Transporting Tractor 1000 miles, Rent??

[MossRoad]

I just got back from an 800+ mile round trip with our '93 1/2 ton Suburban. Just two people and some light furniture. Maybe 600# total load. No trailer. Used 54 gallons of gas. Ended up at 14.9MPG for the whole trip, running 75mph most of the time. I can't imagine what kind of MPG you'd get trying to tow at the max weight of that Suburban 1000 miles. Probably 8-10mpg. Even at 10mpg on a 1000 mile leg, at $2 per gallon of gas, that's $200 bucks one way. Figure $150 for the unloaded trip. So $350 in just gas. Add at least 2 hotel nights at $100 a pop and that's $550. Eat and you're looking at another $50 for three days. So $600. I have no idea what trailer rental capable of holding 8000#+ of tractor would be, but figure at least 4 days. At $50 per day that would be another $200, so you've got $800 minimum. If you have a capable tow vehicle, that would be 1/3 the cost of shipping. There's some good savings there. But if you don't have the tow vehicle, that'll cost you some serious mileage.

U-haul trucks usually go for .59-79 cents per mile depending on size of truck. Trailers are a flat daily rate. They don't carry anything that could haul a tractor and multiple implements. At .79 per mile, a 1000 mile one-way haul is going to cost you $790.00 (plus gas!). Now the savings start to decay rapidly if you have to rent a haul or tow vehicle.

Why would anyone buy a tractor 1000 miles away? I could see a collectible or antique, or something like that. But at an auction? There's got to be something of equal value closer to home.

 

[LD1]

I don't know about that. I used to use a lot of steel sheet in custom car and restoration panels. I can remember not too long ago a 4x8' sheet of 20ga. 1008 was about $64. The last batch about two years ago (retired now) was about $95 a sheet. "Overheard" on another forum a few months ago that it's up to around $120 a sheet now. I'm sure the prices are regional but still, that's quite a price hike for cold rolled steel. Somebody got a raise.

I built my 2-ton gantry crane about 12 years ago for less than $200 in steel material. That included a 20' I-bean, 4x4" box, 5" channel and 2" angle. I still have half of the I-beam. I don't think you could buy the I-beam for $200 today.

$120 for 20ga

What's that factor....well over $1 per pound.

Anything common around here, tube, sheet, bar, or plate. It's always within a few cents of 55/lb

I don't have price on 20ga, but 16ga 4x8 cost me $45-$50

 

[rswyan]

$120 for 20ga

What's that factor....well over $1 per pound.

Anything common around here, tube, sheet, bar, or plate. It's always within a few cents of 55/lb

I don't have price on 20ga, but 16ga 4x8 cost me $45-$50

Ditto.

4 x 8 of 1/4 plate paid $180

4 x 8 of 10 ga. paid around $80 IIRC

Both hot roll tho' ...

 

[LD1]

Ditto.

4 x 8 of 1/4 plate paid $180

4 x 8 of 10 ga. paid around $80 IIRC

Both hot roll tho' ...

4x8x1/4 = 330# = $0.545/lb

4x8x10ga = 177# = $0.45/lb

I havent priced 20ga......never a use for something that light, but a 4x8x20ga sheet should weigh...~48#....I'd be surprised if I had to pay more than $25 for a sheet of that at my local distributor.

Metalsdepot.com (which is always about twice as high as my local distributor), has 4x10 20ga COLD ROLL sheets for $70.

Metalsdepot always seems to be around $0.90/lb no matter weather its plate, sheet, bar, tube, beams, etc. Local metal shops/distributors are always the first stop when shopping for metal for me.

 

[clemsonfor]

Ram moved production down to Mexico and still produces one of the more expensive trucks. The big 3 are all expensive but the unions aren't squeezing ram...maybe that's why they moved but they price hasn't reflected that. Without getting political and getting this shut down, I'm a union member, but they have their uses and their consequences. Most people's natural instinct is to want more money and work less and that seems a common goal for some organizations with no concern for how it gets done

Brett

Ha sent GM been producing in Mexico for like almost 20 years?

 

[clemsonfor]

I just got back from an 800+ mile round trip with our '93 1/2 ton Suburban. Just two people and some light furniture. Maybe 600# total load. No trailer. Used 54 gallons of gas. Ended up at 14.9MPG for the whole trip, running 75mph most of the time. I can't imagine what kind of MPG you'd get trying to tow at the max weight of that Suburban 1000 miles. Probably 8-10mpg. Even at 10mpg on a 1000 mile leg, at $2 per gallon of gas, that's $200 bucks one way. Figure $150 for the unloaded trip. So $350 in just gas. Add at least 2 hotel nights at $100 a pop and that's $550. Eat and you're looking at another $50 for three days. So $600. I have no idea what trailer rental capable of holding 8000#+ of tractor would be, but figure at least 4 days. At $50 per day that would be another $200, so you've got $800 minimum. If you have a capable tow vehicle, that would be 1/3 the cost of shipping. There's some good savings there. But if you don't have the tow vehicle, that'll cost you some serious mileage.

U-haul trucks usually go for .59-79 cents per mile depending on size of truck. Trailers are a flat daily rate. They don't carry anything that could haul a tractor and multiple implements. At .79 per mile, a 1000 mile one-way haul is going to cost you $790.00 (plus gas!). Now the savings start to decay rapidly if you have to rent a haul or tow vehicle.

Why would anyone buy a tractor 1000 miles away? I could see a collectible or antique, or something like that. But at an auction? There's got to be something of equal value closer to home.

I'm with you on that. Unless it was like 2 or 3k cheaper than local why buy a tractor that far away.

And yes you would see that kind of mpg. My 04 sequoia gets 10mpg towing 5000 pounds.

 

[jack707]

Before I bought a car trailer u haul would not rent a trailer to me tow my tractor

 

[polkwrangler]

I would have it shipped for sure

 

[jack707]

We won't find out because maybe she has hurt feelings!!!

 

[clemsonfor]

Maybe there still on the trip with the truck but but out the transmission along the way and waiting for a rebuild in some small town along the way and they don't have a s art phone and haven't got on the lobby computer at the seedy motel to tell us all we were right?