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Hi everyone, I've been reading up a bit here (currently on page 166 of the forum browsing topics and reading articles) but haven't come across what I'm considering doing for hauling my new to me HMMWV home from Yermo (900 miles each way)
So here's the situation. I own a Ford F450 with a 12 foot flatbed. The car trailer I have available is too narrow (76 inches between the rails and fenders) and while I have access to some other trailers, they're a lot bigger and heavier that I really need for this.
Me and a buddy of mine were discussing the best way to go pick it up whenever the EUC finally clears, which will probably be 2 months or so from now.
My original thought, since it appears they can be loaded by forklift, is to put some heavy timbers on my truck bed and bolt them down, set the HMMWV on it's wheels on them, and then add some turn signals at the tail of the HMMWV.
His idea is to get some heavy timbers and place them under the frame rails, have the HMMWV set down on the timbers (with some blocks for spacers for the forklift forks) and just have the tail of the truck hanging off the back, and pull the rear wheels off in order to move the weight forward a little bit.
My F450 is rated to haul 7k lbs of load, HMMWV comes in under 6 so that shouldn't be an issue, and truck tires are rated for way above what the truck is. I won't be overloading the F450 by putting the HMMWV on it, so that's not a concern. F450 axle is about 7 feet back from the headache rack, and looking at the sling load charts, center of gravity on a stripped down HMMWV is going to be in the driver's foot well area, so that shouldn't be an issue either, as that will be above or in front of the F450's axle.
1)As I view it, the main benefit of setting it on it's wheels on longer timbers is that it will be a little easier to unload. Main downside is that it will have a little room to bounce as it's sitting on it's suspension on top of the F450's suspension, and will also be another 6 inches or so higher.
2)Setting the frame rails on timbers makes it a lot more stable for the drive, but will make it just a little harder to unload at the end of the trip, though I may have access to a loading dock, semi-trailers, and a small forklift, so that's probably not much of an issue either. I can also pull all the wheels and set the truck down lower if the guys at the loading yard are willing to give me a few minutes to pull all the lugs with my impact gun.
Currently the F450 is only registered for 16k lbs, as my state doesn't require me to stop at scales at that level. If I pull a trailer I'll have to register it for higher, which makes me stop at scales and possibly go through a commercial inspection (it's a personal vehicle, not for hire, but WA law is funny like that). Also not that familiar with OR and CA laws, but should be able to get by if I stick under 16k lbs.
So do you guys see any major issues with using either of the above methods for hauling the HMMWV?
I drove an M1025 for a little while in the Army before they figured out I knew how to actually drive a vehicle and they gave me an M934A2 to drive through Korean traffic (which was actually kind of fun tbh) so I have a little bit of familiarity with the basic truck, but have never had to consider how to haul one 900 miles with a POV.
Since no newcomer thread is complete without pics, here are the ones from GovPlanet. Went through reset in 2010, serial number starts with 183XXX so if I'm reading the other threads correctly it's from 2000 (data plate only has reset date). Had 26 miles at reset, reads 32 now, but I know that doesn't mean a whole lot.
So here's the situation. I own a Ford F450 with a 12 foot flatbed. The car trailer I have available is too narrow (76 inches between the rails and fenders) and while I have access to some other trailers, they're a lot bigger and heavier that I really need for this.
Me and a buddy of mine were discussing the best way to go pick it up whenever the EUC finally clears, which will probably be 2 months or so from now.
My original thought, since it appears they can be loaded by forklift, is to put some heavy timbers on my truck bed and bolt them down, set the HMMWV on it's wheels on them, and then add some turn signals at the tail of the HMMWV.
His idea is to get some heavy timbers and place them under the frame rails, have the HMMWV set down on the timbers (with some blocks for spacers for the forklift forks) and just have the tail of the truck hanging off the back, and pull the rear wheels off in order to move the weight forward a little bit.
My F450 is rated to haul 7k lbs of load, HMMWV comes in under 6 so that shouldn't be an issue, and truck tires are rated for way above what the truck is. I won't be overloading the F450 by putting the HMMWV on it, so that's not a concern. F450 axle is about 7 feet back from the headache rack, and looking at the sling load charts, center of gravity on a stripped down HMMWV is going to be in the driver's foot well area, so that shouldn't be an issue either, as that will be above or in front of the F450's axle.
1)As I view it, the main benefit of setting it on it's wheels on longer timbers is that it will be a little easier to unload. Main downside is that it will have a little room to bounce as it's sitting on it's suspension on top of the F450's suspension, and will also be another 6 inches or so higher.
2)Setting the frame rails on timbers makes it a lot more stable for the drive, but will make it just a little harder to unload at the end of the trip, though I may have access to a loading dock, semi-trailers, and a small forklift, so that's probably not much of an issue either. I can also pull all the wheels and set the truck down lower if the guys at the loading yard are willing to give me a few minutes to pull all the lugs with my impact gun.
Currently the F450 is only registered for 16k lbs, as my state doesn't require me to stop at scales at that level. If I pull a trailer I'll have to register it for higher, which makes me stop at scales and possibly go through a commercial inspection (it's a personal vehicle, not for hire, but WA law is funny like that). Also not that familiar with OR and CA laws, but should be able to get by if I stick under 16k lbs.
So do you guys see any major issues with using either of the above methods for hauling the HMMWV?
I drove an M1025 for a little while in the Army before they figured out I knew how to actually drive a vehicle and they gave me an M934A2 to drive through Korean traffic (which was actually kind of fun tbh) so I have a little bit of familiarity with the basic truck, but have never had to consider how to haul one 900 miles with a POV.
Since no newcomer thread is complete without pics, here are the ones from GovPlanet. Went through reset in 2010, serial number starts with 183XXX so if I'm reading the other threads correctly it's from 2000 (data plate only has reset date). Had 26 miles at reset, reads 32 now, but I know that doesn't mean a whole lot.
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