For 79 years, U-Haul has been the go-to rental giant for countless Americans who need to move, buy a motorcycle, do some landscaping, or anything else that may require a trailer or truck bigger than the one you currently drive. U-Haul’s equipment is instantly recognizable from the unmistakable orange and white paint scheme to the iconic SuperGraphics. But there’s more than meets the eye. In addition to the little guy hidden in the SuperGraphics, you can learn some additional nerdy information by looking at the seemingly random set of numbers printed on each truck and trailer.
It’s amazing how much U-Haul has become just a part of everyday American life. Even if you aren’t renting something from the firm, you’ve probably burned at least a little bit of time on a long trip by staring at the graphics on the side of a truck or wondering if the guy dragging home a grain truck on the U-Haul auto transport told U-Haul he’s actually bringing home a sweet 1991 Honda Civic. The shenanigans caused by U-Haul renters have spawned countless memes, Facebook groups, and jokes. So, even if you’re a Penske guy, you know about U-Haul.
Then there are U-Haul nerds like me. Or maybe I’m really the only U-Haul nerd out there who has never actually worked for the company. I mean, who cares about U-Haul enough to learn how to translate its fleet codes? I guess me, and probably only me.
Wait, Why Do You Know So Much About U-Haul?
My U-Haul connection goes pretty deep. My family used to move around a lot. From 2000 to 2013, my family moved about 12 times. Sometimes, we’d move more than once in a year. Yep, that means I’ve lived in 12 different houses and been to nearly the same number of different schools around northern Illinois. I got to witness firsthand how a middle school in one town and a middle school in a town just a couple of miles away could offer vastly different qualities of education. Seriously, one school I went to in 2005 had a computer lab with a handful of desktops running, at best, Windows 95. Yet, I went to a different school in the same year and in the same county that had more brand-new Apple desktops and laptops than it knew what to do with.
Anyway, my family loved to move the cheap way, and that meant renting the biggest truck the local U-Haul outfit had, filling it up to the brim, sometimes twice, and going to a different town. My dad used to be an over-the-road trucker, so driving these beasts was a walk in the park for him. And I was always along for the ride in the cab. Moving so often meant I got to witness U-Haul equipment evolve, too. My favorite truck was an old 1980s International that the local “U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer” was still renting out in 2006. It had a manual transmission, a diesel engine, air brakes, and a deck to the ground thanks to the truck’s air suspension.
I’m getting ahead of myself, here. After riding in those trucks for so many years, I began to learn as much as I could about U-Haul equipment. It’s how I learned that U-Haul made its own fiberglass campers and used to rent things like U-Haul-branded personal watercraft, U-Haul-branded VHS players, and U-Haul-branded ATVs.
Now, I want to pass my knowledge on to you, dear reader. The next time you’re at a card game with your neighbors, I want you to be able to tell them that U-Haul used to slap eight-digit numbers on their trailers and that you used to be able to rent one of those minivan roof storage box things, but with wheels. Your neighbors may call the cops and don’t worry, because the cops should know this, too.
The U-Haul Story Is Pretty Amazing
According to the company, U-Haul’s roots were planted in the days following World War II. Leonard Samuel Shoen was born in 1916 in Minnesota. In his early years, Shoen worked on the fields of a farm after his family moved to Oregon. When he became an adult, he worked menial jobs like sweeping floors and washing dishes until he was able to open up his first business, a barbershop. This barbershop would help carry the young Shoen through medical school for his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor.
So, how does a man invested in medicine end up renting trailers? The book Family Wars by Grant Gordon explains that it started when Shoen took a risk. During roll call in one of his classes, he called present for a student who wasn’t actually there. The infraction was enough for expulsion. With his dream in tatters, Shoen enlisted into the Navy.
Shoen fell ill with Rheumatic Fever during his stint in the military, which landed him in a hospital some 35 miles from home. When Shoen was discharged from the hospital and the Navy, he and his wife Anna Mary Carty Shoen tried to rent a trailer to move from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon. Shoen found lots with utility trailers for rent for $2 per day, but the trailers had to be returned to the same location. That wasn’t going to work for a one-way trip. The necessary trailer never materialized, and the Shoens had to move with all of their possessions in their car.
This sparked an idea in the 29-year-old Shoen’s mind. What if there was a business that provided rental trailers for the do-it-yourselfers who want to move somewhere else? This business could have a national network of one-way trailers, saving people money and headaches.
U-Haul details what happened from there:
With a 1937 Ford and $5,000 in savings, Sam, Anna Mary and their young son moved from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore. During the drive, they came up with the name and formulated the outline of what was to become the U-Haul Trailer Rental System.
The Shoens launched U-Haul in the summer of 1945. The first trailers were bought from welding shops or second hand from private owners. Within two weeks of leaving Los Angeles, the first U-Haul trailer was parked on a service station lot and being offered for rent. By the end of 1945, 30 4′ x 7′ open trailers were on service station lots in Portland, Vancouver and Seattle, Washington.
An identity was established. First, the trailers were painted bright orange. Secondly, the name U-Haul Co. was established. Third, trailers were imaged on the sides and back with a sales message – “U-Haul Co.,” “Rental Trailers,” “$2.00 Per Day” – always advertising themselves whether on the road or on display. Lastly, trailer rentals were merchandised from service station outlets. A commission structure for dealers was established, and much of the early recruitment was done by a customer who was offered a discount on their trailer rental for establishing a U-Haul rental agent (now called U-Haul dealers) at their destination.
U-Haul still operates this structure today. The company has corporate locations and countless local U-Haul Neighborhood Dealers that provide rentals in towns and rural areas not covered by the corporate locations.
U-Haul grew fast and by 1949, you could rent a trailer one-way in most major American cities. By 1959, U-Haul had 42,600 trailers in its fleet. Part of the U-Haul magic is not just instantly recognizable branding, but its equipment. A lot of firms will rent you an off-the-shelf trailer or a regular box truck. U-Haul goes the extra distance by having trailers specially designed for its rental service. The company’s distinctive trucks also boast low-loading floors, the famous Mom’s Attic, and other unique features on top of the iconic SuperGraphics.
Early U-Haul trailers were little more than trailers with wooden sides. By 1949, these would evolve into metal trailers with tarp tops for roofs. Enclosed metal dual-axle trailers came in 1959 and by the 1990s, U-Haul’s trailers featured metal structures and fiberglass-reinforced plywood walls. Finally, in 2000, U-Haul started constructing open trailers out of galvanized steel for far greater corrosion resistance than in the past.
As I’ve written about before, U-Haul once expanded so far that it attempted to be the go-to rental company to rent basically anything. In the 1980s, you could walk into a U-Haul location and come out with a Winnebago, an ATV, a belt sander, a fiberglass camper, and a paint sprayer. Some Michigan U-Haul dealers even rented adult movies, so you could bust more than a move. Today, U-Haul will not rent you an adult movie, but the company will rent you a storage unit in one of the historic buildings it restored.
I’ve said it before, but U-Haul’s trailers are masterpieces. They’re built out of heavy-gauge galvanized steel. A U-Haul trailer is heavier than a typical consumer utility trailer, but the rental trailer is built to be abused for decades by people who don’t know how to tow trailers and who might even overload them. U-Haul engineers these trailers to take a beating but also to be super easy to tow, so long as you don’t completely goof up and load your rental with all of the weight in the rear.
In other words, a U-Haul trailer is the best trailer you cannot own. Indeed, when a U-Haul trailer reaches the end of its service life, it’s sent to the scrapper. There are exceptions for tow dollies and trucks.
The trucks have their own system within U-Haul. The company will rent newer and lower mileage equipment for one-way trips. Then, once the equipment gets plenty of miles and use under their wheels, U-Haul will pull them into local rental fleets. Finally, once the company determines that a truck is all used up, you’ll find them for sale. There is an exception to this, and it’s that the non-corporate U-Haul Neighborhood Dealers will often keep equipment far longer than corporate locations. That’s how my dad was able to rent a vintage 1980s International diesel U-Haul in 2006, when most other dealers and corporate locations rented gasoline-powered GMC TopKicks. It is a bit funny to think that U-Haul used to rent diesel-powered straight trucks with manual transmissions and air brakes and you were able to drive those on the same license that allows you to pilot a Yugo.
How To Identify U-Haul Equipment
Alright, so what can the numbers on a U-Haul trailer or truck tell you? I’m glad you asked! Wait, you didn’t ask? Well, I’m going to tell you, anyway. Years ago, I interviewed a U-Haul manager and they told me U-Haul calls the code a Fleet Number. That makes total sense. You’ll find a U-Haul trailer’s and truck’s Fleet Number in multiple places, including fenders, bumpers, and on the cargo boxes themselves.
Preceding the number on the equipment is typically two letters and after the number is one more letter. The prefix indicates U-Haul model, the digits are the rental’s serial number, and the letter at the end either indicates when it was built or what makes it different from other models of the same series. U-Haul gives one example. A TD…L is a tow dolly, but the “L” indicates a tow dolly with a different coupler and a surge brake.
For another example, U-Haul’s discontinued 24-foot single-family home moving trucks were the “GH” series, while the 26-foot models were the “JH” series. A theoretical JH can be “JH 1320 M.” In the case of later-year GM trucks, the GH series were GMC C5500s while the JH trucks were GMC C6500s.
Since General Motors discontinued the Kodiak and TopKick, U-Haul moved to the Ford F-Series. Today, you’ll usually find a Ford F-650 in front of the JH 26-foot box. Thankfully, these trucks use gasoline engines, automatic transmissions, and hydraulic brakes. You don’t need to have a history of long-haul trucking to drive them, but they’re still pretty comically large for someone who might not have ever driven something bigger than a Toyota Camry.
Before I continue, you may wonder how people are able to do that. In my state of Illinois, a standard driver’s license gets you to 16,000 pounds. However, a loaded 26-foot U-Haul weighs 25,999 pounds. What gives? Well, just like how many states allow you to drive a giant motorhome on your standard license, rental vehicles like U-Hauls are also often exempt from some weight rules.
Alright, so here’s how to identify a U-Haul truck by just its prefix. Sadly I don’t have pictures for every variation:
BP (8′ Truck – Ford F-150/Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra.)
BE (9′ Van – Ford E-Series/Ford Transit.)
TM (10′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab/GMC Savana Chassis Cab.)
DC (15′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab.)
EL (17′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab.)
TT (20′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab.)
GH (24′ Cube – GMC C5500.)
JH (26′ Cube – GMC C6500/Ford F-650.)
U-Haul’s trucks are no longer as granular as this. In the modern era, U-Haul no longer rents the 17-foot truck or the 24-foot truck. In my family’s experience, the 17-footer and the 24-footer weren’t really substantially different enough from the 15-foot truck and the 26-foot truck to make renting them worth it. If we need more space than a 15-foot truck provided, the 17-foot truck was also unlikely to fit the bill. Likewise, if we were moving enough stuff to fit in a 24-foot truck, chances are the extra two feet was welcome.
U-Haul says its 26-foot truck was launched in 1988, the same year it started applying SuperGraphics to its rental vehicles. The trailers are where the fun really begins, and here’s how you can identify one of those by its prefix:
AO (5×8 open trailer.)
FS (4×7 open trailer.)
HO (6×12 open trailer with ramp.)
RO (6×12 open trailer.)
RT (5×9 open trailer with ramp.)
LV (4×6 enclosed trailer.)
UV (4×8 enclosed trailer.)
AV (5×8 enclosed trailer.)
MV (5×10 enclosed trailer.)
RV (6×12 enclosed trailer.)
MT (Motorcycle Trailer.)
TD (Tow Dolly.)
AT (Auto Transport.)
ST (Sport Trailer.)
UB (U-Box Trailer.)
CT (13ft fiberglass camper.)
VT (16ft fiberglass camper.)
A couple of these trailers are no longer rented by U-Haul corporate locations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you found one at a neighborhood dealer. Discontinued trailers include the LV 4×6 enclosed trailer, the MV 5×10 enclosed trailer, and the GT Sport Trailer. Now, to be clear here, “discontinued” simply means you won’t find it on U-Haul’s website or openly advertised. I’ve been told by U-Haul employees that if you happen to find a discontinued piece of equipment still at a U-Haul shop, you can often still rent it in person.
I’ve written about the CT13 and the VT16 fiberglass campers in the past. Those two trailers, along with the TD Tow Dolly, are some of the only trailers U-Haul sold to the public after rental service. What I haven’t talked about is the ST, the little Sport Trailer.
According to a clipping of the U-Haul World newsletter, this trailer made its debut in the mid-1990s as a tiny trailer able to be towed behind literally any car without impacting its performance. U-Haul’s target customer was someone with a sports car or compact car that wouldn’t be able to tow one of the firm’s other cargo trailer rentals. These people wouldn’t be moving furniture, but perhaps they were students moving into a dorm or someone getting a large purchase home from a store. U-Haul also saw the trailer as something you could rent for a day for recreation. The inner compartment, which was sealed from the outside, was even able to be used as a large ice chest. The fiberglass trailer weighed 535 pounds empty and had a carrying capacity of 965 pounds.
To prove how light, stable, and aerodynamic the Sport Trailer was, U-Haul hooked one up to a souped up 1927 Ford roadster driven by racer Ron Hope. The hot rod and trailer were then taken to Bonneville where it hit 141.096 mph with the trailer attached.
According to some U-Haul employees, this trailer was discontinued due to low demand. That said, some U-Haul locations are said to have this trailer in stock, even almost 30 years later. This includes a U-Haul location in Chicago and Aurora. I feel tempted to rent one just to try a piece of rental history.
Speaking of 30 years, it is possible to run into a U-Haul trailer that’s older than a few decades. They’re rare, but you’ll spot them as they carry Fleet Numbers consisting of four numbers, two letters, and four more numbers. An example is the vintage Sport Van trailer, a low-profile enclosed cargo trailer with a roof rack. These trailers were old enough to have a Fleet Number like “3868 SV 3760.” Another example is a vintage 4×6 open trailer with Fleet Number “2734 LS 1942.”
Older trucks were given fleet codes in this configuration as well, but it’s unlikely you’ll find any of those still in service. Sadly, I could not find a noted date when U-Haul switched its numbering system, but it would appear to have happened sometime in the early 1990s or prior.
So, there you have it. The next time you’re bored and traveling down America’s byways, you can pass some time by distracting yourself by identifying U-Hauls. Or, now you know some trivia that you probably won’t be able to use to win a game show. At the very least, I won’t be the only person with this information living rent-free in my head.
If you know any additional information about how U-Haul used to identify its trailers or maybe some additional vintage U-Haul trailer models I didn’t list, I would love to know! Send me an email at mercedes@theautopian.com.
(Images: Author, U-Haul, unless otherwise noted.)
Not too long ago they had an enclosed trailer about the size of a washing machine turned on its side. Most car trunks were probably roomier. They looked like an ordinary-sized enclosed trailer that had been put through the Shrink-O-Matic.
That was an LS. 3.5×6′. They were the smallest trailers UHaul had.
The one I’m thinking of, from 40-50 years ago, might’ve been 6 feet long if you counted the tongue.
I’ve had a love-hate relationship with U-Haul over the years. The problem is that the company has gone through bankruptcy and re-organization multiple times since sometime in the 1990s… with some questionable management and business practices from time-to-time along the way. So if you only needed their services once in a while every few years, you never knew what you’re going to get from them from one time to another.
Up to the mid-90s, they were great. Even the older local equipment was often still kept in good repair — but you might need to know how to drive a manual or start an engine with a manual choke once in a while. Their storage rates were cheap, too, for good facilities.
Then things started going downhill. Storage rates went up abruptly. Equipment wasn’t being maintained like it used to be. We moved cross-country with two sketchy trucks and a trailer that wouldn’t track straight no matter how it was loaded. And then the return location billed us multiple times for the same equipment, and kept attempting to bill nonsense charges for weeks after. We only ever used U-Haul when there was no other alternative afterwards, and it was a mixed bag of good/bad/indifferent for years. Even the most recent time when we had to again use their trucks for a cross-country move, the trucks were fine but the billing was messed-up on the return end. (Although this time it worked out in our favor, so there’s that.)
Largely, they’re fine for local moving. For long-distance and one-way, my family sticks with Penske unless there’s nothing available from them. (It happens.)
Tip: U-Haul’s auto transporters are often old and abused, but at least you can tow them with your own vehicle. Penske’s auto transporters are generally newer and much better-maintained. But you must rent one of their trucks to tow it; they won’t rent them solo.
That is interesting. I’ve only ever rented U-Hauls starting in roughly the 20-teens when I got old enough to have piles of cars to pick up and transport. I’m wondering if it’s gotten better or something compared to the 90s. I grew up hearing U-Haul was sketchy (and continue to, to this day in smaller amounts) but seemingly have never been given equipment in bad shape. I mostly rent auto transports, tow dollies, the big utility trailer, but have gotten a 10 foot truck and the 15 footer a few times over the years.
Wonder if there’s significant variation between local Dealers too and I’ve just gotten off lucky with the ones I’ve patronized.
The first place we rented a trailer they sent a dirty guy who smelled like cigarettes to hook it up for us, and then the guy went back inside without a word. The second place showed us how to hook it up, checked the brake lights and turn signals, and gave us a quick lesson in how to load, and what to do in an emergency. So, yes, significant variation.
Worked as a lot guy all the way up to a GM for a corporate location in the late 80’s through the mid 90’s and wanted to add a bit.
The 2 letter model designations originally had meaning. The obvious ones are TD – tow dolly, AT – Auto Transport, but there were many more. for Trucks, TM 10′ – Tiny Mover, DC 14′ – Diesel Mover, EL 17′ – Extended Length. GH 24′ – Great Hauler, JH 26′ – Jumbo Hauler. Trailers, LV/LO 4′ – Luggage Van/Open, UV/UO 8′ Low Top – Utility Van/Open, AV/AO 8′ High Top – Apartment Van/Open, MV/MO 10′ Moving Van/Open, RV/RO 12′ Recreation Van/Open.
just a correction, the JH, 26′ IH trucks didnt have air brakes, only air suspension in the rear so the deck could be lowered. Brakes were hydraulic with electric assist.
U-Haul holds a special place in my heart as well. I moved 13 times in 10 years, I got to know them well.
In the past few years the Auto Transport has served me well. They’re always available in my city and $70/rental takes a long time to eclipse the cost of buying my own trailer.
I’m about to experience their smaller cargo trailers this spring as in my current fleet, only my ’86 diesel merc has a hitch and I need to do some dump/scrapyard runs.
My U-haul truck experience was awful. In 2005 I was given a totally clapped out GMC C-3500 box truck for a one way move. That truck was such a shit show, I’ve only rented Budget trucks since then. I do like U-haul’s trailers though.
Our experience as well. Never again.
When I last moved in 2005, all that was available in a large size was the diesel stick shift. I had to talk them into renting it to me with assurances that I really did know how to drive a manual – I literally drove there in one. Definitely the largest vehicle I had driven to that point, but totally doable.
Mercedes, you are SUCH a geek & I love it!!
(It takes one to know one;)
Worked for U-Haul in the 2010’s as an Area Field Manager supporting the local dealerships. The Sport Trailers never rented. I imagine by that point there weren’t a whole lot of cars out there with trailer hitches that couldn’t at least tow the UV. If I was unlucky enough to have one show up at a dealer I either hauled it down to a corporate store first chance I got or gave a truck customer a discount to haul it for me.
I helped a sibling move a short distance a couple years ago and got to drive a 10′ Chevy Express one.
I was surprised to check its registration and find out it was a 2012 model. For some reason I’d had a mental image that they’d keep a fairly recent fleet, like a rental car agency. Nonetheless, it was decently clean and quite competent. Was also my first experience with an LS.
Let’s be real though… Can you tell the difference between a 2012 Express and a newer one?
Good question. I feel like there might have been something?…but I know significantly more about E-series vans than the GM ones. The E-series interior got updated 2009 and forward and you definitely can’t miss that if you’ve been in the earlier ones.
I don’t know if the Express ever got a big dashboard update, though. And I would guess there was probably an exterior facelift even if not quite as obvious as the E-series ’08 facelift.
I’m just pissed Ford kept going Oh we’re retiring the E-series by 2019
> 2018 refresh
> 2021 refresh
> upcoming 2025 refersh
I guess those are just powertrain updates more than anything, but come on, you still have the stamping dies for the van body. I know it. Just keep pounding them out, it’s basically free now.
I’m bitter it took so long for it to even get a 6-speed transmission (even if I understand “unchanging with time” is a feature and not a bug in this segment).
I’ve towed more RV’s than I can count.
Funny thing about the surge brakes is that you can’t back up a hill because the brakes will apply. But if you have a steep driveway, as I used to have, just pinch off the brake line with vice grips.
In my truck toolboxes there is a small sliver of aluminum bar stock, 1/2″ thick, about 4″ long, and 1-1/2″ wide with a little thumb bolt threaded into each one to use as a makeshift handle. It’s my U-Haul surge brake lockout tool. I stuff it into the gap where the coupler pivots a little to throw the brake cylinder if I need to back up.
One time, I forgot to remove it before returning the trailer. I felt bad.
My son works for u-haul corp, and his fianceé runs a u-haul dealer… They are always telling me some crazy stories about the biz. Love the article Mercedes! Love the pics of your smart hooked up to a number of the trailers too!
I worked at a Uhaul maintenance shop for a few years doing trailer work repair in FL and TX.
The last letter represents the year. JH11111X = Jumbo hauler 26 footer year model X
Uhaul realized that the diesel JH (jumbo hauler) model was more trouble than it was worth.
They kept the Internationals for local moves only and quit sending them cross country. Made quite bit of cash on renting them out at 40 bucks a day plus 1.25 a mile.
Once they sold off the diesels they never went back. Too many people put unleaded in them. Plus the normal diesel issues they had with them.
JH – Jumbo Hauler
GH – Great Hauler
DC – never heard how that came about.
PU – Pick up trucks
Ok. Seeing as you mentioned Penske. They rent trucks with lift gates, which U Haul does not have. A lift gate makes moving sooooooo much easier.
I’m sort of split on U-Haul’s low ramps or the Penske/Budget/etc lift gates. We’ve rented a Budget truck in the past that had a lift gate. Indeed, it was easier to stand on a lift than to walk up and down a ramp.
But I do recall that my brother and my dad struggled with the largest items. My mom’s XXXL sofa was a bit too big to fit on the lift while also having two guys on it. My brother just lifted his end above his head and shoved it into the truck. In hindsight, they may have been able to ride on the sofa on the way up to the deck. 🙂
I do prefer U-Haul if I’m moving a broken motorcycle. Easier to roll a bike up a ramp than to pivot it onto a lift gate.
I’ll take the Penske or a Ryder with a lift gate! (U-Hauls are usually junk)
The statute of limitations having run and the company dead by bankruptcy, I can now confess to hauling my motorcycles numerous times via Continental Baking’s trucks. On the clock too, ’cause the truck needed to be moved somewhere or other. Used the loading dock to un/load if possible, but all the straight trucks had lift gates and most of the semitrailers because some stupid manager though he’d put a few thousand stepvan drivers out of a job by delivering with semis… Which never worked! I wasn’t the worst offender- One driver hauled home his VW Rabbit with a blown engine and I suspect some DIY moving was done too…
Less maintenance and Lift gates are super dangerous, severed fingers, unbalanced loads and they’d get smashed up against walls and bent too easily and hart to repair.
A ramp was designed for residential driveways which are usually sloped. You could park blocking half the street and walk damn near level once that ramp was out. If you happened up to a storage facility you also could either back right in or just the ramp as a bridge. Also much faster for loading (walk up vs climb or Raise/lower)
I own a mobile tire business and trying my darndest to get into UHaul maintenance programs for tires and oil cnanges.
Wont happen – They have their own subsidiary that does all the maintenance called Kargo.
Got stuck with one of those Internationals for a cross country move I helped a friend with in the late 90’s. Straight cut gears on a 4-speed manual. Summer along I-10 and the AC didn’t work half the way and sometimes the truck wouldn’t restart after turning it off. Took 3-4 different mechanics either at a UHaul repair center or mobile mechanic before someone finally fixed it. Never rented another UHaul truck ever again. Only Penske for me (though I have rented UHaul trailers since… the trailers are well-designed and over-built).
On a side note, UHaul used to sell off trailers at the end of their lives. Up until the Ford Exploder fiasco ruined that due to liability.
The fourth image—color picture of red & black trailer—reminds me of the creative homemade trailers that used to be common: an old truck bed made tall with plywood sides and capped with an old truck cap. I’m sure purpose-built trailers are safer & more useful, but our daily roaming is much less interesting with their demise.
Imma go yell at a cloud now
Those and other transport travesties are not that uncommon around here.
Depends on where you are, I guess! In the wild west boonies of Atlanta (so basically Alabama+) chopped truck bed trailers still roam freely.
Guess it’s a pretty handy way to retire an old beyond-repair truck.
I still occasionally see them—but they’re about as common as, say, an AMC product. ie: something to remark on
Those are still very common around here, minus the tall plywood sides.
1997 Ford Focus
“…roof storage box things, but with wheels.”
Or even without wheels:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1049421.jpg
Neat, but also is that an Isuzu Vehicross in the background?
There’s one more u-box! The newer style!
Reserving older vehicles for local rental explains the 1977 F-350 I rented around 1994 or so. It had a 3 speed manual with a granny gear, manual steering, and manual brakes. TBH the quality of local rentals is what pushed me to Penske for subsequent moves. Though I did have a good experience with an Auto Transport recently. No one else will let you rent a car hauler with your own vehicle.
I’ve had a couple long distant moves (took the lump sum from my company paying for the move so I could do it as cheap as possible) and both times Penske was almost half the cost of Uhaul for their largest truck offering.
The local rentals can get interesting, especially if it’s from a neighborhood dealer. I was used to driving worn-out TM 10′ trucks with steering wheels that were suggestion boxes, bad wheel bearings, and the box itself was well past its prime.
Then one day I lucked out and was able to rent a brand-new GMC Savana-based TM for a local rental. Apparently, all of the local TMs were rented that day, so they let me use a one-way truck that was delivered just a few days before. Wow, what a huge difference that was! Now I have a gauge for how much of a beating a rental moving truck takes over a couple of decades.
Bravo!
I worked for a while as a U-Haul mechanic, mostly was swapping bodies off cube vans onto newer cutdowns- I really never knew or cared about the codes because it was take the work order, walk to the bay and start wrenching, I also partied so hard I would often have a cab drop me at the shop and I would sleep on the couch, so some of the memories from that time are a bit hazy
Just about any big fleet has a similar system, some better than others. For example USPS 6620 124 was a 1996 Mack MR cabover semi tractor. IIRC the 2nd 6 meant tractor and the 2 meant tandem drive axles and 124 was it’s order in the purchase. A great tractor for urban trucking due to it’s 135 inch wheelbase and windows everywhere and one of my all time favorites, an Allison automatic made it fast despite being only rated at 300 horsepower.
This was far more interesting than I expected even with being more of a Budget fan (I don’t actually care, but IME, Budget is cheaper and the trucks are usually in better shape). I’m surprised they let you pick up trailers with a Smart. It must vary by location, but around here in the Northeast, they push people into one of their trucks if they don’t have what they consider to be a proper tow vehicle to pick it up with.
Is there any way to buy classic U-Haul equipment? An appropriately vintage U-Haul trailer would be a cool head-turner at a classic car show behind some Ford F-100.
Nope. As said in the article they scrap them, if you find an intact U-Haul trailer for sale it’s stolen or not a U-Haul trailer.
Maybe if you’re lucky you can find an experimental U-Haul Trailer that never was put into production (unlikely at best), for a bit there were little U-Haul trailers made for kids pedal cars, but they’re pretty rare too.
If you wanted one legally it would probably be cheaper to custom build one.
Some got sold in Canada and I have seen them on marketplace, usually the open trailers and as mentioned the car dollies- I would just make one up with sheet metal and paint it for an old looking one
They used to sell them, but stopped when the Ford/Firestone/Exploder debacle happened. They either got pulled into some of the lawsuits or were afraid they would.