Hot Rods Ideas to transport home a partial rolling chassis

If the front suspension is capable of over the road travel, reverse the vehicle and make some kind of hitch that you can clamp, bolt, or weld to the rear of the frame that will sit on your trucks hitch. Put something up front.......now the rear.......that will prevent the steering from turning. Now it's a trailer.

Option two is to buy a used trailer and resell it after you pull the car home. It should still be worth what you paid for it. Get a decent trailer,not a landscape trailer. 500 miles can be a long way.

 

If you borrow or rent a trailer, you need to figure in the road / bridge tolls for the extra axles

They just kill any trips I want to make to swap meets in MD, PA & NJ

later kb

 

and Northern Illinois......also, entry into NYC via Verazano Narrows bridge.

 

I paid $600 for a 16 foot dual axle trailer. On craigslist. Took it home and spent another $200 to redeck it and add fenders beaver tail it and paint it. Now it's a $ 2000.00 trailer.

 

Buy or build a bed extender that goes in your hitch, and haul it in the back of your truck. For extra safety / visibility attach some lights wired into your trailer plug.

 

oh, don't think he should buy a cheap trailer. He should buy a good trailer. I've had one for over 25 years, and life is so much easier with it, than it was before I got it.

 

If you have space to store a trailer when its not in use, buying a good car sized trailer is a pretty practical thing for a car guy to do. Cheap trailers usually end up costing more then good trailers, but some guys think their good trailers are worth more then a new trailer would cost.

Personally, IF your truck has an 8' bed (pretty unusual these days) I think I would figure out a way to haul it on your truck, or rent a 10' U haul trailer and load it up. Of course a buddy that owns a trailer and a road trip is always fun.
The last 5 hour trip I took (with my adult son) to bring home a frame took nearly 18 hours and cost me around $300. I was pretty happy he could drive for a while. Gene

 

Quit being a pussy, I put this in a short bed and drove 16 hrs back, strap it down good and get moving.

 

Or this as an example.
Landed in San Francisco and rented a Penske truck near to the airport, drove it to Sacramento, loaded up an A coupe I'd bought, drive it all back to Los Angeles to my shipping company and then returned the truck to a Penske dealer near LAX, grabbed the next flight back to Australia. What a great weekend.

 

That first option would pucker your ass hole in new ways just going around the block. Don’t do that. Tongue weights and all that nonsense, right?

The second option makes all the sense in the world . If one doesn’t really want to own a trailer that is the way to go about it if there’s some non dedicated play money.


Now what about washing that barnfind ?

 

I hauled a 46 CJ Jeep on a 4’x8’ flat trailer one time. Jacked up one end, backed under it, slid It forward just enough to have a bit more weight on the tongue than the rear, chained it down and boogied. It had the engine and running gear, but no hubs up front and no tires on the rear. Pulled it with a 4 cyl Yota pickup.....

 

Why not if you have a pickup build yourself a rack that will fasten to the bed that will let the frame extend out above the cab and build a rack that the axle can sit on top of at the back of the bed. If you have or have access to a break down aka folding cherry picker slide it in under he rack unless the seller has the means to lift it. A chain hoist that you can lift it up high enough with is a wonderful thing.

 

Yep!



I don't understand. Why can't you rent a U-Haul trailer, drive the 5 hours, pick up the chassis, drive back home and return the trailer to where you got it from? I did that when I got my '54. Drove 3 hours to get it, turned around and came home. Returned the trailer the next day.

 

Be very careful in following some of the "advice" here.

Check the laws in the state, or states that you are traversing.

In a great many of the US states, if it has a tire on the road, it needs to be registered, and insured, even if one end is on a dolly. Turn it into a trailer, and it likely will need to be registered, too.

Learning this lesson the hard way could result in you having to rent a truck anyway, or way worse.

 

Another vote for a round trip banzai run in one day with a pickup or a trailer in tow. Take a friend if you can. Ask yourself; how bad do you want it?

A few years back I did a Penske 16' box truck w/ power lift gate (like 31 Coupe described) and did a 650 mile round trip myself from San Diego up to Fresno area and back in one long day. Bought a relatively complete 51 Merc (minus chassis). Negotiated the Penske manager into a 24 hour rental with unlimited mileage!
Tuesday night on the way home from work I leave my daily at Penske and drive the box truck home. Get a few hours of sleep, by 2:00 AM I'm heading out with a full lunch box and large thermos of coffee. Beat traffic through LA and the Grapevine and drive straight through only stopping for fuel. In Fresno area at the guys shop about 7:30. Nobody there. I call his cell to tell him I've arrived at his shop. He about shits, can't believe I'm there says he's enroute to the shop and by 8:15 we're loading. We were able to slide it in the box truck by lifting it with the lift gate and a forklift then shove it in!
Mainline it back to San Diego, drove like bloody hell and able to arrive back home just ahead of the late afternoon traffic rush. Now I have to unload and return the truck. Oh yeah, promised the family I'd make my Son's game that night. No forklift at my house. Unloaded it using the lift gate and my rolling A frame w chain fall. Exciting part was pulling the body all the way out of the truck to a point where it was sitting on the lift gate and the other end suspended by the A frame. Did this by tying a strap to the body and the other end of the strap to a tree, then slowly driving the truck forward about until the body had slid free of the truck box floor out onto the lift gate . Have the Wife as my spotter; tells me when to stop pulling forward. She's in disbelief of the whole endeavor!!! Yep, says I'm out of my ever loving mind!
Return the truck to Penske, jump in my daily and I'm able to meet up with the family right at opening pitch of my Son's 6:00 PM baseball game!!!
Get into a "how was your day" conversation with a couple of the Dads I know. They can't relate at any level to my 16 hour day of fun and really think I'm f'n crazy.
Us car guys do crazy shit to make things happen.

 

8' pallet. Not that hard to find and they are usually free. Lower tailgate on truck to make 10' bed. This is assuming you have a 8' bed. Strap chassis to pallet ass end first and slide into bed of truck. Secure pallet to bed of truck. Add red flages and stop to re-tighten straps after 5 miles.
Check all straps often.
If you have a short box you still have 8' with the tailgate down although I don't know the inside dimensions of a short box as I've never owned one. It isn't that heavy so two can load/unload. The pallet makes it easier to slide in and out and once the front of the pallet is 8-10" on the tailgate it can be used as a balance point making lifting the front easier.

 

Don't know where you are in NJ,. but I'm in the Asbury Park area. Last year we rented a Penske truck with lift gate and drove out to Long Island and back to get a '23 Model T chassis. Worked out just fine. Call me if you want to talk -- seven32three10nineseven45

 

Why not just offer some cash to someone here on the H.A.M.B. and if it's a fair offer, I am sure someone will take you up on it.

 

I guess it’s just a country thing, but I have trailers, pickups, come-a-longs, tie downs, winches, portable a frames. I just thought all car guys had these things. I once drug a scraper home 20 miles behind my winch truck, I had the back hoisted up with the gin poles because it had flats! I have hauled numerous things home in the back of my truck also. Seems like I always figure out somehow to get it loaded and home! Just Redneck I guess.








Bones

 

This would be a lot easier if you had a full size truck but I can imagine the engine and trans part of the frame sitting on the rear part of the bed. Something to think about.

 

Thanks all for the suggestion, definitely some interesting options. I have access to a few boat trailers so may see if that will work out. Also looking into buying a trailer, have thought about it for awhile and may be a good reason to pull the trigger.

 

Model A chassis should be easy to haul in a pick-up; of course if you have a trailer you can get more.

 

Perfect, on the money answer!

I bought a brand new tandem axle 18ft flat in 1992. It just about starved me to death at the time to buy it, but it has bar-none been the single best tool purchase of my life. I would bet it has well over 200k local miles on it.

There are a lot of safe ways to get that chassis home. Several good ideas have been posted. None of them are microwave solutions, but a little work will get the job done.

 

New trailer??? I thought we were old traditional hot Rodders that took old stuff and made it better!! If you can rebuild an old car, a trailer is child’s play! I bought a 16 ft common utility trailer years ago , used for $350. First thing I did was repack the wheel bearings. Then bought a good used set of tires. Since then I have added steel plates in between the angle iron rails, this made the trailer a lot stronger! Added braces under the floor out in front of my fenders, the angled back toward the front of the trailer out of 3 inch channel. Added 3 inch channel to the tongue and made a tool box in the vee. Added a Beebe hand winch to the tongue. That is the most handy thing you can do to a trailer! Believe me! I also carry a two snatch blocks in my tool box. Rewired the cheesy wiring all trailers have, yeah even your new ones, I ran the wire through tubing with junction blocks and solder ever joint. Fixing to up grade to LED soon. I have wore out three sets of tires on this trailer over the years, as I have pulled it a “LOT”. But I have had very little suspension problems, largely because I have my trailer tires balanced! I get funny looks at the tire shops when I ask to have them balance trailer tires, most around here say “ we don’t usually balance trailer tires” , well on my you do! I also have a built in ramp, that I put on it . I put a piece of 1 inch pipe under the out side lip of the fenders and pop riveted it and added a brace between the tires. My fenders are straight as a string! And I have been pulling this trailer for over thirty years. I guess you say I “ Hot Rodded” my trailer! Lol

Edit: I have also replaced the wood one time, with treated wood.








Bones

 

I got my 16' utility) trailer in exchange for putting a head gasket on an OT car. I think the first thing I did was make ramps, then dealt with tires, replaced some of the wood deck that had been rotted from sitting with garbage on it at POs house. I eventually added a manual winch that a friend who borrowed the trailer gave me, and then I bought brakes on one axle. My neighbor had borrowed it several times, he put new wood on the deck one year. I added brakes on the other axle after hauling a bunch of scrap with it. Then I made better ramps, and a way to secure them under the trailer. I finally got around to sandblasting and painting it, when I had plans to haul a nice car across several states, and I got tired of the rusty look. I've been replacing tires as they wear out, and keep after the wheel bearings as needed.

Doesn't really matter if you get a new one, or a used one, you'll have to fix/maintain it, and either way you'll spend money on it, and hopefully get good use out of it.

 

Whatever you decide, the first thing on your list should be a pack of ratchet straps.

I buy the orange ones at HF whenever I see a sale. I bought 16 of them last time and usually roll around with a half dozen in the truck at all times. You can haul a lot of rusty stuff with straps, some cardboard, and a moving blanket.

 

I do own a couple of car trailers but you know what I get cheap all the time and I resell? campers. good ones I have sold complete ones after just a power washing and/or minor repairs but I also ripped quite a few down to just a flat deck trailers and resell them. When I said I get them cheap I should have said free. Yep, over the last few years I had 14 campers go thru my hands that I got free and I resell the good ones for $1700-$1900 and I sell the ones I strip down for $700-$900. Helps I am the campground scrap guy and move trailers around for them.

they make good extra storage too, cheaper than a storage unit or those pods you rent. . I have cl stuff in one because I don't like having people in my house or my shop I don't know and I have helicopter parts stuff in another.

so you might want to look at cheap campers to strip down, scrap the tin/aluminum, get your project and resell the trailer for a profit and go use that money for a good chunk down on a nice car trailer. once you get your first trailer you tend to use it more than you think and they do pay for themselves.

 

I think one thing some posters are forgetting is that the "semi" rolling chassis has an engine and transmission in it.
Trying to load that in the back of a pickup is going to be pretty difficult . The most logical way to bring it home is with a trailer.
The most useful trailer is a general purpose trailer with 4 wheels and at least 3500 lb axles. A 3500 lb axle should have 5 lug hubs on it. Wood is good but over time will require replacement. Steel is more expensive but it isn't going to stay painted and pretty as you scrape things onto it. Lots of tie downs is where most trailers are lacking. Plan on welding additional tie downs on most trailers. Minimum 16' length but you will probably wish you had an 18' or 20' sometimes.
If you buy a used trailer, check the axle size.....don't just take the owners word.


Being pretty should be a secondary requirement when getting a trailer. Sold this trailer to a guy who was in a bind and bought a new 9,900 lb trailer. Now I hate to use it because its too pretty.
Made another Homemade trailer with some existing axle and steel I had. Made it 16' and slightly narrower because I had the axles. Great for most things but have the large trailer now when we need to move a tractor.

 

Yes... I bought a new trailer when I was 22, and have been using it ever since. The initial investment amortizes out to $42.85 a year, not including tags, tires, grease, and a new floor in 1998. I'm on about set #6 on tires because the sun eventually gets them.

At the time I bought it a new one was only 20% or so more than a not-hammered-to-death used one in this market. Even a 22 year old kid could do the math on that investment. Mine also has straight fenders after all of these years, because I'm the only jackwagon that has used it.

Anyway... lots of ways to pull the skin from the cat.

 

nice kubota