How about a Fire Truck?
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May 31, 2011 3:16 p.m. Woody SuperDork
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May 31, 2011 3:46 p.m. Ian F SuperDork
Sure. Except for the gearing. Ever notice one driving by with the engine screaming while it's moving along at a blistering 45 mph? Fire trucks are designed to haul a lot weight relatively short distances on local roads with little regard to efficiency. They don't do long hauls on the hwy well.
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June 1, 2011 8:13 a.m. vdubinsd New Reader
Wha? You're concerned about parking a school bus and yet you want to park a car transporter?
Check your local ordinances. Car transporters are often considered commercial vehicles - even if registered for personal use ('Not For Hire' painted on the doors) - and can be not welcome.
For awhile, I considered replacing my truck with a Izuzu cab-over roll-back, until I found out I wouldn't able to park it in my second driveway. And my area is pretty lienent about these sort of things (nobody cares about derilict cars in back-yards).
City ordinance here is regarding length, so it can be ugly as hell as long as it is not over xxx ft (have to look to see what the max length is), that is how the other motorhomes cluster on the same street I park my junk (public street). And there are plenty of Isuzu type box trucks that park there too...
I live in a pita condo complex,so I cant even park anything at my house that does not fit in a garage at all (no overnight parking without a permit-if the association grants a permit it costs $125 a month to park in a space, and I know of 2 people who have them-in a 150 unit complex, so the association does not like granting them) so parking on the street is the only option...and if it fits the letter of the law I dont care what the neighbors think!
School bus I agree would be the best choice from a mechanical standpoint, diesel power would be ideal also, but with no place to keep it would be a nightmare...
Looks like I need to find something I can daily drive and tow-been looking at full size station wagons and full size cargo vans also, but I will still be customer of the month at the local u haul.
Sounded like a great idea at the time, and would be pretty easy (straightforward-maybe not easy) to fab some ramps and not have to have a trailer, but I dont want an ill-handling monster that is seriously overloaded by a 2800 lb car-if I wanted that I could borrow my s.i.l's Caravan again!
Thanks for the thoughts and ideas!
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June 2, 2011 12:58 a.m. DuctTape&Bondo Reader
Saw this; http://ventura.craigslist.org/cto/2404332573.html thought of this thread. Looks kinda cool, or am I crazy?
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June 2, 2011 12:25 p.m. mtownneon New Reader
Woody wrote:
How about a Fire Truck?
Like this?
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June 2, 2011 1:25 p.m. shadetree30 Reader
I know it's not the original object of the exercise, but how about a dual rear wheel crew cab truck with the frame stretched?
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June 2, 2011 1:42 p.m. M2Pilot Reader
Around here, lot's of farmers but the back passenger section off school buses & use them to haul pallets of cucumbers & other such produce. No idea how much those loads weigh but it looks like a lot. Must work pretty well because I've been seeing it done locally for 10-15 years or so.
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June 2, 2011 3:46 p.m. Ian F SuperDork
shadetree30 wrote:
I know it's not the original object of the exercise, but how about a dual rear wheel crew cab truck with the frame stretched?
I know somebody who has one of these. They do dirt-track racing and stuffed one of their old SBC race engines (spec-built, so not really all that hot) into it. They had to rebuild the rear ramp deck as it apparently the previous owner/builder thought making it 'look' like it was attached to the frame was good enough. Unless you're only planning on movign a small car, you'd need to find a CC dually then swap the cab for a single.
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June 2, 2011 3:51 p.m. DuctTape&Bondo Reader
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June 2, 2011 4:42 p.m. SVreX SuperDork
vdubinsd wrote:
the school bus gives me an idea-leave the motorhome sides, and gut the center and add ramps and folding roof-undercover motorhome car hauler
Ain't gonna work.
I'm serious about the GVWR. The cabinets and interior you remove don't come close to the weight of the car+ ramps+ tools you are going to add. You're gonna be overloaded, and VERY tail happy.
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June 3, 2011 8:17 a.m. vdubinsd New Reader
DuctTape&Bondo wrote:
that is awesome-just take a zero off the price for my budget.....and I guess I am going to throw in the towel on the idea-searching for big wagon or free candy-type van to do my bidding and be a junkyard hauler
anyone in SoCal area want joint custody of a car trailer? (and have a place to keep it?)
