Longer or Shorter Gooseneck Trailer.

[Deere Dude]

I am in the process of finding a trailer for a move from Wisconsin to Tennessee, but I haven't bought a house yet but plan on looking in 3 weeks.

For moving, I have a full house of furniture and a Pole Shed with JD 3720 with 600# box blade, weight box, rear blade, dirt scoop etc. plus a X740 with a lot of attachments plus whatever else can go in a 36x54 pole shed while leaving little walking rood. I do plan on getting rid of stuff I will never use. I have a few steel heavy duty industrial workbenches ranging from 4' to 8' long that each weights maybe 600-1000 pounds, plus steel angle iron and channel iron for project builds.

I am thinking of getting a 5th wheel trailer for the move. I looked at a few enclosed 5th wheel trailers but the weight is limited because of lighter axles and a big box. I am looking at possibly a 14K style and want to put a kingpin on it instead of a ball because I already pull a good sized fifth wheel. Maybe I can get that separate just to keep the ball hitch for later. I was considering also putting 4' plywood walls on it using plywood with the stake pockets and an angle iron along the top for support. This should work for smaller stuff; dumb idea or not? I would just have to watch the weather.

I expect it to take half a dozen trips over time to get moved depending on the length of the trailer. What would be a good length for a trailer for the immediate move and to use for the tractor later after all is complete, once in a while? I was looking at from 24' to 28' but longer would be a pain for sure after the move. I am leaning toward the 24' possibly the 26'. The length in feet only changes slightly in price.

I don't haul stuff for a living and in the past everything I hauled was using a 12' 10,000# trailer, and a couple smaller trailers. I have a GMC Duramax Dually for pulling so the weight shouldn't be a big problem but are there any other scenarios I haven't really looked at that might work out better. I am trying to buy a trailer, use it, pay for a little diesel, move at my leisure and have a nice trailer left over at the end of the day...even though it won't be used all that much later, more that likely.

Renting a u-haul or Penski truck would cost 4-5000 maybe and still couldn't haul my tractors. The cost of the trailer I was looking at would end up being 8-9000 maybe.

Also when looking at options, they have a 8x8 over the hitch platform for $900 or so. Would that be a bad idea or worth having. Generally I see open tongue fifth wheel trailers. I don't know, but I considered that.

Just want to know what you folks have to say that might help.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I would figure my fuel costs in with the cost of the trailer then check with ABF U-Pack. Do make sure ABF would go to the street address that you are buying. I used them five years ago but at that time, they would give you three days to load and three to unload. You can also pay to keep your stuff in their trailer(s) at their secure yard on a monthly basis. It was around 395 per pup at that time if I recall.

I had three pup trailers for my move plus made the six hundred mile plus one way trip with my 14k gooseneck horse trailer. I don't have that trailer anymore. I think it was about 28' overall length. Being a horse trailer with a slant interior wall, I lost space but still had plenty of weight.

As for trailer length, I had a 14k 20+5 beavertail deckover once. I found the length to be excessive relative to what I could actually haul weight wise.

Something else you might check into is a "covered wagon". I saw this gooseneck deck over at a local dealer that had some kind of framework with a tarp over it. Looked to be at least eight feet high off of the deck. I don't know anything else about that kind of setup as far as cost and who would have it.

If you do go the personnal trailer route, don't forget that you need to have the registration cover your expected weights plus whatever other applicable laws Wisconsin applies to you until you get licensed in Tenn.

I am not sure of the vehicle laws in Tenn. You may wish to check your future requirements. Here in KY, any truck over 10k needs DOT numbers, etc., commercial or not except for farm vehicles to 26k I think. I had a small Freightliner for awhile but never bothered with the numbers nor did I get hasseled in my laid back neck of the woods.

When I moved, I got my KY drivers license immediately but kept my dually PA plated. I updated to the gooseneck horsetrailer for the move which I bought in PA then registered and plated in KY. I skipped the PA tax that way but still had to pay KY luxury vehicle tax because I plated it. My dually was plated for 26k in PA. Once I got my moves done, I registered the truck as a farm truck in KY.

I don't know if this has changed or not but even though you have the mileage limit on farm plated vehicles, for personnal use, you can exceed that or like I said, you used to with KY plates. In KY, you don't need to plate a trailer but that gets sticky out of state. That is why at the time, I plated the horse trailer.

As I said, do check with the laws in Tenn.

Lastly, I moved some equipment but sold most of it to my neighbor. In the end, I found alot of equipment to be more expensive here and used was more worn out than not compared to where I moved from so do keep and move as much as you think you cannot live without.

 

[Deere Dude]

I would figure my fuel costs in with the cost of the trailer then check with ABF U-Pack. Do make sure ABF would go to the street address that you are buying. I used them five years ago but at that time, they would give you three days to load and three to unload. You can also pay to keep your stuff in their trailer(s) at their secure yard on a monthly basis. It was around 395 per pup at that time if I recall.

I had three pup trailers for my move plus made the six hundred mile plus one way trip with my 14k gooseneck horse trailer. I don't have that trailer anymore. I think it was about 28' overall length. Being a horse trailer with a slant interior wall, I lost space but still had plenty of weight.

As for trailer length, I had a 14k 20+5 beavertail deckover once. I found the length to be excessive relative to what I could actually haul weight wise.

Something else you might check into is a "covered wagon". I saw this gooseneck deck over at a local dealer that had some kind of framework with a tarp over it. Looked to be at least eight feet high off of the deck. I don't know anything else about that kind of setup as far as cost and who would have it.

If you do go the personnal trailer route, don't forget that you need to have the registration cover your expected weights plus whatever other applicable laws Wisconsin applies to you until you get licensed in Tenn.
.

I'll check out the ABF company plus another one or two companies like that.

It sounds like the deck over the hitch part of the fifth wheel might be more of a pain than it would be worth after the move is done. For my usage, a handy all around trailer doesn't need a deck over.

Good point about figuring gas both ways. It probably costs to pull almost as much empty as full. It sure would be easier just driving down once.