Im moving cross country and need a trailer big enough to pack a 3000 square foot 5 bed 2.5 bath home. Plus all the goodies in the two car garage. Not 100% sure what size trailer to look for, tag or gooseneck, # of axles and rating, and how much to pay. Just curious what everyone with some experience thinks. Being towed with truck in my signature. Its a military move so the motivation is the money involved. If I hire a commercial mover I get substantially less to perform the move than if I do it all myself.

 

well that depends on how much stuff you have ? you might need to call atlas, united ,or some one with a 48' moving van. when my folks moved it took up the whole van with a 3 bedroom 2 bath 2 car garage and we had a 16' trailer with junk in it!

moving is the quikest way to get rid of friends

 

Like rebal said, it all depends on how much stuff you have. If you have the house and garage full, you're going to need a lot of trailer.

Best course is to take an inventory of everything that you're going to be packing (check the moving company websites for their inventory checklist sheets to make it easier). Then you can get the sizes of your big items to figure out much space they'll take up. This will give you an idea of how much space you need.

Plus you can put together a packing plan to make sure you can get all the big items in with the small stuff on top and around them.

 

There isn't a trailer big enough.... unless you have a BIG garage sale before hand.

 

Well the couches are not going and we are planning to get rid of tons of stuff in a garage sale. I think we can get it down to the equivalent of a three bedroom two bath home. Alot of the furniture we have is hand-me-downs that my parents had when I was in high school (12-15 year old furniture) so it will be going away. Im thinking 24-28 ft gooseneck would be enough. The wife drives a suburban so we can pack tons in there also. I know you can buy a tag trailer that long but is it advised? Thanks.

 

I would buy the biggest 5th wheel/gooseneck enclosed trailer I could find for the best deal and what doesn't fit.....ain't going. I've found it's not so much the furniture and boxes that takes up space, it's all the "stuff". Tools, lawnmowers, wheelbarrows, saws, stands,hoists, ramps, the sort of stuff that doesn't stack easily.

 

it us 2 trips with a 32 ft stock trailer and it was about an 1800 sqft house with no garage. your gonna need something way larger then your truck could handle. but if your dead set on getting something a stocktrailer or horse trailer mite be a cheaper route

 

I dont really even want to do this move with a trailer, but I stand to pocket about $8-10K. Its hard for me to turn it down.

 

Might consider a 40' shipping container and a gooseneck flatbed to carry it. Don't know what they weigh empty but a good gooseneck with tandem 12Ks should give you some capacity. Then sell the container and trailer (if you don't need it) at the other end.

 

That's a lot of stuff to fit into one trailer. And that would be a pretty heavy load. You stand to make some cash, but not as much as you might think after you pay expenses.

You can do a partial DITY move. Pack all the stuff you want done yourself, and maybe some stuff that a commercial mover won't take, like mtorcycles, liquids, fuel jugs, etc. And then let TMO manage the rest. Let them manage the big heavy stuff like the fridge, feezer, washer, dryer, spare engines, transmissions, etc.

A partial DITY move can be a nice balance. You lose less stuff, have less damage, don't have to discard liquids, and it's less work. And, if you're over your weight limit, you don't get charged for it.

 

A partial DITY seems like the best choice, but there is a timing piece were dealing with since the housing market is in the dumps. All of that commercial move has to be scheduled and not knowing when, or if, my home will be sold, I cant really schedule a mover to come. Doing a full DITY will let me pack and move when I get ready and not have to wait for my property to arrive. Now what I didnt think about is using two trailers, since my wife will be driving also. Id buy one and rent the other.

 

Find a trailer that says United or Mayflower on it.

 

yeah its probly gonna take more than a 32'. you might try renting a ryder van or something like that which you can drive yourself.

 

Yeah gonna have to look into something. Thanks.

 

As I understand the situation you are moving from Fla back to Texas or inland ??

If you are port side you could pickup a cantainer real cheap either hire (the OTR drivers go cheap these days) or like previously stated put it on a 40' GN trailer and move it yourself..

You would end up with a cantainer and or GN Trailer out of the deal for future moves / storage or sell it to make some cash.. in-land they get pricey.. esp for the over 40ft lengths..