Box truck for car transport?

Ron Earp

Ron Earp

Administrator
Anyone on here use a box truck for a car rig? Just intereested to see some creative alternatives to trailers.

Ron
 
A friend in NE has outfitted an old box truck for his ITA RX-7. Significant hurdles include the wheel wells and getting the car up that high, as well as the reduced mobility of a truck that long/large. Dickita will have more to add.
 
Jake is right my team mate used an old U haul truck for his rx7. Great for guys that do not want to back up trailers. Inside we put simple ¾ plywood ramps over the wheel wells. The wheel wells were only about a foot high so the ramps are not too intrusive. Moving trucks have a lower deck height that freight trucks, this one is 36” with air ride that you can drop to 30”. we have 10' extruded aluminum ramps that we scored of an old ramp truck and I would not want to use anything shorter. Many freight truck are dock height, 50”. I do not think we could use that without a liftgate. I have not found a lift gate for less that $7k.

We have looked around for a box that would hold two cars and can not find much, anything with that much interior space (either 32'+ long or 10'+ high) is usually on a much heavier chassis than we need. We do not need to carry much weight so want to stick with what they call business class (29,000 lbs gvw)
 
I watched a guy unload a 16v GTI from the back of a U-haul at the Portland ESCORT race 20 years ago. I am NOT making this up but he unloaded it using ramps made out of 2x6s nailed togehter, about 12' long, that were supported in the middle with JACK STANDS. Successfully unloaded it, I might add.

It also appeared that he had not tied it down in any way. :blink:

I think if the right ramp/tiedown system were found, it wouldn't be half bad. Heck - put an AC unit on the roof and sleep in it after the car is unloaded...

If a person wanted to build a box from scratch, it could actually be VERY cool. Put side doors on it where you need to crawl out of the car, or use a winch to drag it up onto steep interior ramps, to get the nose up and use some of the otherwise dead air space. Put storage in the area under the inclines, accessible through exterior hatches for jacks, tool boxes, etc. Mount tire racks on the upper inside portion of the rear doors, so they swing into more of that empty air.

Dick's right on about weight. If one started with an Isuzu or similar turbo-diesel "lowboy" chassis (with small diameter rear wheels), he's only use a small portion of it's load capacity.

K
 
We have looked around for a box that would hold two cars and can not find much, anything with that much interior space (either 32'+ long or 10'+ high) is usually on a much heavier chassis than we need. We do not need to carry much weight so want to stick with what they call business class (29,000 lbs gvw)[/b]
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I think you will have a hard time finding a box truck that can handle two cars. In some state, a 32' box would make you overlength with a conventional cab. Also, 29, 000 lbs would require a commercial drivers license. If you keep it under 26,000 you avoid that.

Dick's right on about weight. If one started with an Isuzu or similar turbo-diesel "lowboy" chassis (with small diameter rear wheels), he's only use a small portion of it's load capacity.[/b]
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A smaller tire/wheel combo will result in a lower GVWR than 26,000lbs. A 19.5" wheel and tire will likely result in a 19,500 GVW or less. This would be fine for one car though, as Knestis correctly stated.

A guy in the San Francisco Region uses an ex-Ryder consumer rental truck that is 17' long, which counts the space over the cab. I think this one is on 17" tires/ wheels, so his GVWR would be even less. He hauls a Miata and sometimes a 3rd gen RX7. I have not watched him load or unload so I don't know whow he does it. I do know he travels from Lake Tahoe to the California tracks. That is quite a mountain that he goes over.
 
Years back we used a Ford cube van with a 460 cube motor. We would tow a trailer behind it to carry 2 cars. It pulled fine and all but the 4 mpg you get would bleed you dry with todays gas prices. Box trucks just push to much air. If you are thinking enclosed trailer and want to save your transmission, buy a V-nose trailer. Also much better on gas. Especially if you like to drive 70 mph+. I have yet to take my own advise on the trailer, but have towed a friends with about a 4 mpg improvement over my flat nose Pace trailer. Unless of course money is no object in which case buy the diesel toterhome.
Chris howard
 
I think if the right ramp/tiedown system were found, it wouldn't be half bad. Heck - put an AC unit on the roof and sleep in it after the car is unloaded...
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That is what I was thinking as well. But it looks like everything is in the range of 30-33" off the ground, and with a low car with a fairly long wheel base it is going to take some serious ramps to get that thing on the truck.

I was envisioning a box truck of ultimate efficiency inside - fold out bed, nicely designed tool storage, small fridge, AC, etc. is a relatively small space.

Why is it that trailers just seem to always have problems? You can do all the maintenence you want, and I do keep after mine, but that they still have issues? If I let a F350 box truck sit for 2 months I'd expect no issues other than a possible dead battery (tender takes care of that). Bearings won't be bad, etc.

But a trailer - oh no, drag a trailer out after two months and you'll have dead lights, misconnections, failed wheel bearing, bad tire, all sorts of things it seems.

Maybe I've got the wrong trailer?

Ron
 
Well I think you just have the deamon trailer. The worse I have had was my boat trailers and forgetting to squeeze some fresh grease in before the winter. Which reminds me, I need to buy some bearing buddies for the current trailer.
 
we have avoided any gvw discussions by registering the truck as a motorhome
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You're fine on your existing truck, not only because you registered it as a motorhome, but because I'm guessing that the GVWR is not high enough to need a commercial license.

You were mentioning trying to find something that would allow you to put two cars inside a 32' box mounted on a truck. I was bringing up the point of smaller tires (that would get you low enough to the ground) not allowing for the needed GVWR to carry two cars. GVWR is only going to be as high as the weakest link.

Your current truck sounds like a neat setup.
 
I found a couple of trucks on eBay

180082835767 , 1989 Ford : Truck F-700

270086109589 , 1978 Chevrolet / rollback/ car hauler / flat bed
 
You were mentioning trying to find something that would allow you to put two cars inside a 32' box mounted on a truck. I was bringing up the point of smaller tires (that would get you low enough to the ground) not allowing for the needed GVWR to carry two cars. GVWR is only going to be as high as the weakest link.

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Good point. I do not know what the empty wieght of a truck that big would be. two cars and all the gear is less that 8000 pounds.
 
You'd be at least 14,000lbs empty, meaning at least 22,000 gross. You would then need to figure out how much of that goes over each axle to determine if you are overloading either axle.

What about either an enclosed or even a open trailer to pull the second car? You'd get both cars there, then you'd still have the living quarters. Just get the right truck to handle the load.
 
I saw a new one this fall which looked like it worked quite well - a horse van. One of these single axle box trucks w/ room for 6 horses (2 rows of three). I didn't see the car he was carrying nor how he loaded it. But there was more than enough room inside for the car plus work/sleeping area. I didn't talk to him as he wasn't around when I had time to look at it.
 
Good topic
I've wanted to do this for years. I think this is a California only deal but, A cube van is not a trailer therefore the speed limit on the highway is 70 instead of 55 and they can drive in the fast lane. The biggest hitch seems to be size. I like to have some room to store stuff a 20' box would be good, most Ryder/U-haul trucks are 15'
I've thought of getting one built, compared to buying an enclosed trailer and a dedicated truck, it would probably be cost effective.

The other minor problem is, if you stay in a hotel you either need to drive the whole thing back to the hotel, or hitch a ride with someone.
 
Couple thoughts here:
Ramps from a box truck down onto an open tag trailer would be a cool two car setup and make getting the car in/out of the box not that difficult. Ramps from box down onto trailer then trailer ramps to ground.
Also, weight and type of brakes (air or hydraulic) do not mean you need a CDL. If it is for personal use, not a commercial use and registered as such, you could drive a 5 axle peterbilt dump truck to the races if you wanted to (at least in Ohio, i've checked, dont' ask why).
 
Someone in the northeast has the box truck with ramps leading onto a trailer already.
The best way to load the car would be to weld on extension ramps to the lift gate. Just drive on and raise the gate.
 
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