The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Transporting 4100

I'd appreciate any good ideas about transporting a 4100 I recently purchased (MO to PA), which is inoperative, but rolls. Based on yesterday's post I'd figure the weight with a steel flatbed and wood sides has to be in excess of 4500 lbs. which is more than the rental car carriers will take (typically 4,000 lbs, max); the weight and height also seem more than the broker car transporters will handle. I'm thinking maybe a heavy equipment hauler, but maybe there's a better way.

your 4100 is smaller (relatively speaking) than a new dually one ton, it can be carried by a vendor.

what is your tow vehicle?

I understand the desire to carry it yourself. to get around the 4000# uhaul, I would suggest the following. If you are right around the mark, here's some ideas. I did not say good ones, just some ideas.

1. Pull 2 of the 4 wheels off the rear and put them in your tow vehicle. Those old bias ply 20s are heavy.

2. Stakesides are cheap unless they are mahogany or something. Maybe you can pull them and put them in your tow vehicle , if not, they have to be left behind .

3. Will you be replacing the bed wood? If its already on its way out, ditch it.

4. Is it inoperable because the engine is locked up? Are you already planning an engine swap to a full pressure 235 or 261? If so, the 216 or splash 235 stays behind.

5. Is she a beauty? If she's a field truck, doors and hood can be removed and placed in tow vehicle in minutes.

6. Front bumper (every little bit counts)

7. Ratty old grille?

Hope that gives you some ideas.

It has been my experience that paying someone to haul it really is cheaper, but they usually like a running vehicle to drive on.

Thanks for the input. Actually, there appears to be a lot of new things on the truck in good condition. So I'm inclined not to take things off if they're going to go back on, to lighten the load. Most of the carriers I talked with wanted more information than I could provide (e.g. is any portion taller than 6'6") so I have a concern that when the trucker arrives there may be problems. I'm still thinking there must be someone setup to carry bigger items.

Crazy thought...

Put it on a train.

The size and weight problems go away. It would be slow, and I've no idea what the cost would end up being, but train freight is cheap compared to most options.

You might have to fly to the other end to manage getting it transported to a train depot and then loaded, but hey, its another option...

Otherwise I'd say pretty much the same as 4.3 did.

I made a simple tow bar that bolted over the front bumper and pulled my 6400 for 40 miles with a one ton 4x4 pickup ( chevy, of course) at about 50 mph with no problem. The truck tires held air but were bad or I could have gone faster. Make sure the tires are good, take a couple off the rear, disconnect the drive line, rig up some lights and go to it. That or get a goosneck trailer and load her up. A bumper pull tandem will handle the weightbut the problem becomes the distribution of the weight. Too much to the rear and the trailer will start to whip above about 45 mph.

Markk, good luck on your transport.

The word from Old Sub about transporting by rail would solve any weight problem, but it would be just as costly as a truck haul, and you have to meet the schedule.

First you have to find a dock to load on. It will be in an obscure location that will be up to you to find. Freight cars, flat cars or box cars, are high, and it takes a fixed ramp to do the loading.

Second, you have to order the car. Once it is delivered to the loading dock (who knows when that will be--you are an extremely low-priority customer) you will have a fixed window to get the railcar loaded and the load tied down. If you don't get it loaded, tied down to RR specs, and ready to move within the loading window alotted, you will pay through the nose for a loading delay. And it is up to you to get it loaded and notify the railroad it is ready for inspection and pull.

If you load the vehicle, make 100% absolutely sure you get the tie-down specifications, or it won't move, and you will pay for a reinspection and probably a missed pull.

Once the move is made you will have a short window to unload at your end at an equally obscure, acceptable dock location.

Unless you use rail transportation frequently, it is more trouble than you can imagine. Ship by rail is "transportation friendly" only to the regular customers who spend lotsa money moving lotsa stuff by rail.

Sorry, but having worked for the railroad, I speak from experience.

We were "in-house" shippers and receivers (Maintenance of Way), used company-owned cars, and had a direct line to the Dispatcher and the Trainmaster to assist us in getting stuff moved. It was still a fright.

Sometimes, the most dependable way was to create a "Work Train," which I paid for out of my budget, that I could order around to move cars of material. Expensive (in a sense), but at least I could control the movement and get the material where needed on time.

I looked at the gooseneck site, and it sure looks like even their regular duty will handle the weight; so far I haven't found any place that rents them. If I can find a rental, that might be a good solution. Either that or try and get the truck roadworthy locally, and drive it back.

Try renting one from an equipment rental place that rents skidloaders and the like,
Scott

The gooseneck is the best option. If you were planning to do any hauling in the future, consider buying a new 20'-24' goose for your own use! You can get one like this - 20' deck + 4' dovetail with 6' ramps, #6K axles with singles (gives you #12K GVW for the trailer + load - an easy haul with the 6400 on board!), 12-ply 16" trailer radials, electric brakes on both axles, spare, breakaway kit, I-beam construction on frame and neck with angle or C-channel on the crossmembers - ready to roll for between $4K - $5K, depending on where you buy it.

If not, you can rent one similar for a decent price.

I hauled a 1950 Dodge HHA 2-ton flatbed on my 18' car hauler (#7500 GVW, so I was overweight by about 500 lbs! (#8K!)), on 8-ply 15" bias trailer tires, and it pulled it like it was built for it. Any tandem single gooseneck will haul that 4100 just fine.

If it has 4 reasonably good tires,I'd hook a tow bar and some lights to it,drop the driveline at the axle and tie it to the frame and flat tow it.I pulled my C-60 a couple of times with a '57 GMC half ton,no problem. Pulling it with my '62 Chev. one ton was even easier.
Speed

Well I said the train was a crazy thought...

I'm curious about renting a goosekneck. Has anyone had any success doing so? What do you need to pull one? I assume a big pickup, but how do you need it equipped?

used goosenecks of sufficient capacity can be had around here for $2500-3000. The big ones with tandem duals are a bit more but still very reasonable by comparison with new. I hauled a "58 C60 Viking on a trailer I found by the side of the road for $800. Once you zero in on finding a good used trailer it's kind of like these old Bolts- they are everywhere that you never saw them before. Also contact your local farm implement dealer. Many of them know of private contract haulers that haul tractors and implements using a pickup and gooseneck rig to avoid road taxes, etc. Fees are still about $2-3 per loaded mile. Sometimes you can find a trucking company that is deadheading a return that will haul for a negotiated price just to avoid being empty. Good luck

When I had my equipment rental company I would rent a gooseneck for $30 day.I'm sure it's more in other places. A 3/4 ton or better could haul anything the trailer would carry. The truck would need an electric brake controller, plug and wiring and the ball mount in the bed

I'm liking the gooseneck option a lot. For an 800 mile trip, I think having the electric brakes is a good thing (although a tow bar is still an option, if I get a decent sized tow vehicle). But I've completely struck out on finding a place to rent something like this; most of the equipment rental centers around here do not rent their trailers, which seemed odd to me. And I just don't see having enough future need to buy one.

That's odd. I'd gone to a big nationwide equipment rental sites before and found no trailers listed on their equipment inventory, but when I talked to one of the local dealers, he did say they had some bobcat trailers for $63 a day, which I think should work (at least they're rated for 12,000 lb).

Talk to some tow truck outfits. They like jobs like that & will usually give special rates. If the rear tires are decent they could pull it from the front after pulling the driveshaft.

I've rented dual axle trailers equipped with a brake actuated by a surge unit mounted on the tongue I thouht they did an adaquate job with a mini excavator on board and no electric brake controller needed

I hired a tow truck to move my big trucks and was pretty happy with both the cost and the service. But I had two of them moved about four miles for less than $100.

After an accident a few years ago it cost me over $400 to have a small car moved about 100 miles on a flatbed wrecker.

Buy a used gooseneck, haul your truck, sell your used gooseneck

800 mile trip for a 4100?

My Dad had a 66 Cadillac hauled form Springfield to Panama City, cost him $600

Where is the truck located?

I hauled a 3800 from Henry IL to Springfield, about 500 miles with my brother's tractor trailer. bumper hitch.

Truck is located in Harrisburg, MO, near Columbia. Going to Pleasantville, PA, North of Pittsburg, south of Erie. You're not telling me that 800 miles is too far to go are you? What could possibly go wrong? (No need to answer)

I've had 2 'big bolts' transported from California to British Columbia for about $800 CDN each. I went online and simply searched for trucking carriers that used flatbeds or step-down flatbeds, with LTL (Less Than full Load). We loaded and unloaded at each end with a local tow compaies' 5 ton roll off flatbed wrecker. I didn't even have to be there, just paid by Visa.

Markk
Come on down and buy a trailer here in Mo. Haul it back to Pa. and sell the trailer, but I bet that you'll find a trailer is very handy to have around.
There are several dealers around the Columbia area.A tamdom tag-a-long with brakes are rated at 7000#. Coupled to a 3/4 ton or better should
do it. Goose neck is even better.If you chose this route, Let me know and I'll start getting you some names and numbers of dealers.

Let me know when you are heading this way and I may be able to help you load it.

2-Ton

Mark K,I do local towing,transport and recovery.I have seen alot happen in my 35 years doing this.I would go to the site called YT Mag and look on the left for their hauling board.Get a quote,you will be surprised.800 miles is not just around the corner.
Good Luck & Be Safe!

Mark K is there a big hurry to move this truck? I live about 6-8 mile from Harrisburg and have freinds closer that you could put the truck till you can get it to PA let me know if you need something.

Thanks, everyone, for all your suggestions and help. I'm going out Monday to drive it back (recent reports have it running well). I'll let you know how it goes; if you don't hear anything I'll be someplace between Columbia, MO, and Pleasantville, PA.

I'll be waiting for a full report! Driving an old 'bolt long distance is sure to be an adventure worth hearing about.

I'm back the road trip drving my new 4100 back from MO to PA. Except for one 3 hr. wait on I-70 while a pretty big accident was cleared, and one minor battery charging problem, all in all it wasn't much different than going round the corner for a quart of milk; just longer.

I think this man desrves a prize!! Wow, what a ride that would have been. It is nice to hear that it was clear sailing for you. That truck must be in pretty fair shape to give you that kind of service.

Excellent Glad to hear the trip was relatively uneventful. Like to see some pictures up in gallery when you get a chance

We need pictures! And please make the story more interesting, it sounds way too easy...

I love happy endings :-)

It just goes to show-you cant beat an old truck!

Hi Everyone:

I've just posted some pictures and more information to the gallery.

OldSub wanted a more interesting story. Unfortunately, I don't have an interesting truck story just a plane story.

On the outbound trip from Nashville to St. Louis, we were riding in some sort of piston driven two prop plane. If the kid driving, had actually begun shaving he must still have been on his first pack of blades; or maybe I've just gotten too old. So, we load up with all these big burly soldiers, all their gear, and me (holding all the tools I could stuff in my duffle bag), and start taxiing out, but before we get to the runway we make a U-turn, and head back. The young captain makes some announcement about not having known what they had. Then they start shifting baggae and ask a couple of big guys in the rear to move to the very front seats. AND I notice that in the cockpit they change the page on the little table they have; it used to be the 12,000 lb page, now, the 16,000 lb. The entries are various velocities, at two flap settings. So I'm imagining the scene in the cockpit if they'd tried to lift off using the wrong weight table; maybe there's a lot of overhead, but my imagination shows a very surprised and unhappy young pilot and bad things happening ("Why won't this pile of junk rotate?").

That's the best story from my trip.

Markk,The "Bolt Gods" must have been with you!Glad to hear you made it back and your 4100 passed it's road test.

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together.
Great job Mark!

Well at least the adventure had some real adventure...

I hate flying on little planes. I had a job once where I was forever visiting clients in remote locations, ski resorts actually, and most of the trips required at least one hop in one of those little foriegn made baby airliners.

Marks truck is in the new gallery submissions. We need more pics, looks to me like an AD cab on a later chassis.