WT245 – Truck Yeah!

2009 Chevy Traverse. Seats 8 or a few full sheets of plywood with the seats folded down. Great for hauling the soccer team or the beginnings of the next project.

Howdy,
I have a GMC Pickup with an extended cab and it is my fifth truck including one that was a 3/4 ton van. I like trucks for two reasons, I like to be able to haul stuff and since, I’m old and fat, I can’t fit into those tiny death traps that have been mandated by governmental intrusion into the auto industry. In the pre-truck past, I had a ’65 Chev Impala and I made a roof rack out of some hardware and 2X2’s that worked fine for both lumber and plywood but that was in the days before cars were made of plastic and beer cans and you could do that sort of thing.
John

I find it a bit frustrating that some vehicles are actually better suited to hauling wood than trucks. The reason is, most (1/2 ton) trucks sold today are commuter vehicles rather than utilitarian. I had to visit 2 dealerships in order to find a 1/2 ton with an 8ft bed. Most have 6.5ft bed, and quite a few now come with 5.5ft beds.

/rant, but the point is, it’s definitely worth considering other vehicles such as a vans, suvs, and even a big station wagons(if you can find one) for hauling stuff. My boss has an old chevy caprice station wagon that will haul plywood flat in the back with the seats down.

I have a sedan with a carseat and Marc is right, you just don’t want to move it if you can avoid it. I have always done the whole run it up to the dash angled towards the passenger side so I can keep the shifter free, this works, but there are certainly limitations and frustrations.

I have been thinking about adding a roof rack from yakima or thule, like you would use for bikes, kayaks, or those roof luggage things. The racks aren’t necessarily cheap, but they are not to bad. I wonder how much lumber you could strap down on top of the car?

The van I have now and the one before that one would hold 4 x 8 sheets of plywood. When I had the previous van I was young enough to man handle a 4 x 8 sheet myself and had a walk in cellar. Now I’m too old and it’s a pain in the but hatch way to go down. So when I use plywood I know before I go to pick it up what the rough cut sizes of the pieces I will need are and have it cut down, soooo much easier. As for lumber, I know I can fit 10 ft pieces in the van. The problem is the pieces my supplier has are usually longer. So once again I go knowing my rough cut lengths and he will chop the pieces to whatever I ask him to. As you guys said, most projects don’t require 10 foot lengths. So if Vinnie goes knowing his rough cut lengths his supplier would probably cut them for him or he could cut them himself if he has a hand saw. These short weekend shows are great.

Currently I have a old Ford Ranger but are getting rid of it fairly soon. If I get rid of it, I will get a light duty ‘harbor freight trailer’. (carries 4×8 plywood flat without hanging over – folds in half to roll vertically into a garage for a couple of hundred – I had one before)

I have also considered renting a u-haul pickup for $30/day or so + gas. Cheaper than owning one if you can get it when you want it. — Or just depend of friends with pickups (but makes me feel like a moocher after the 2nd time!)

I used to have one that folded up and rolled into my garage vertically, that was when I had small car only. Used it to haul wood, bicycles for wife, me and kids to a ‘bike trail’ several miles away, etc also. (Painted it red to go with red minivan we had at the time)

Before I have a old car, and carried boards either on top (with cartop carriers) or for long boards, I would lash them along the passenger side with ropes going across the hood and trunk and hooked over to the driver side wheel wells. Really awkward to use, but it worked.

I had an OLD Dodge 440 Station wagon – it was cool because it would take a 4×8 plywood sheet flat in the back behind the front seats with the tailgate closed and tail window rolled up (so the AC worked in Texas traffic!). That was probably the best transporter I had. Also hauled fence posts, tools, etc in it – almost impossible to overload!

At some point having a truck/van of some sort will be nessasary not only to buy lumber also move finished product. thow getting to the right means of transport is part of the journey. I remember being 17 and four of us decided to become carpenters. All we had was my 80’s something Buick Skyhawk tools loaded up the trunk and floor boards and a lot of rope straping down lumber everywhere we could and everyone still put one arm out the window to hold down the plywood on the roof. Next came an S10, not a hole lot better than a car but after another 20 years life’s good with a 2500 pickup althow sometimes it is still nice to make a call and have it all brought right to me

One more option … instead of the ridiculous prices for name brand roof racks made for carrying toys, make your own roof rack out of wood. I’ve done that for two tiny Honda two seaters, and carried home long lumber and plywood with no problems.

Also good are trailers (rent or buy). And bicycles, for small quantities of long boards strapped to the top tube.

There are two things that work really well for me. One is taking home boards on top of my 2 seater convertible. I put boards across the luggage rack and the top of the roof. It sounds weird, I know, but it works really well if it’s not precipitating, and it allows me to drive the car I like: http://s-a-w-s.blogspot.com/search/label/HSLB_wood_transportation

Every now and then I do have to carry something that doesn’t work on my car though, and I’ll borrow my wife’s car with a roof rack. I use a few of those “quick” clamps to clamp the boards down to the bars. It is so much faster than using straps. Sometimes I use 1 strap as a backup, but haven’t needed it yet.

Great topic. Given the frequency of large lumber runs, even if it is EVERY month. Uhaul has pick-ups for $20/day in town…makes it pretty hard to justify buying a pickup truck when the extra gas alone for all of my other driving would exceed the $240/year I would spend renting (wish my wife was not so good at math!).

My first car was an old Chevy Nova. Since then I have owned pick ups. I like the ability to haul stuff, carry lumber, etc. My current one is a 2011 Toyota Tundra. I was asked, why? when I bought it until we moved my grandkid’s swing set/tower with minimal deconstruction to make it fit. For me; a truck just makes sense.

That’s why I purchased an old Toyota T100 and equipped it with a ladder rack. Now I can haul 10-12′ boards or full 4’x8′ sheets of plywood.

You just cannot beat a pickup for hauling things. I’ve got an older F150 with the 8′ bed. I will keep it until the wheels fall off.

I purchased a set of ratcheting straps, that make tying everything up on top of the factory roof rack of my Toyota 4Runner a breeze. I have carseats in the car, and sometimes have helpers on my lumber runs in those carseats, so have found having everything on top the better way to go. I have thought about the idea of renting a 4’x8′ trailer for those bigger runs that strain the weight capacity of the roof rack. Here is a blog post showing my lumber strapped to the top of my truck:
http://stellhomestead.blogspot.com/2015/04/raised-bed_27.html

I have a 1969 1 ton Chevy truck if I need to purchase wood, but mostly I just drag it out of the woods on my property with a tractor.

If you have a hitch you can use a pull behind either owned or rented. My favorite is to have my friend who has a Ford F-350 Diesel haul it for me. It’s always fun to make it someone else’s problem.

I have a GMC Yukon which is great for short stock and even better when it’s raining. If I desperately need a bunch of sheet goods or even heavy lumber I rent a truck from Home Depot for an hour or 2 and it’s only around $30 plus gas.