So what happens if I overload the truck? Do I risk stressing the engine and breaking down on the highway somewhere? Or is that I’ll just be a getting less efficient fuel rate? (which I can live with.)
I’m renting a 15 foot truck with a 2,000 load capacity. I could be going over by as much as another 1,000 pounds.
You may cause stress on the engine, but more importanly, you could change the handling characteristics of the van making it dangerous to drive.
Dangerous as in, “Go too fast and you’ll flip tip over” dangerous or “Good luck with your brakes when you drive downhill through Kentucky and Georgia” dangerous? I can compensate for the first but the second might give me pause.
A severe overload like the one you’re describing - going over the limit by 50% - can cause various handling and safety problems. I don’t think the “tipping over on a corner” thing is too likely, since you’re probably not going to put massive heavy stuff on top, but you might find yourself climbing hills at 20 mph in second gear.
Check the load rating on the tires, too. Overloading the vehicle can severely stress them.
Long-term overloading also causes problems with wheel bearings and suspension parts (struts and/or springs and/or shocks.) The truck’s a rental, so on the one hand you might say “Well, I’m only renting it for this move,” but on the other hand you don’t know how many other people have rented it and loaded it past the limit.
Is getting a bigger truck not an option? Or renting a trailer too?
Sadly, finacially, no. A bigger truck is not an option. Nor to I want to pare down my belongings any further - I’m already leaving my washer and dryer and queen-sized bed.
Overloading a vehicle is not good. Don’t forget that an adult can easily weigh 100Kg / 220 lbs.
Won’t you be invalidating the insurance?
Better take two trips.
The second one. It SHOULD give you pause. The brakes with which the truck has been equipped are based on the loading characteristics of the vehicle. I also recommend 2 trips if possible. If you’re “leaving behind a washer, dryer, and queen-sized bed,” it sounds like you’re not leaving your current area, never to be seen again. I do not condone you overloading the truck, because you’re endangering yourself and others. But if you do, here’s some tips to keep you & others on the road safe:
But to dig a little deeper, how do you know how much your stuff weighs? Are you going by a square-footage or per room weight estimation? Those are rough guides. You could be under or over the estimation by quite a bit. What are your heaviest items? Furniture? Appliances? Lots of books? Lead weights?
And how far are you going? Was the mention of KT/GA real or just a for-instance?
How long of a trip are you talking about? I’m not sure about how much the extra weight is going to decrease the fuel mileage but with gas at $2.00+ a gallon, if you’re going more than a couple hundred miles, it might be more economical to get the next size up. If I remember correctly from the last time I rented a U-Haul, it was only like $30 difference a day from the smallest truck to the biggest.
The bigger trucks use more gas but they usually have manual shift transmissions.
Consider this:
The smaller trucks usually are automatic.
The truck is going to be overloaded which could cause more-than-normal slippage of the transmission.
The bigger truck is a stick shift (usually). The transmission doesn’t slip (unless something’s severely messed up), so you get better fuel efficiency.
The bigger trucks are sometimes diesel, which I think is more fuel efficient than gasoline.
The bigger trucks are designed to handle a heavier load.
Factor all of this together and if it saves you x miles per gallon over y miles on your trip with gas at $z per gallon… y/x*z=how much you’re going to save on gas. If that’s more than it costs to get the bigger truck, then you can afford the bigger truck.
Gas is not the issue here. Safety is. Safety 1st, remember?
Anyway, the last time I moved, we rented the largest U-haul available (24 or 26 ft., IIRC) and it was still an automatic. Rental trucks (or cars for that matter) are almost always automatic transmission, since clutche wear depends so much on the skill of the operator.
I’m driving to Atlanta from Ohio: 700 miles. This is a one-way trip. I’m that irritating anti-speeder everyone passes on the left on the highway, so I don’t imagine that keeping myself to 65mph the whole time will be much of a problem. I need a small truck because I know I’ll be able to turn a smaller truck around up the driveway leading up to the new house, a space I’m not sure I can manuever with a bigger truck.
Excluding my washer and dryer and bed, my heaviest objects are my 42" computer monitor, an oak armoire, a chest of drawers and aggregately my books: fifty milkcrates of books, six more banana boxes of hardbacks and another six that I inherited from my brother. Oh, and my comics collection: 15 long and shortboxes. There’s a couple of armchairs and bunch of tables, my 4 bookcases (real wood, solid heavy), one chest of drawers, one short storage table. Five small file cabinets, but I’ve lightened those.There are four industrial sized “contractor bags” filled with clothes and six plastic trunks filled with clothes and linen. A big box of bedding. A dozen small appliances in their original boxes. Also, assorted knicknacks of various weight like my hatrack. There’s a 9 foot ladder. My bike. Oh, and I’m a fat bastard. Did I mention that?
I was given room estimations by two different moving companies over the phone who gauged my stuff at 2,700 -3,000 pounds and 3,200- 3,800 pounds respectively – the big question mark being just how much do these damn books weigh.
Myself, I looked around my apartment and thought, “Okay. 2000 pounds is seven of me. If I’m in the driver’s seat, does all my stuff weigh as much as six of me in the back, put together?” I thought: “Six? Maybe around nine of you, big man.”
Up til now, I’d been worried about whether the bulk was a problem: I just didn’t consider the truck’s loaded down weight until the day before yesterday.
No chance the 2,000 limit is just a “wiggle room” spec?
What about mailing some of the books? Or (I know some people are sensitive about this) weeding out some of the books? It sounds like your books could be 30 - 50% of the weight of your total possessions.
42" computer monitor? Holy crap. I almost glanced over that one without a second look.
Are those 50 milkcrates actually milkcrates? Buying/procuring cardboard boxes might be lighter. Or as Eva says, perhaps some pruning will be in order. Will you really read or even consult all those books in the next year or two? Perhaps the next time you’re home on vacation you can bring a suitcase or two of books back to Atlanta with you. I’m assuming you have some sort of family/base of operations that you’re leaving in Ohio.
Describe the driveway you’re moving to.
If it’s financial trouble also (as stated above), you should know that moving expenses are deductible from federal (and some state) income taxes. I know that’s long term, but still.
Hve you looked at all your rental truck options? Different companies? Perhaps look specifically at weight limits this time.
The engineers who made the truck certainly expected that it would be slightly overloaded at some point in its life.
This being said, 50% overloaded for 700 miles is probably a bit much. If you were moving 2.5 miles I might think this endeavor a little less risky.
You said this is a 15 foot truck. I went on U-Haul’s web site, and I noted “17’ Easy Loading Mover” has a load capacity of 2,860 lbs.
Sure you can’t handle two more feet?
As another option, if you wanted to stick a trailer on the truck, a trailer like U-Haul’s " 4’ x 8’ trailer" has a load capacity of 1,220 lbs.
Most moving trucks can handle at least one of the light trailers, and the hitch means you can wiggle around those tight corners rather than driving over the curb.
By the way, a typical heavy truck has an engine and transmission that can handle (not fail under) dramatically more weight than the actual truck weighs. That’s what lets them tow.
If you do run your 2000-lb-rated vehicle with 3000 lbs, your handling might suck, or the suspension might fail, and you might die and make your mama sad, but your engine or tranny will likely be just fine.
When I packed I already weeded out a bunch of stuff. I’m pared down just about as far as I’d like to go without going through my winter clothes or giving up my encyclopedias and armoire. I didn’t look into shipping because I assumed the cost would be prohibitive. They’re not in mailable boxes, they’re in crates, and I’ve have to buy new boxes and repack 'em and label them just to ship them and THEN I’d constantly worry if they got there. I contacted about six of those shipping and moving companies like PODS and Move America exploring the possibility of shipping my all stuff or a portion thereof, but its summer now and they’re out to gouge people: Frankly, thus is muuuuuch cheaper.
The milkcrates double as bookshelves. I prefer the crates: they have built in handles and stack great. They’re already sorted by author and subject i just have to look at them to know what’s inside what box.
This monitor is a monster. I call it little NORAD. I didn’t BUY it, it’s my brother’s, he left it with me when he went to grad school but as he seems to have relocated permanently to Toronto, the sucker is m-i-n-e now.
I’m returning to my family base. There are lovely people I’m leaving behind I could stuff with if push came to shove. My brother’s old roommate would be happy to keep this monitor! But … let’s call that plan B.
The driveway is narrow, slightly winding on a pretty steep incline: Georgia hills The house is on the left, there’s a tree on the right at the top I have to manuever around to back in the garage. I have less room to turn around because of an out of commission car parked on the other side of the tree. I understand in the past they’ve parked moving trucks halfway up the driveway and unloaded. Me, I’m getting all the way up to the house.
Y’know I "might* be able to get most my crates in that 4X8 trailer hitch. I’m not sure about getting it all the way up the driveway, with the junk car there, but… Hmmm.
You might have something there.
Since everyone has touched on handling, braking, and acceleration (BTW, you’ll be darned lucky if you can get that truck to do 65-rentals have governors so drivers can’t pretend to be Richard Petty) there’s one not mentioned: Mr. Trooper. Should he see a truck that looks to be overweight, he will stop you and bring out a portable scale. One wheel at a time, he then determines the weight of the vehicle. A significant base fine for exceeding the GVWR (gross vehicle weight registered) plus a fine for every pound overweight is then levied. In some cases, you may not be permitted to move the vehicle until the excess weight has been shed. Personally, I wouldn’t risk it, but then again I can’t claim ignorance with a CDL-A. YMMV
Who cares if you stress the engine or trans on a rental truck? I wouldn’t.
What I do care about is the load rating for the tires and springs. If you break a spring, or blow a tire, the stupidity meter will hit the red line very quickly. Same if you over heat the brakes on a downhill.
My advice is to rent a larger truck, park on the street and use a hand truck to haul the books and shit up the driveway.
50% overload on a 700 mile freeway trip will almost certainly overheat a tire after a couple of hours, particularly if it’s a warm day. When that happens, the tire will blow out.
It’ll most likely be a rear tire, and if the truck has dualies then you won’t instantly lose control. But you will be surprised by the noise & drag and flapping rubber, which may make you lose control. If the truck has single rear wheels, I bet you’re going offroading.
If you retain control, you’ll pull over to the side, swaer, and be stuck. At 50% overload & very hot, the other tire on that side (if htere is one) won’t carry you far. When you call UHaul (or whoever) for roadside assist, they won’t be real impressed when they see the blown tire, totally sagged out suspension, etc.
Get a trailer or a bigger truck, period. Your adventure without one will be a lot more adventurous than you bargained for.
Don’t size your whole move based on getting the truck up some driveway at the destination. If necessary, you can transfer goods to a pickup truck for the last 100 feet to the house. A PITA? you bet. But not as big a PITA as not getting there at all.
This is a very, very good point - Rick may have rented the truck just before you, Askia. You have no idea what the truck has already been through, and that extra 50% you’re carrying may be the final straw.
Straight up - if you are in any sort of accident, you stand a very good chance of being found at fault simply due to overloading. If you are injured, you will probably not be able to collect damages. If someone else is injured, it will likely be you who has to pay.
Just don’t do it. The extra money involved in getting a larger truck or in making two trips may seem like a lot now, but if something should go wrong on the trip, you’ll wish that all you had to pay for was gas and rental fees.
Good luck on your trip.
I have to say, when we say “50% overload” we should bear in mind that we are not really overloading the tires by 50%.
We’re really looking at overloading vehicle by 1,000 lbs.
Let’s look at U-Haul’s 14" moving van:
It’s 7900 lbs empty, with a maximum load of 3100 lbs.
So overloading that by 1000 lbs would make it weight 12000 lbs when it’s supposed to weigh 11000. That’s really only 9 percent overloaded, and MIGHT be within tolerance for the tires. I know my last passenger car’s tires actually had more than a 10% excess load available with the car loaded to GVWR.
Nonetheless, Askia, I implore you, do this whole thing legally and safely. If you died, we’d miss your posts. And if that 42" screen got broken, that would suck too.
Hold on. See that URL up there?
The maximum load is 3100 lbs. What kind of 15’ vehicle are you hiring with only a 2000 lb capacity?