[Critter]

Great write up Joe, not sure I want to try it

 

[Eye_m_no_angel]

Great write up Joe, not sure I want to try it

Why sure you do.

And video tape it too.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

Loading

Back in Hawaii about 68, at the motocross track, one of the big guys loaded his dirt bike in his pickup, by lifting it up and hefting it over the side.

I loaded and unloaded many bikes for the track, or dirt events. But they were all light and easy.

Unkle Crusty*

 

[Critter]

Why sure you do.

And video tape it too.

If and when I get down there we can practice it together

 

[Eye_m_no_angel]

If and when I get down there we can practice it together

That'll never happen.

I don't need to practice it as I have no need to load up my bike in a U-haul. (Unless I'm moving to Belize or southern Mexico or some such.)

Your beautiful bride will never let you move down here.

(Or will she? $hit, if she does, let me know and I'll come help you unload your bike and all your stuff!)

 

[joejinky]

I concur, great post! I will remember this!

BTW, how much do they pay you to transfer trucks around, and how hard is it to get that gig?

I loved that job SO MUCH that if they called me today, I would go right back to it. Sadly, RYDER truck rental is out of business now, but Hertz, U-Haul, Penske and all of the others USE "Transfer Drivers." I also rode a motorcycle as a transfer driver for U-Haul for a brief period of time before switching to RYDER for the increased pay.

I was paid per truck to transfer a vehicle, and a bit more for tow dollies and car carriers. $10 per truck from one local dealer to another (or $20 for longer distance transfers) and $5.00 per car carrier or tow dolly brought along.

I was also paid fifty cents per mile for my motorcycle to ride between dealerships. A delivery of a truck from Oceanside, CA. to Lemon Grove, CA. for instance would pay $20.00 for the truck transfer, and if I had to ride back to Oceanside to get another truck, I earned $21.50 for the bike (43 miles - 1/2 hour of riding). With a car carrier behind the truck ($5.00) , I would earn $46.50 for what amounted to 90 minutes of work, and this was in 1994 - 1998 dollars (Gasoline was $1.02/gallon). Often I would not ride back, but rather, to another dealer for another truck headed to a different dealership. I kept in touch with the base in Arizona via cell phones and dealer phones, and a text pager.

The long distance runs were great! Delivering a truck from Oceanside, CA. to Phoenix, AZ. for instance, would pay $173.00 for the bike (346 miles back to "home"), plus a long distance delivery of the truck which was $0.25/mile ($86.50), a meal allowance ($5.00) and a hotel allowance ($75.00, depending on the departure time), which I seldom used but was always paid, normally riding directly home after delivering the truck. One truck to Phoenix paid $339.00, for about 11 hours of work. I also delivered to Reno, Vegas, Yuma, Tuscon, Fresno, etc.

I was also paid to do "VCR" (Vehicle Condition Report) on each truck. When I would climb into a truck, I'd check the tag to see when the last oil change was, the last brake inspection, tire inflation, etc. I only got fifty cents for this check but it added up over a week delivering some 40 to 60 truck per week, fully FIVE TIMES what the transfer drivers around the rest of the country using CARS would move.

I carried a list of all of the stolen truck numbers and would receive $50.00 for each recovered truck I would spot. They were usually abandoned on some side road. It is hard to imagine that at any given time, Ryder Truck Rentals had some 40 to 80 stolen trucks running around southern Commiefornia! U-Haul's number is FAR greater!

The guys using cars would have to:

1. Be assigned a truck to move.

2. Locate a tow dolly or a car carrier to tow their car behind the truck.

3. Go to another dealer with their car to GET the dolly or car carrier if the transfer dealer did not have one to spare, and tow it to the transferring dealership.

4. Hook the dolly or carrier to the truck and load the car onto the dolly or car carrier and tie it down.

5. Hook up the lights, do a safety check, etc.

6. Deliver the truck to its destination.

7. Return the dolly or car carrier with their car if it could not be dropped with the truck.

Those car guys were LUCKY to move two trucks a day, while I (one of only three 'motorcycle' transfer drivers in the whole country, and ALL three operating in southern CommieFornia) could move 10 or 12 trucks a day, due to the speed of loading the bike into the truck, not having to deal with dollies and carriers, and LANE SPLITTING and using the Diamond Lane to get around southern Commiefornia while the "car guys" were stuck in traffic. We became a bit of a legend among Ryder transfer drivers, and I am told that we were the talk of the dealer convention in Vegas, but I could not attend.

I was the most aggressive transfer RIDER, earning between $800 and $1,000 per week for my work, and getting paid to ride my motorcycle 70% of the time. It was the world's greatest job.

We would call the dealer and say, "I'm coming for truck # nnnnnnn" We would arrive and many times the rear door was rolled up, the ramp was down and we'd just ride right up into the truck! I got to where I could arrive at a dealership, hook up my bike and be GONE in less than 5 minutes. They LIKED that! The car guys would clog up their lot for an hour or more.

I REALLY loved that job! :71baldboy:


.

 

[joejinky]

Why sure you do.

And video tape it too.

Yeah. I'm from that generation too. :coffeescreen:

 

[joejinky]

I once moved six trucks in one night from a city in the San Diego area to El Centro, CA.

The dispatcher called me ... "Joe, I have a real problem. I need six trucks in El Centro at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning, and I have no way to move them..." It was a 120 mile transfer x six trucks.

I told Joe, "don't worry. I'll take care of it."

I called members of my local motorcycle club and found five riders that weren't busy. They'd all wanted to try out my job, so they jumped at the chance.

We all met at the dealership. *I* loaded and unloaded all six bikes, because I didn't want them to crash on their first attempt. We drove the trucks to El Centro and rode our bikes home after a late dinner.

I called Joe in Arizona at 2:00 AM and left a message; "It is 2 AM. All of your trucks are in El Centro. I'm going to sleep now. I'll be up and ready to go around 10 AM ..."

He called me later that morning ...

"Joe ... Do I want to know how you did that?" I said, "Nope! Just send me the money!" :biggrin:

 

[blu3fan]

get the big trailer. and put it in there.

 

[hogcowboy]

This is an old thread. Last post was February 2015. So don’t get caught unless you want to.

 

[gunsmoker]

looks like this old thread was bumped by a spammer! His link, if not the entire post, ought to be deleted.

However since the thread has been bumped to the top, let me toss in my two cents:

a good friend of mine just (Jan. 2023) rented a U-Haul motorcycle trailer to haul his dirtbike to the repair shop. It only cost like $18 for a half a day. A full day wouldn't have been much more. I thought that was dirt cheap.

 

[gunsmoker]

U-Haul's trailers made specifically for motorcycles have a bracket to hold your front tire, keeping the bike upright while you strap it down. The loading ramp is long enough and heavy duty enough to get the motorcycle up there easily.
Of course being a very short trailer,
backing up with one of these behind your vehicle will be a challenge!

 

[hogcowboy]

looks like this old thread was bumped by a spammer! His link, if not the entire post, ought to be deleted.

He is/was a spammer. History now. But it irks me that I let that one get by me in the first place.