I dont care how "common" it is to see a big trailer behind a small truck/SUV
I still think its stupid
Especially bumper bull with no trailer brakes

 

It's not stupid if your truck, and trailer is set up properly. That means electric brakes on the trailer, breakaway brakes as well, operational lights on the trailer. As for the truck, the driver must know that his rig is 30 feet longer, and it will not be as fast, nor will it handle as well. The vehicle must also be up to the task, that means not exceeding the GVW, and keeping it well maintained.

 

Thats what Im saying. no way a S-10 should be hauling a dual axle box moving trailer fullly loaded

 

Right, I thought you were talking about the vehicles dragging campers in the summer.

 

No, I just meant that I've seen some stupid people with a 1/2 ton or even a 3/4 ton pull a HUGE camper that really shouldnt be pulled that fast, going crazy on the interstates

 

I once saw a F-150 towing a medium to large 5th wheel. I just had to shake my head cause I knew the truck was gonna give out, or he was gonna get in an accident. I tow a pop up, so I really don't have to worry about much of that considering my trailer weighs at max 3500 lbs, and the expy can tow 7500

 

I had an uncle that towed a 25 or 30 foot 5th wheel with his 1991 F150 302/AOD... It still runs good as far as I know. My other uncle had it last I knew.

 

i remember a few years ago they wouldnt let us rent a u-haul trailer with the explorer so my dad brought his f-250 down to rent it .. the explorer pulled it fine and we had no problems at all. but i could see where morons that have never pulled anything before can get into trouble because they dont pay attention to what their vehicle is doing

 

Unfortunetely, U-haul is the only moving company you can rent a trailer from, by itself. Ryder, Penske, and all the others require a truck rental to get a trailer.
I don't disagree with U-haul's equipment being junk. I dragged one of their junks all the way from CT to WA, and I am sure it wouldn't pass any state inspection. Both of the rear tires were bald, the ramps were rotted through in a couple of spots, there was no lighting whatsoever on the right hand side, the brakes dragged, etc. The wiring was so bad that it kept shorting out the running light circuit in my truck. I wound up turning on the lights on the car I hauled, just to have lights to the rear. Another guy who came out the same time, his trailer had no brakes, and another one got two in-town trucks in a row for his move out here. Both were mid-80's F-series, with non-turbo 6.9s and a four speed manual. The third truck was a new one with a v10, and that was able to make the trip.

 

Why are you guys taking U-Haul equipment that is clearly dangerous?? No lights? Tires bald? Complain!

I work at a car rental place and we have a U-Haul counter as well. We turn out about 20 truck, and 10 trailer rentals a week. If you go to an independent 'dealer' and not a large U-Haul 'center', you're at the mercy of the guy behind the counter, and that guy is at the mercy of the U-Haul main office in town. We're constantly getting trucks out of the shop that are supposed to be 'fixed', and then have them break down on our lot the next day. If you rent from a U-Haul center, you're most likely to get the best equipment, they give the leftovers to the little guys like us, which is a huge PITA.

As far as the trailers go, I agree some are hunks of JUNK! If I see that a trailer is clearly unsafe (no lights, bald tires, etc) I'll mark the equipment as damaged and it'll sit on my lot for months before the U-Haul shop sends a tech out to fix it. And even then, the techs have their heads up their behinds!! It seems like they'll take a look at a bad piece of equipment, kick the tires, tap on it with a screwdriver, and say it's fixed.

In my area, we've got pretty good trucks. The only trucks that are junk are the older model 26' International 'SuperHaulers'. They're only truck I've seen thats still a stick, they have a terrible record though. U-haul runs them with WAAAY too many miles. All the smaller trucks, and the newer 26' trucks are OK. I'm not saying the smaller trucks are perfect, but from what I've seen, they do pretty good for the job at hand.

Back to the original topic though. . .the message we got on the Explorers is, "The public has a negative perception of the Explorer, and U-Haul wants to distance themselves from that perception." I think that's just plain dumb. Most problems we have with the trailer are the customers vehicles! Half of the people who rent trailers have no clue about lights or hitches, and IMHO, if they don't know, they shouldn't rent!!

Me and my crew try our hardest to give our customers the best equipment, and the best service. There have been times where we've just about re-wired customers lighting systems just so they can rent a trailer for one day (at my shop, we don't install lights or carry hitches, we refer customers to the main U-Haul 2 miles away).

 

If the public has a negative perception of the Explorer, then why is it still the #1 selling SUV?

 

Good question, I don't know what idiot in up the U-Haul chain made this decision, it's just plain stupid!!

 

THe perception issue is only a smalll part of U-Hauls reasoning. Read the entire story, don't rely on abbreviated quotes. They have been involved in several law suits with the Exploder problem and their trailers. Can't blame a company for CYA'ing.....not in this day and age of frivolous law suits.

 

UHaul is much less money.
UHaul is about the only company that will rent trailers without also renting a truck.
Penske has no diesels for local rental (I'll pass on feeding a 454-powered MDT, thank you).
UHaul still has cool trucks like 1978-79 F-350's, International S1700's, & 70's GMC C-50's.
UHaul still has manual trannies.

 

I still occasionally see 1978-79 F-350's for rent (some still running untouched 250,000+ mile 300's & T-19's) by UHaul. There's a local small place (probably like yours) sellins a 26' lo-pro Binder cheap--V8 diesel (I think a 7.3 IDI), Spicer 5-speed...hmmmmm.