Has anybody used 17.5 tires and wheels to tow/haul? Seems like a great choice for a single wheel 1 ton that needs dual capacity.

 

You will have a much better tire selection if you go to 19.5". 17.5" that I have seen are trailer tires for moving van and lowboy trailers.

MikeyB

 

I don't think anyone has but people use 19.5's. 17.5's seem to be hard to find in terms of tires whereas there's TONS of 19.5's. Wheels are expensive though!

 

Hey Patrick, I see in your sig it says you still haven't put that rig to work? What is the hold up?

 

I have actually found a pretty good selection. All the way to all terrain type tires. Wheels are available too. The reason I was asking is they are a lot cheaper than 19.5's have the same capacity and should give a better ride considering the bigger side walls.

 

I really just haven't been able to find the time! I am hoping in a few weeks things will calm down a bit and I'll be able to test out the waters a bit.

 

Are you just trying to do hauling on the side? Or are you looking to make something full time out of it.

 

It depends I guess.

I do not want to drive all over the country and sleep in my truck. I have heard there's good work for moving cars to and from auctions for dealers though and there's a lot of auctions around this area. There's also work moving new cars from the ports to local dealers and there's 1000s of dealers around here. Most of those get picked up by the big 7-9 carriers but I guess they have a market for 3 car haulers.

To start off..I was thinking I might try to do some port work in the mornings (I work on West coast time and live on the East coast so I have a little time). Maybe 1 run per day, enough to break even and see what it is like.

I have a good job that pays the bills and I "tolerate" so not ready to go quit just yet.

Got any suggestions?

 

Where did you find 17.5 tires that are cheaper than 19.5??

I haven't payed attention, lately; but, UPS used to have 17.5 on all their delivery trucks.

They may still do, as they don't change around very often.

17.5 are very hard to find out on the road.

We have a very large tire shop and not a 17.5 in the building; I doubt there is one in the next three counties; that is how rare they are.

If you go with 17.5, buy a couple extras to haul around for emergencies.

 

Well, one outfit that I know hires small independent rigs is United Road. I don't know if they do any of the work you are talking about where you are at. Around here, United Road hires any Jo Blow with a truck and trailer to move new vehicles out of the Centreville Il. railyard and out to dealers. Had one guy come in here the other day with a little two car, tandem axle trailer that would only hold one diesel pick-up and it looked as if it was having a rough time with that. This guy had another guy with him as a helper and between the two of them they couldn't hardly hit the ramps. They have website.................

http://www.unitedroad.com/

I don't know much about them other than they haul everything out of the St.Louis area for Chrysler. They came in about a year ago and kicked Cassens transport out who hauled for Chrysler in this are for the last 50 years. Give em a try. Your rig is about 50 times nicer than a lot of the guys they send out to our place.

 

United Road is who I was going to check out...

 

I'd try em. The independents that are leased to them that haul in to us have never said anything bad about them. The old Cassens union boys sure don't like em, I know that for sure. United Road beat Cassens price all to hell. But when you don't have to pay all that high priced union labor, and their rediculous benefit and retirement plans you can work a little cheaper?