Anybody Tow a K5 on a Uhaul trailer?

[BGKYK5]

I am looking for a good way to tow a K5 using a rental trailer. I'm don't have the $ or need to buy a trailer, and no buddies with one that will work. The specs on Uhaul.com and Budget.com list the max outside tire to tire width at 79", the K5 I need to move is about 88". I'd hate to have that much of the tire hanging off - especially for the 200 miles I need to move it. Added complications: the K5 I want to tow doesn't run, the rear axle is a mess, and the towing vehicle is also a K5. I am also trying to keep this cheap, gas is expensive enough without spending a bunch on a trailer. Has anybody done this with a Uhaul trailer before? Any other thoughts? Thanks!

 

[mo]

yep, several times. Once from Santa barbara to Oakland, which is 300 miles or so. (did it with a 97 yukon at that, up cuesta grade, what fun )

get insurance on the trailer and tell em you're towing a honda or something.

Mine didn't run either the last time i towed it, had to winch it up the trailer...PITA.

 

[pismorat]

I have done it before when my truck spun the #1 crank bearing at the Hammers...it made it home to San Diego alright. It was a little shaky coming through Palm Springs wind valley though!

 

[vortec]

yep. mine spun a bearing and snapped the connecting rod at BMRA. i got the biggest uhaul trailer i could find, but it still wasn't wide enough. i had to drag the beast over the fenders on the trailer (one fender folded down, butnot enough) with my pickup. no winch. that was fun. and the tires still rode up on the rail, with only 31x10.5s. i was a little po'd. but once we strapped it all down, it was solid enough and i made it the 60 miles i needed to (i'd had it flat-towed to dallas on my friend's AAA). in hindsight, i should have paid to have the thing towed the rest of the way. would have cost a bit more, but a lot less hassle.

tell them you'll be hauling a jeep or something. one place actually refused to rent me the trailer because their dumb computer said that my topless stock k5 weighed more than my 94 xcab c1500 pickup. i doubt it, but regardless, it towed it perfectly well.

 

[Big Blzn]

I tried to but the trailer was too narrow without crushing the fenders. But who knows. Go their and chek it out in person first.

 

[1990 tbi jimmy]

If the axles are not toast and locked up you can buy a bumper mount tow hitch at northern tool or harbor freight for about $50 and pull behind your k5. Just make sure you have the transfer case in neutral

Jw

I pulled a trans-am to georgia from florida with one worked like a charm

 

[BGKYK5]

Thanks guys, I just wanted to make sure it could be done before I got elbow deep in it.

I like the flat towing idea - there's no wrestling the truck up on a trailer. The front D44 axle of the K5 to be towed has lockout hubs so I'm good there. The rear driveshaft is out and the 14bff has a trashed pinion bearing. I've never had a 14bff apart before - would it be possible to pull the axles and just run on the wheel bearings to prevent wear and tear on what's left of the diff? Any lube issues with the doing it this way? Thanks again.

 

[cbbr]

 

[cbbr]

Just take it easy and it should be no problem.

 

[55Willy]

from eugene, or to boise id - 800 miles. one way was a 1990 gas pulling it and the other way was a 1989 diesel. no problems. and not all thier trailers are the same size. when I moved back to oregon I measured all they had and grabbed the widest one to help with the track width.

 

[fabjunkie]

It will work. I hauled mine from Houston to Tulsa no problems. That was with 36x12.50 SX's on 15x10's and 3/4 ton axles. I had to put some stock tires on the front so I could strap it down. The back tires just wedged in the fenders.

 

[YZEATER]

you can pull the axles, but you'll need to make a plate to seal up the end of the axle or you'll lose all the gear oil.

 

[87BrnRsd]

would it be possible to pull the axles and just run on the wheel bearings to prevent wear and tear on what's left of the diff? Any lube issues with the doing it this way? Thanks again.

It is possible, but as others have stated you will need to make some sort of cap to go over the end of the hub to prevent gear oil leakage. Unlike the fronts, 14ff's lube the wheel bearings with gear oil. The axle tubes are sloped downward to allow gear oil to get to the bearings. If you pull the shafts....gear oil will leak out of the ends of the axle tubes until it all runs out.

As for the trailer....it has been my personal experience that u-haul rents crappy trailers. Rented a truck and trailer from them last summer to pull a classic 67' mustang from massachusetts to north carolina. We had to stop about every 50 miles to kick the loading ramps back into the trailer since they kept comming out. Then on the jersey turnpike, the trailer brakes locked up and almost caused the trailer and car to catch fire. This is not good on the side of the turnpike with no sort of liquid to cool the smoking rotors except a bunch of ginger ale. Its all we had but it worked. Oh...and the crappy ford v-10 they rented us to pull it with was a dog and almost blew up.
-Harrison

 

[onlychevy6]

i am about to run into this issue. I will be moving from Calif. to Houston 1500 miles in about two months or so. And am trying to figure this out myself. I will be renting there biggest Uhaul also. Or who ever is cheaper for one way moving.

 

[BGKYK5]

I agree with you 87BrnRsd. To rent from Uhaul is to take your life in your hands. They are also a PITA to deal with. But they are cheap and all over the place which makes it hard to go elsewhere. Its probably the only reason they are still in business.

 

[BUDDY]

When we moved up here from Las Cruces, (Yeah I know, WHY would I do that!!??), we loaded everything into a 17 ft van & flat-towed my Blazer behind it. Worked like a charm. We'd stop every couple of hours to get gas or eat & I'd check all of the attachment points & make sure they were nice & tight & then move on down the road again. I just unbolted the axle shafts & rachet-strapped them to the undercarriage however I could, made sure the front hubs were unlocked & away we went.

Later,
Buddy

BTW - I hate U-haul as well, but you CANNOT beat their prices.
I'm thinking about just buying a 24 ft straight truck when we move next summer & selling it when we get it unloaded. Then we can take our time & not have to worry about gas surcharges or mileage overages or whatever other BS they try to charge for.

 

[fabjunkie]

FYI - Check out Penske. I've been watching their rates and they tend to be $150-200 cheaper than U-Haul for long distances. Plus they don't have a mileage limit.

 

[chevyin]

FYI UHaul has two different width trailers. I have hauled cars across country several times. Tell them you have a full size vehicle and ask for the new wider trailer.

 

[mrdrinksalil]

FYI UHaul has two different width trailers. I have hauled cars across country several times. Tell them you have a full size vehicle and ask for the new wider trailer.

I hauled mine from NY to Georgia on a Uhaul trailer. It is my understanding from speaking from Uhaul reps that there is an older version and a newer version trailer. The older being the bigger one and shown in this pic...

The newer being this one...

When you call to reserve a trailer they can't guarantee which one you get though. I made sure i was getting one of the older ones. The only problem I ran into was having to air down the tire almost completely to get the Uhaul straps over the front tire to secure the truck to the trailer. Once I got the straps around and fastened I aired the tires back up a little. I think the tires were a 285/16

 

[stillnotbob]

I used a U-Haul trailer to tow my '77 Blazer about 200 miles to my Brother's house to work on it... spun connecting rod bearing. Now it's sporting a new 383 Vortec!!! (Basically a create HT383 but I built it myself). Back to the trailer.......

What I learned about U-Haul trailers.

First you have to make sure you get the new "gavanized" silver looking auto trailer and not the older orange painted auto trailer. The silver one is a lot wider to the point that the trailer fenders are almost a non issue. Getting one was not as easy as it sounds. Took me four tries to get the correct trailer the first time (my Brother moved while we were working on the Blazer and had to move it again... different story). No matter how many times I asked for the silver looking "galvanized" trailer and not the painted orange trailer the rental place always had the painted one. The people working there would swear that it was the one I was looking for. When I said that it was not the "galvanized" one they would say, "oh, sorry... I thought it was." I finally had to make a resevation over the phone to the national reservation center for U-Haul to get the correct trailer. That's how I learned from day one which trailer I wanted as they mentioned two sizes over the phone in the first place. I should have made the reservation that day, but instead I decided to just call around locally. Not one of my smarter days.

The next thing I learned is that you need to change at least one of the front tires to something smaller. I was running 33x12.5 at the time. Stock size tires would probably work fine...but I am assuming that most of us do not run that size still. Not having anything smaller sitting around I headed off to the junk yard and found a smaller tire that would fit on the front. I will guess that it might have been an older stock toyota type tire/wheel combo.... hell as long as it fit for the purpose. Yep, just one side..... looked funny as hell with the larger tire on the other side... but it fit the trailer. The back end was not a problem as in stock form the rear axle in narrower. Now with the single smaller tire/wheel combo up front the Blazer JUST fit. So maybe using two smaller tires would give you a little more to play with while loading the trailer. It sill worked as is, and I only need to take off one wheel.

Of course if you do not care about bending the trailer's fenders.... then do worry about getting a smaller tire. Just drive over the fenders. I did not want to have to deal with seeing if I could bend the fenders back. Nor did I want to have to deal with being charged with their damage by U-Haul.

Oh..and another thing. The woman that helped my with the resevation was able to track the different trailers... so she knew which place had or would be getting in the newer trailer. She also put a special note on the resevation that I would only accept the newer trailer as the rental and to hold it for me.