12 trailer weighs empty. It would not be a fun tow to pull it when filled with the Escape since my guesstimate is that the weight will roughly double and put it a good 25% over the maximum tow rating.

 

I packed the trailer and made my move today. I filled the trailer nice and full and had quite a bit of stuff in the truck bed too. I am estimating that the trailer weighed about 3500 pounds and there was about 500 pounds of stuff in the back of the truck. The F-150 handled the trailer and the load very well despite it being 102 in Kansas City when I went through there. The only time the truck could tell there was a trailer behind it was when I drove the last dozen miles on the very hilly, windy, twisty highway. Accelerating up a hill after having to nearly stop to make tight curves and S-turns let the 5.0 sing a little bit but otherwise the truck largely acted like it didn't know there was anything back there.

The one comment I have about the trailer is that none of the U-Haul cargo trailers have jacks. That's a real pain in the butt to deal with. I unhitched from the trailer after I brought it home so that I could pull my truck in the garage and shut the garage door. The driveway was too short to leave the truck hitched to the trailer and have all of it sit outside but not have the butt of the trailer poking out into the street. It wasn't too bad to horse the tongue off of the ball when the trailer was empty but it was a pain in the butt to pick it up once there were a couple hundred more pounds on the tongue. I ended up using a floor jack and a piece of 2x12 to raise the tongue back up.