Effect on load capacity of towing car with rental truck (Uhauls, Budget)
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Hi, I'll be renting a 26 ft Penske and using a car carrier to tow my Subaru. The Penske is rated for a load of 10,700 lbs. Just wondering how much that is diminished by towing a car? Would I just subtract the weight of the car from 10,700 to come up with how much I can load in the truck?
Thanks
Depends on what you're moving. The 26' Penske has 1400 cu ft. of loadable space. Most used household goods weigh, on average, 6.2 lbs per cubic foot.
Most DIY movers, however, only load a rental truck using 5.5 lbs. per cubic foot. At that density rate, you would only load 7,700 lbs into the 1400 cu.ft, leaving a 3000 lb deficit.
The length and weight of the vehicle are going to affect the handling, fuel mileage, and power of the rental truck more than the load capacity.
Thanks Rikki that's handy information. My biggest concern is climbing Cabbage Pass Hill on I-84 outside of Pendleton Oregon. I'm going from Spokane down to Reno.Do you know if those trucks have a low gear for climbing long stretches? Thanks
I haven't been in a Penske or on Cabbage in years. Call Penske.
Again, the vehicle's performance is going to be affected by the size and weight of the load, type and size of engine (gas/diesel), type of transmission (auto/manual) and overall combined length of the truck and car being towed.
Weather will also play a significant factor during this time of year.
Load capacity, or payload, is not the same as tow rating. The payload is determined by how much stress the suspension, frame, tires, axles and brakes can safely handle, while some of that palys a roll in towing it is not affected the same way as payload. The tow hitch bears a small amount of the (which is tranfered to the components mentioned above), usually 500 or 1,000lbs maximum, labeled on the hitch, and typically, the brakes of the trailer stop the trailer(when equipped and working as they should), so the brakes on the tow vehicle are stressed minimally. The tow dolly will probably not have brakes, but that is a question for the rental co.
Considering all of the above, the rental company should have numbers available for combined towing and payload, as well as maximum tow rating.
What you need is the Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating. That's the maximum the vehicle is rated to handle payload and towing combined. Your trailer tongue weight will have to be subtracted from the cargo capacity of the truck, however as others have mentioned load distribution and weight on axles will depend on how your loaded.
I took a 17' rental truck with a flatbed hauling a '99 chevy s10.. loaded both the truck and the s10 it was all full. Traveled i70 from CA to OH, things got slow in the mountains.. slow lane and flashers.. follow the semi's worked.
Make sure to watch the trans, you don't want it shifting up/down too often (hunting). If there's an overdrive disable be familiar with that you may want to leave it off except in really flat or downhill.. or just leave OD off.
The truck should be able to make any grade with maximum load, it may be slow going and make sure to fuel up before you hit the grade... fuel mileage will drop into the single digits.
Just had some friends move from Spokane to Reno a few weeks ago, weird...
I just thought I'd post here since I was looking for info about Penske trucks... specifically if all the 26ft are set up to tow (I need to tow a jetski and would rather tow it behind the Penske truck than my car my wife will be driving).
I know the steep grade in Oregon being referred to and would like to toss in my two cents... I just moved from Idaho to Mississippi in July '13 abs used a 26ft Penske loaded with 12,000lbs (yikes!) plus a car trailer with my Grand Prix on it... total weight was over 26,000lbs, but they never bothered me at weigh stations (waved through every time). I got about 6 mpg with this setup, but my wife drafted me with our diesel Jetta and saw an average of 58 mpg!
Anyway, my route took me from the Boise area to Salt Lake to Provo to Moab to Farmington... Lots of steep grades where the truck wouldn't go faster than 25mph! However, it never stopped chugging along and didn't seem to break a sweat. I did see two or three 26ft Uhauls with car trailers that were on the side of the road that only made it about 1/2 to 3/4 the way up the hill. If you didn't know, all Uhauls are gas while the big Penske and Budget trucks are diesel... made the difference.
As a professional mover, I wouldn't recommend anyone reading Big Daddy Kane's post about moving 26,000 lbs are part if an articulated load using a 26' Penske and a car trailer hauling a Grand Prix follow his advice.
Not only did he endanger both his wife and himself, but also every other motorist on the road during his 2200 trip.
According Penske's specs, the load capacity for that diesel truck is only 10,758 lbs. Big Daddy exceed that by almost two and half times the truck safety rating.
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