Non truck owners what works for hauling wood best, ideas needed

[struggle]

I last week sold my 5th wheel camper and two hours later delivered my beast of a truck (2004.5 Dodge Ram 2500 cummins diesel)to a farm freind that bough it. Soooo now I have no more truck.

I am to say the least happy to be rid of the camper and the truck was icing on the cake as both where paid for and since fuel for the truck around here is at $4.20 and climbing I figure I could do with out that expense.

I have to vehicles and the usefull one is a Chrysler T&C;mini van to which I refer to as the man van now :vampire:

Since it has full size hitch on it I am thinking of buying a 5x10 utility trailer as replacement for the missing truck bed.

Prices on the trailer in my area with a 3,000 lb axle are $1075 new. A 5X10 trailer would give me more space then the short box pick up truck bed.

I could also just remove seats from the van and fill it with wood as I can get to the wood pile located 7 miles from my house with the van. I might in heavy snow fall have to carry the wood short distance but I figure the extra time will be worth it since I will not have the expense of owning the truck anymore. So the trade off looks good now.

What are your thoughts?

Note I am not willing to even buy a junk truck as the cost would still far exceed that of a trailer. When figuring fuel license and insurnace and maintence.

 

[Mmaul]

Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 12 foot trailer, with sides. load up the trailer and haul my gear in the back of the Jeep.

 

[computeruser]

I'd vote for a utility trailer. I have a 5x8 with a mesh ramp/gate and 30" sides, and find that it works great as a wood hauler, as well as a landscaping materials hauler, furniture hauler, and as a place to store wheelbarrows and other stuff without cluttering up my garage.

 

[grizzly2]

Your concept is fine and makes sence, but, while the Chrysler mini van is overall a prety good vehicle, the automatic transmissions in these vehicles are not particulaly strong. In fact they can be problematic. The 5'X10' trailer bed is larger than you need for what the van will haul. I would downsize slightly to 4'X8' inside bed size for carying sheet goods such as plywood. Even then you probably souldn't haul more than about 500-1000 pounds of wood, depending on the terain you are hauling over. Remember that van is mechanically a compact car, not a truck.

A truck based van or a truck based sports utility, will still haul people and will tow a much heavier trailer load safely and without damaging the vehicle. All that said, you already have the mini van and it sounds like you want good gas milage. I think it will do the job if you take it easy with weight and excellerate moderately. However, If you haul often it will probably shorten the transmission life. :coolsmile:

 

[struggle]

I am not to worried about the transmission on this van as I am a auto tech by trade. It has 88,000 on it now so if it goes I not at that much of a loss since I can pull and rebuild as needed. I really do not see pulling 1K on it being that bad for as little as I will do it. It will be used in the winter and I really do not see any need to drive it fast that way.

I am surprised you think 1,000 lbs would be to much as if you load the van up with seven adults it could weigh that @150 lbs each plus any thing else they may bring on board.

I looked at a 4x8 trailer to start but they are built very light weight with a single tube tung where as a 5x10 has an A frame front end so it looked much better and has large wheels plus 3,000lb axle.

Of course if I go this route and do find the van struggling I can always carry less wood the next time. My intent would be to back the trailer the in garage and just take wood out of it as needed during the 24/7 burn times. No need to remove and stack it again.

 

[Highbeam]

I own a 4x8 HD trailer with 2' sides which will carry 0.5 cords which weighs about 2000 lbs. I have several times wished for a 5x8 or 5x10 trailer becuase as you can imagine, loading 4x8 sheets of anything in a 4x8 trailer with sides does not leave any room for fingers and sheetrock is sensitive to bumps. Plus loading two motorcycles side by side in a 4x8 doesn't leave enough room for a cooler in between. Go 5x10 as you mention, lots of good reasons.

My family owned a Chrysler minivan with the 3.? V6 and it is a car drivetrain. It only got like 16 mpg so you might as well be driving the dodge diesel as far as MPG is concerned. You'll be able to fix the man van and hopefully you will be able to recognize when it is being overloaded and lay off of it. Maybe you'll look for an upgrade someday, maybe not.

I think you need a pickup. Even a small 4cylinder ford ranger which could carry a trailer load of wood and haul a trailer load of wood for better mpg than the van but I am a little odd about men needing trucks like they need air in their lungs.

 

[snydley]

I last week sold my 5th wheel camper and truck (2004.5 Dodge Ram 2500 cummins diesel) Soooo now I have no more truck.

I am to say the least happy to be rid of the camper and the truck was icing on the cake, fuel for the truck around here is at $4.20 and climbing I figure I could do with out that expense.

I have to vehicles and the usefull one is a Chrysler T&C;mini van to which I refer to as the man van now :vampire:

Since it has full size hitch on it I am thinking of buying a 5x10 utility trailer as replacement for the missing truck bed.

That's close to what I use. I have a Dodge Caravan and 6x10 enclosed cargo,(motorcycle), trailer that I haul wood with. I took the back seats out, and my saw and accessories ride there. It's worked great so far.

Prices on the trailer in my area with a 3,000 lb axle are $1075 new. A 5X10 trailer would give me more space then the short box pick up truck bed.



What are your thoughts?

Go for it. It should work out fine for you.