SRW or dually.

ol' grouch wrote:
I'm thinking of a life change. Come March of next year, I'll have 40 years at the company I work for. I don't plan to retire completely but sort of semi-retire. I'm looking at RV trailer transport. I have an opportunity to haul for some local dealers and they say there's never enough haulers to keep up during the peak sales season. I do NOT want a full time job.

I'm currently pricing and looking at specifications to tow vehicles. I plan to get a 4 door cab, diesel and manual transmission. I haven't decided on the maker yet as I want to look at how I can get one equipped. When I tried to spec out a Ram, it kept removing things I wanted. Since they build vehicles for the dealers and not consumers anymore, I expected that. I'm leaning towards either a GMC/Chevy or a Ram. I have an F250 and it's a good truck but my Ram 2500, while it's a gasser is better at really hauling the mail. It's a lot more thirsty though. That's all in the future though.

I have a trailer lined up if I want it. It's a 5th wheel cargo trailer that will haul several trailers. That can be pulled by a single wheel truck. I'm wondering if i need to go the dually route for larger 5th wheel RV trailers. Since it's a transport truck, the trailers will be pulled one time. With an nvestment of between $40,000 and $50,000, I want to make sure I have the right equipment the first time.

A dually will haul anything but will limit if I need to move a slide in camper as the jacks won't clear the rear fenders. SRW will haul the smaller trailers fine and there are more of those sold than the big 5vers. I can carry 3 or 4 popups on the cargo trailer sitting at a storage yard. I'm leaning towards an SRW truck for lighter maintenance load down the road.

What say the denizens here?

If your healthy (got a lot yrs left before they put you to pasture) then go for it. A dually would be nice, I would try to find a good used one (lower price/payments.. too many buy expensive trucks and find that the payments are what's is making it hard to do).

Some whine they can't make a living doing RV hauling, those people, although they won't admit it quit because:

- they picked up the wrong trailer got to the dealer only to find out they have to return it on their dime.

- they received high dollar fines from DOT. You have to run log books, fines for improper logs can mean-parking your unit for 8-10 or 24 hrs or more, dollar fines are steep.

- they sleep in hotels/motels instead of sleeper berths. (you do not require a sleeper berth if you log "off duty" this allows you sleep in your truck)

- they eat steak every night. when you spend $50-$100 every day on restaurants...it will kill any profit quickly.

- most who quit find out OTR is really not for them, you have to like driving.

the ones that do good, run legal logs, always double check serial numbers on the units they're hauling before leaving, make sure their trucks are always DOT legal, well maintained and most importantly have a good attitude, especially dealing with DOT and LEOs.

BTW... I am a Hot Shot and RV hauler.