plow day fail

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

My son has worked extra hard in school this year. I intended to surprise him on Saturday with a trip to a local plow day where he could experience plowing with our small tractor. I knew the recent rain might cancel our plans but I followed the posts here at YT and thought we had a good shot of doing some plowing Ssturday.

In the past I've rented uhaul car hauling trailers to transport the tractor as our tractor is well below the maximum weight limit. My insurance company knows I rent trailers and my policy covers these rentals. I've been a customer of uhaul for 10 years always taking care of the equipment and returning it in better condition than I received it. This time the answer was "all our trailers are rented". I walked outside and looked around the corner of the building and spotted 3 trailers. I went back inside and asked about them and they were available for rent.

The reason I was not allowed to rent one was because I was hauling a tractor. Every other time I hauled my tractor I had it secured with transport chains in addition to their securement. They knew up front I would be hauling a small trator as I had told them many times in the past. In the past I have hauled steel on flatbed trailers so I know securement. Now that my rental option is gone, I won't be hauling the tractor because I live in town and can't store a trailer at home. My wife is not about to give up city living so I'll be posting my tractor for sale soon. Rant over.

old popper · Nov 6, 2011

Did you ever consider posting "wife" for sale, and keep tractor? After 44 years they get used to it.

JOCCO · Nov 6, 2011

Someone had a bad day at u haul. Also the less you tell some one the better off you are!!!

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

"Someone had a bad day at u haul. Also the less you tell some one the better off you are!!! "

I believe in full disclosure. Beats losing all your worldly possessions.

Chris(WA) · Nov 6, 2011

Tell them you are hauling a vehicle. Really none of their business what you haul as long as you are not overlaoding or damaging their equipment.

Chris(WA) · Nov 6, 2011

Full disclosure is NOT the law! Most times it is some ahole that is on a small power trip. Do NOT let them run you. YOU are the customer.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

Actually she is all for father/son plow days and is just as disappointed as we are. No reason to falt her when we are mortgage debt free and land in these parts is going for $5,000 acre. I think the minimum acreage you can buy here now is 5.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

Doesn't have to be the law here in Illinois. You should see some of the liability cases here.

JDseller · Nov 6, 2011

You are luck if you can get land in small tracts for $5000 per acres. Here that would be $25,000 per acre for building tracts and 9-10k for farm land. That is in North-east Iowa.

As for needing a trailer to haul your tractor. Just have a local wrecker service haul it for you on a roll back. A friend of mine has the same restrictions on parking a trailer as you have. He has a deal with a local wrecker service. They deliver it the day before and pick it up the next day. They charge him $350 dollars for anything under 50 miles. That works out much cheaper than him owning a trailer for the 2-3 times each year he needs it moved.

Also try contacting the people that are having the plow day. I would bet that one of the other collectors would be glad to haul your tractor. Especially if you are bringing your son to the plow day. Heck if it is in eastern Iowa, Western WI or North west IL. I would do it for some fuel money. We need to get all of the young guys we can involved.

Another option would be to check out any trailer sales businesses in your area. The ones around me will rent out trailers on a daily or weekly rate. I have rented trailers in the past when we needed one to go to farther away shows and did not want to make two trips.

Also U-Hual is a pain in the butt to deal with any more. They have been sued too many time. So they have many restrictiions on renting anything. I wanted to used a car dolley last year to move my daughter to St. Louis. We where a driver short. Anyway U-haul would not rent me a dolley to pull with my 1 ton Dodge pickup. The reason was the bumper and hitch where home made and did not have the stamping for what weight class the hitch was.

Mike (WA) · Nov 6, 2011

Uhaul guy locally is also a friend of mine, so I asked him about that one time. Reason is a good one- if they restrict it to cars only, they know the max weight will be about 5,000 pounds. If they allow tractors, they have no realistic way of knowing the weight (the most comprehensive list in the world is still not gonna have the 1920 Keck Gonerman 18-28 listed). And of course, many will fudge the weight.

When the thing you're renting out has the capacity to cause death and destruction on the highway, with "guess who" liable, they have no choice but to make a blanket ban on tractors.

showcrop · Nov 6, 2011

(quoted from post at 10:38:59 11/06/11) "Someone had a bad day at u haul. Also the less you tell some one the better off you are!!! "

I believe in full disclosure. Beats losing all your worldly possessions.

Maybe you could help us out here how B follows A.

oleblu · Nov 6, 2011

My local rental store has trailers to rent. They have them for contractors to haul the items they rent, bobcats, mini excavators, etc. About $50 for the weekend.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

I guess I know how much a uhaul car hauler weighs with my tractor as I weighed out at the CAT scales empty and loaded. I always have that ready in case I need it for uhaul. I was a truck driver. Worked for Mid American Special Commodites Flatbed Divison 1979 - 1985.

Ray · Nov 6, 2011

Why did you tell them you were hauling a tractor?
I just tell them a small car and no problem.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

Because I live in Illinois and know the price of lying and the liability that comes with it. Also because i have been using this same uhaul store to haul the same tractor. I have a scale ticket showing the tractor weight. I also have the proper load securing equipment that is overkill to their means of securement. Lying is not my style especially if said lie would end up harming someone else.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

Isn't there anyone else to rent from beside UStall? I have a local rental company that rents just about anything. I have gotten to know the owner a little over the years, and he is very helpful.

Mike (WA) · Nov 6, 2011

It would be nice if your local dealer could make an exception for you, because you are a repeat customer and he knows what size tractor you're hauling. But most franchise outfits have hard and fast rules, no exceptions, so it puts the onus on the franchisee if he makes an exception and a problem developes. And most franchisees are not going to knowingly break a rule, and risk losing their business.

GordoSD · Nov 6, 2011

Minimum in this county (Davison) is 25 Acres. But..you can get it for 5k/acre.

Ray · Nov 6, 2011

There's no liability on your part unless you casuse an accident then you and u haul will both be sued,that's just the way it is.It doesn't matter what your hauling,car tractor or anything,that's just there stupir rule.You can go anywhere and rent a trailer with those stipulations.I'd just buy my own and not have to worry about it.I know several people in town who own trailers.You can always park it at a friends hose in the country or a store and lock.

Wardner · Nov 6, 2011

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It's guys like me they should refuse rentals to. I got caught with my hand up at an auction 450 miles from home. None the less, the trailer was rated for 8000 lbs and I don't think I was overweight. Had to load the 650 International over the front. Front tires barely cleared the trailer fenders. This was about 15 years ago.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

I'm going to take your picture in and show them why I never lie about what I'm hauling on their trailer when stuff like this should be posted in every uhaul store in the nation. I pulled every kind of platbed freight there is and never once compromised loading that would hurt someone or damage equipment. 700,000 miles driving in a class 8 truck without an overweight, unsafe load, accident, or speeding ticket. I don't see a chain one on your load. Please prove me wrong.
God help anyone who on the road with you.

JimEvans · Nov 6, 2011

I also don't see it moving down the road in the picture. I thought it was still legal to take a picture after loading a tractor and before putting chains on.

Maybe I am just being stupid, but I assume anyone that buys a tractor like this 450 miles from home would be smart enough to chain it down before he starts moving.

I have driven less than 1 million miles in my lifetime and have only been run off the road (onto the shoulder) by sleeping truck drivers twice. I have also helped herd a truck load of pigs in the median from a "professional" truck driver falling asleep and rolling his truck in the median

ShepFL · Nov 6, 2011

How about storing tractor where the plowing is done? Have you son do some work around the place beyond showing up for the plow day. Just a thought sitting here.

Wardner - You sir have some interesting pics. I looked thru that album and found some downright scary, others humorous and thru it all I saw evidence of a solid work ethic.

Big 86 · Nov 6, 2011

Just a suggestion, but have you tried contacting a commercial rental equipment place to see if they will rent a trailer?? Around here, you can rent anything from a trencher to a small track hoe and beyond, and they will rent trailers as well. Haven't had to go this route myself, but the guy I talked to said the equipment rented for 24 hrs before it had to be returned, and if that was a problem they could work with you a bit on the terms.

BTW, where in Illinois are you at??

Don't give up on your tractor and plow day, someone out there has what you are looking for. Best of luck!

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

Work ethic is not an issue here. Safely hauling any type of load is. I asked him to prove me wrong, that the tractor was chained down.

I'm a stickler on securing loads. Seen plenty of farm commodites blocking roads during my driving days, mostly hay and straw and seed corn on overloaded trucks and wagons. Some accidents were farmers fault and plenty were poor drivers herding four wheelers.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

There are commercial rental places that will rent equipment ON A TRAIlER (small backhoes, etc.) but won't rent just trailers. They rent large equipment and have tractor and lowboys to deliver them. They all sent me to Uhaul. Been awhile since I contacted them so I'll try again to see if they have changed.

I'm south of Bloomington.

Wardner · Nov 6, 2011

It was chained down. You don't think that tractor would have stayed there without them, do you?

BTW, I was on a NY Thruway shoulder and checking the rig when a cruiser with two cops stopped. They asked if everything was OK. I said yes and they took off.

Nothing untoward happened. It was a good fast trip. I pulled it with a SRW F350 Diesel.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

Figured you chained it. What was the trailer capacity and the combined weight?

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

I know truck drivers who are pennyless due to accidents that weren't their fault and the dot cops couldn't find a single vehicle violation. Put it in the hands of an Illinois lawyer and you'll see how fast the trucker ends up paying his life savings.

Wardner · Nov 6, 2011

The tag said 8000 lbs. Think the tractor weighed about 6500. Don't know tare weight of the trailer. GCWR was probably around 16,000 to 17,000 lbs.

I wouldn't show that picture to any U-Haul dealer. They'll just say " See, this is why we want to know what the load is. How do we know you're not shipping plutonium and don't want to contaminate your equipment". Why give them a reason to say no? Just do what you have to do but be careful.

Ryan - WI · Nov 6, 2011

I believe in full disclosure. Beats losing all your worldly possessions.

I'm going to be the odd man out here most likely.

Thank you for your ethics and for demonstrating to your son that lying to get your way shows shoddy character. More of our kids need to see that.

I have a sign going up in my classroom: "You alone determine the cost of your ethics." Thanks for making yours cost more than a trailer rental.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 6, 2011

I learned the lesson of truth from my dad when I brought the family car home six hours later than expected. My story would probably not be contested except that the concert we went to wasn't in town, but in Milwaukee. The punishment made me a believer in the truth. Of course dad said had I asked the answer would have been no but at least I wouldn't be grounded from driving for two weeks.

oldtanker · Nov 6, 2011

Round here the regular rental places that rent mowers, Bobcats and other things also rent trailer. I think thats what others were refering to. I not a fan of Uhaul and their rental policies and don't use them.

Rick

Traditional Farmer · Nov 7, 2011

Its their trailer I guess they can rent it to whoever they want.

Cow · Nov 7, 2011

Here's what's up with uhaul...

For whatever reason(probably insurance/lawsuits) they determine what you can tow by the curb weight of your towing and towed vehicles. Your towing vehicle has to be some % heavier than what you're pulling. They get the weights from the computer and if what you're pulling isn't listed then they say no.

Doesn't matter what your truck is rated for or how verified of a weight slip you have. Doesn't matter how much experience you have or how well you tie it down either.

I'm guessing this is probably due to people who were too dumb to slow down when their trailer stated to sway suing because "it's u-haul's fault I can't drive".

Anonymous-0 · Nov 8, 2011

I got on Al Gore's internet and found several uhaul locations. Call one of them up and it is part of a storage company. The owner/operator listened to my tractor hauling needs and quite simply said "There is no reason why you can't haul that tractor on a car trailer. Come on out here anytime and I'll get you set up".

plow day fail

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