3/4 ton truck with 16 foot heavy duty trailer

I did that exact thing for about a year helping out a buddy. Industrial pallet racks, etc. 16' is kinda limiting, & it must be wide enough for pallets (82"I think)
I had a pipe rack for the lighter beams, but it worked well. Sometimes a small forklift or scissor lift. Check with local material handling folks.

 

There ain't much you can haul with that setup both length and weight wise. Going to be tough to make it. 16' sounds like a bumper pull? As much as I dislike it that sounds like a rig for hauling uship items. Most commercial freight won't work on a rig like that. Uship sucks but that is the only place I can think of where you will find things you can haul with that setup.

 

I hope you are using a 5th wheel.

A bumper is precious delicate. A dump truck with a pintle hook is one thing. But a light pickup truck with a class III hitch? Erg. I would not do it. (And I own a class III hitch. it has nothing like what a 5th wheel will offer...)

The biggest work done with these hotshots is auto auction transports. You will find that 5th wheels will carry three cars probably, but only a 16 foot trailer? Maybe two small cars. That's ok. But it's not much. It dies hard.

There is so much that goes into commerical hauling for a livelhood even the smaller stuff like Hotshots. I like them. But they need to be 5th wheel and one ton vehicles. Anything lighter is foolish.

 

One of my customers called in a hot shot driver to take a little overflow work to one of their customers, It was three three piece steel press dies which in total is less than 25k in weight. The guy shows up in a 3/4 t pickup with a 14 foot trailer. The dies would fit in an 10 foot space but they are tall and heavy. I later learned that the driver assured the plant manager on the phone that the trailer can haul up to 30k.

The dock manager guy doesn't give a crap what he loads on what truck, he's an idiot. SO this guy gets his trailer into the door, the crane guy puts the three dies on the trailer and then the driver ties it down with two worn out straps on each set. I'm watching this as I'm putting heavy chains on a single set. So he pulls out after he is done, the trailer looks like it is ready to snap in half, the truck is straining to make it up the little hill and over the tracks then goes down the road into the sunset.

About 20 minutes later I am driving down the road, taking my time enjoying the ride when I spot this guy on the side of the road, the trailer is about a car length behind the pickup. I pull over to see what help he needs and walk back to the situation. I didn't realize the guy has a bumper hitch which the trailer was hooked to, but now lacks a bumper because he literally ripped it off the truck. He said nothing is needed so I left. I get a call about 45 minutes later to go back to get loaded with those sets, they had to have the trailer towed back to the place, then the dies taken off and put on my truck.

So the moral of the story is don't be cheap. Buy the right equipment to do the job.

 

Everyone starts somewhere!

Some people just don't get that, and will tell you what you can't do. Above are some good examples.

05/05/05 I stood on a corner with $117 (insurance refund check from a truck that had been repossessed) no home, no truck, but a firm resolution to better myself. How I got there doesn't matter. I bought a $100 truck from the corner of Forest Hill Blvd and Congress Ave. in West Palm Beach, over the next 36 hours I made $500+ in scrap metal out of dumpsters, but burned the truck to the ground with an electrical fire. I sold it to a junk yard for $125. Those earnings bought me a $500 S10. That truck within 3 months bought me an old 3/4 ton ford and a trailer, which bought me a 2 1/2 ton flatbed and a gooseneck trailer. By the end of 2006 I had 6 employees, 3 trucks and 5 trailers gathering AC's and breaking them down for recycling. I was swimming in cash. I can't even begin to tell you how many people belittled me, told me I would never make it, or just plain laughed at me. There are plenty of things you can do with your truck and trailer. Start on Craigslist and advertise as a "Man with a truck" in the labor and moving category, or to haul junk, deliver appliances, whatever. You can do anything, just don't let people limit you!!!
If you can afford better equipment great if not play the cards your dealt.
I'm still in that business, The AC's have gotten much bigger and so have the trucks and trailers. My business was built on $117 and a sh**load of HEART

 

...or don't bite off more than you can chew. If your trailer can only haul 10K, don't bid on runs hauling 30K. If you get a confirmation for a load that says 8K and you show up and they're trying to load you with 18K, walk away.

Know the limitations of your equipment and don't exceed them and you'll be fine. Push those limits and stuff will break.

 

Above

 

So who do you plan on running for? Are you going to have commercial trucking insurance? Are you gonna take ####ty paying jobs just to keep rolling? Do you realize what that xoes to the rest of us?

If I rolled up anywhere to get loaded with a 16ft trailer, I'd probably get laughed out of the place.

Having the right equipment to do the job right is whats important.