I'm helping a friend move back east from Colorado. He needs to either keep or sell his vehicles.

He has a 19-year-old F150 with over 100,000 miles on it.
He has an 8-year-old Arctic Cat TRV and a trailer to go with it.
I looked into having them shipped--it would be about $900 for the truck, $1000 for the ATV, and the trailer would cost too much.

Usually I would say to sell everything locally, but there's only a week to do this, so he might take a big loss.

What would you guys do? Hitch everything together and drive them all across country, knowing the truck might break down? Sell everything locally even with a loss?

Any experiences to share?

Drive it. Yeah, it may break down. A 2017 Benz might, too. If it breaks, you deal with it and get back on the road.

Drive it, but have him be smart. Grease the trailer bearings. Be sure tires can handle it and make sure he keeps them inflated properly.

Definitely drive it. Hell, if it's been taken care of, 100,000 miles on that Ford is nothing. The ATV is not that heavy and if he does proper maintenance on the trailer he should be just fine.

Drive it, for certain.

I have a 1999 Tahoe and wouldn't hesitate to drive it cross country.
I would ask about the condition of the trailer. You don't want to trailer any distance with bad tires.

Sell the trailer. Load the ATV in the pickup and drive.

I like the idea of "load it up and drive" but the ATV weighs 700+ pounds. It would need a ramp to get it in the truck, meaning we'd have to buy a ramp or borrow one on each side.

quote:

Originally posted by Dilettante:
I like the idea of "load it up and drive" but the ATV weighs 700+ pounds. It would need a ramp to get it in the truck, meaning we'd have to buy a ramp or borrow one on each side.

Maybe y'all can find a bank to back the truck up to and drive the ATV right in. Get it out the same way on the other end. I've loaded/unloaded motorcycles, riding mowers, and all kinds of stuff that way.

Most 20 yr old vehicles have 200+ miles on them... drive that puppy!

If he has taken care of his truck and trailer it should be no problem.

As suggested, back up to a bank but use 2x10's or 2x12's as "runners" for loading if there is any gap. If you end up using the trailer, don't just grease the bearings but clean, check and repack them. I've got a 20 year old GMC and I would drive from the St Louis area to California in it tomorrow if I had to.

Now's a good time for a road trip. Not too hot and not too cold. When we made our trek out of Colorado with our camper, it was -26 degrees on the eastern plains. Made the mistake of adding air to the trailer tires in Sydney. By the time we got to Lincoln Nebraska we had a flat. Lost a good hour only to learn the valve froze open and the air leaked out.

Keep the trailer too. I made the mistake of selling my atv trailer because I dint think it was worth it to pay storage fees on it as we didn't have room for it at the house. I took a big loss on it and regret selling it. Ended up buying another trailer within a year. Not as nice as the last one but it fits in our garage.

quote:

Originally posted by Expat:
Sell the trailer. Load the ATV in the pickup and drive.

This for sure!

Spare tire for truck, trailer, and a AAA membership and enjoy the drive.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Spare tire for truck, trailer, a jack and a AAA membership and enjoy the drive.

A minor but important addition, and emphasis on the AAA membership!

Have a safe trip...
Don

As long as the truck and trailer have been maintained and have no issues I would drive.

AAA membership isn't a bad idea.

Drive it.

Regarding the AAA membership, make sure to get the upgraded "Gold" or "RV/Plus" membership. It covers 100 miles of towing. The basic only covers 5 miles and many places charge $5 or more per mile. The over mileage is what kills your wallet. I used to run tow trucks, and had to break the bad news more often than I wanted, to a basic member.

Can a moving company take the ATV in a standard truck? It's about 750 lb.