I'm in New Jersey and planning on moving back to Montana next month. I have enough stuff of my own to fill my 97 F-150 Extended Cab but now I have the pleasure of trying to get my buddy's stuff there somehow too. I'm contemplating the idea of renting a 24 Foot Uhaul truck and loading my pickup into it, loaded with my stuff, and put the rest of my buddy's stuff around it in the trailer. Any thoughts or ideas? I know if sounds crazy but the military is paying me to move and basically they pay you like a professional mover and the more weight the more money, i.e. a 4500 pound pickup equals some dough plus takes the wear and tear of 2400 miles off of my truck and puts it on the U-Haul. Any comments would be graciously welcomed

 

I've never seen a U-Haul truck that had ramps or a way to get a truck inside of it. Have you already checked this out? I've seen a single, center, hand truck ramp or similar with a additional lift platform. I have seen trucks moved behind 18-wheelers many times on flatbeds and cars inside of enclosed trailers with proper ramps.

 

The interior of the U-haul truck doesn't have tie-downs for that kind of load and I'm pretty sure this is probably illegal.
My brother-in-law did this 30 years ago with a Volkswagon beetle. The car wasn't the same place in the truck where it was when he started. He had the same motive as you, it was an ETS from Ft Bragg NC to NH.

He had a late night loading dock event when he left but, it took him awhile to find one at his destination.

Your two and a half ton load will be sitting on four spots about the size of your hand.
There will be emergency panic stops on a trip from New Jersey to Montana, garuanteed.

Find another way.

p.s. When you drive the truck in does it have a slider to allow you to exit?
Or if you push it in, does it have a slider so you can set the brake?

 

If you could even get around the issue of physically fitting the truck into the body I'd be very concerned with that much weight sitting on 4 areas that small on a deck that isn't desgined for a load that high. Those bodys are designed to hold furniture and other things of that nature that have a much lighter weight plus the load is more spread out. Keep this in mind, if you load the truck in like this and get in an accident, you think that uhaul or your insurance co. will cover your vehicle? I don't think so. If you told uhaul what you wanted to do they most likely wouldn't even rent you the truck. Since you're doing something that the vehicle isn't designed for you wouldn't be covered by insurance and would be flirting with disaster. About the only way to transport your truck aside from driving it is to rent a car TRAILER from uhaul. Don't waste your time with the dollies since you'd be losing the advantage of keeping miles off your truck. Also I'm not even sure those tow dollies are rated for that much weight to begin with.

 

You may also want to consider a state to state car transporter. Run a search on the web for your area and destination. You should at least get a couple hits to follow up on. I know there are several companies that do this. Most do the bulk of their work for car dealers but will make accomodations for private parties. This would also be pricier than u-haul but it doesn't cost anything to check. Also ask about their insurance coverage for the vehicles they transport. Good luck!