Truck owner venting

[Traab]

Ok, I need to do this now, because its been building up for awhile. I own a pickup truck. Now, I knew ahead of time what that meant. It means your entire circle of friends will each decide its time to move a few days apart from each other and they need your help to do it. Ok, fair enough, like I said, I went into this with wide open eyes. The problem is, my truck is not very large. As an example, a friend of my mothers was offered a free rubbermaid shed and all he had to do was come and get it. So he calls me up, and like an idiot I agree to help. Turns out that first off, this shed, (and it was actually pretty nice) was gigantic. You could nearly park a damn car in it. Secondly, we learned that while it was simple enough to take apart, the pieces were so big we had to make 4 trips with my tiny truck to bring them to his house 20 miles away. Oh, and every single crevice has a big spider baby egg sack in it, and there are a LOT of crevasses. Im looking at the start of arachnophobia part 2 spring time in the suburbs. But that has nothing to do with my truck so moving on.

The big problem is that people seem to have this over exaggerated view on what a pickup truck can fit. To put it into perspective. I cannot fit a queen size mattress box spring, and bed frame in my truck bed in one trip. Not without extensive shenanigans, lots of bungee cords, and a prayer for not bumpy roads between me and my destination. You might be able to fit as many as two dressers at a time if they arent too big. My point being, STOP ASKING ME TO MOVE YOUR ENTIRE FREAKING HOUSE! Just rent a freaking uhaul already! My truck is for moving a single bit of furniture you just bought but didnt want them to deliver. My truck is for making a fairly standard dump run of a ton of random scrap and nonsense. I cannot fit your 150 cardboard boxes into my truck. Paying for the gas I need to make the 2 dozen trips to your new place with one bit of furniture at a time is probably more expensive than just renting the damn uhaul, and it takes 10x longer.

[Jay R]

It's not their job to decide what is too much for you to do. That's your job. You need to say "No". You need to learn to say "No" politely but firmly.

Because nobody else is going to say it for you.

[Traab]

It's not their job to decide what is too much for you to do. That's your job. You need to say "No". You need to learn to say "No" politely but firmly.

Because nobody else is going to say it for you.

The problem is its stuff like the shed, I say yes because he assures me it will fit in my truck. I get there and see its 3x the size of my carrying capacity. Same for moving. Its always just a couple things that will definitely fit. Sometimes it even is, but it keeps happening that they confuse my dinky little sonoma with a ford f-150. At that point I have already agreed to help.

[TheThan]

The problem is that you need a bigger truck :smallbiggrin:

But yeah I understand the feeling.

[Jay R]

The problem is its stuff like the shed, I say yes because he assures me it will fit in my truck. I get there and see its 3x the size of my carrying capacity. Same for moving. Its always just a couple things that will definitely fit. Sometimes it even is, but it keeps happening that they confuse my dinky little sonoma with a ford f-150. At that point I have already agreed to help.

There are three paths you can take:

1. Early on in the process you say, "Well, my truck is small. Go measure it and make sure it's less than 8 feet by 6 feet by 4 feet high" (or whatever).

2. When you arrive, say, "Oh, what a shame--it doesn't fit my little truck. You need to get a U-Haul. Sorry I couldn't help."

3. Accept it as it is.

You can change it. But if you do not change it, it will not change.

[Traab]

The problem is that you need a bigger truck :smallbiggrin:

But yeah I understand the feeling.

Heh, my budget does not allow for that, unfortunately. I totaled my car and got a surprising 7k payment from my insurance company, and was able to get a decent set of choices. For example, I could have gotten a bigger truck, even one with all sorts of handy options like power locks and windows, but it would have had massive miles already logged on it and been well over a decade old. Or I could pick a smaller truck, with no frills, and have one with less than 100k miles on it. While its embarrassing to hear my poor truck struggle to maintain highway speeds uphill, I think I made the right choice. It had 60k miles on it, was only 7 years old, and the dealer that sold it to me takes all his work to the mechanic I have used for the last 20 years, so I had an inside track on its condition. Its been over two years and I have only put some fairly minimal repairs into it since then.

I could have done better with a car, but I just love having a pickup truck, warts and all.

[TheThan]

You should have seen the pickup I saw the other day.

This was a big truck I don’t recall what make or model but it was at least a F250 or bigger. It was jacked up super high so that you needed a step ladder to get in it. Then the guy put low profile tires on it… I guess so you could see all the chassis work that went into getting it up that high. I guarantee you that thing’s never been off road with those low profile tires.

It was as ridiculous (although going the opposite direction) as those low rider pickups that are so low they scrape the ground. I’ve seen them get stuck on speedbumps, it’s hilarious. Seriously trucks are meant to haul loads, if your truck is so low the ground that a big guy sitting in the cab will cause the truck to sit on it’s chassis, you have a useless machine.


But the silliest car I’ve ever seen was some old beat up hatchback that had a muffler attached to it that was so large it scraped on the ground shooting sparks out off the back of it as it went down the road.

[Bulldog Psion]

Just remember, as you go through your tribulations, that you're still a step ahead of someone owning a car.

You can sit upright.

As a tall guy, I recently discovered the pleasures of owning a minivan, where I can actually sit upright like a human instead of crunching down into a seat like a stork in a vehicle built for wombats.

Let them come at me with all the couches and boxes that they will. Nothing is going to induce this guy's posterior to occupy the driver's seat of a car again while breath remains in his body, or one minivan or pickup truck still rolls upon the road. :smallbiggrin:

[factotum]

Just remember, as you go through your tribulations, that you're still a step ahead of someone owning a car.

You can sit upright.

You'd be surprised how roomy a properly designed car can be...I'm 6' 2" and I can sit in my Nissan Micra (a car that, to the American eye, would be smaller than a sub-compact) with a good six inches of headroom. Wouldn't want to sit in the *back* of said car, but since I never need to do that, I'm not so worried about it!

[Crow]

I used to have the same problem, despite having a good-sized pickup. Then I just stopped having friends. Never had that problem again.

[rs2excelsior]

I'm the "friend with a car" among my friend group at college, so I definitely feel you. That being said, I'm always shocked at what we can pack into the trunk, backseat, and passenger seat of my Accord.

Although, the time I brought the family pickup truck up to school to help move things, it seemed to have almost unlimited room by comparison :smalltongue:

[lio45]

I cannot fit a queen size mattress box spring, and bed frame in my truck bed in one trip.

On a short box (6') S10/Sonoma? Sure you can. Lay them on top of each other horizontally on the bed walls and closed tailgate.

[Knaight]

On truck sizes - I'd also add to the useless pile any truck where the back is so high you can't reasonably lift things into it. Three feet off the ground is plenty, four is already getting needlessly difficult, five is just ridiculous. If you're using a pickup in the first place the goods are probably pretty heavy, which makes not lifting them up to shoulder height a priority.


There are three paths you can take:

1. Early on in the process you say, "Well, my truck is small. Go measure it and make sure it's less than 8 feet by 6 feet by 4 feet high" (or whatever).

2. When you arrive, say, "Oh, what a shame--it doesn't fit my little truck. You need to get a U-Haul. Sorry I couldn't help."

3. Accept it as it is.

You can change it. But if you do not change it, it will not change.

Route 1 is probably the best of these.

[dehro]

I was going to post an image like you'll find often on the internet, of a tiny truck, or even a bike with a cart/trailer, laden with immense quantities of fluffy lightweight stuff that dwarves the bike, it's rider and the rest of the world around it... so I image-googled "ridiculous loads".. which, surprisingly yielded no porn images at all, but I took pity on you and chose this image instead
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hqT_xf53in4/TdVkO8xD0gI/AAAAAAAAB3k/zxfzvsaFSUM/s1600/moving2.jpg

[Erloas]

so I image-googled "ridiculous loads".. which, surprisingly yielded no porn images at all, but I took pity on you and chose this image instead
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hqT_xf53in4/TdVkO8xD0gI/AAAAAAAAB3k/zxfzvsaFSUM/s1600/moving2.jpg
Well they have done a very good job with their search filters any more.


I think you just live in the wrong place. I have a fully sized truck and the times I've offered to help someone move something the majority of the time they have several other people that can help too. In fact my truck sat unused for almost an entire year (which isn't good for it, but I don't like using it when I don't have to). I can fit a surprisingly large amount in my hatchback, so it has to be a lot before I get out the truck.

The reason I got the truck is because I was getting ready to move from Phoenix back home to Wyoming. A U-haul would have cost about $1000-1500, so I bought a truck for $4k instead. It might be 18 years old (now) and have 160k miles, but in the 6 years I've had it I haven't had to do many repairs.

I'm wanting to replace it though because the AC doesn't work (well it does, it just doesn't hold a charge very long so not worth recharging and not worth fixing) and it gets about 13 MPG (the car gets ~38) and just isn't that nice in general. But the question is always what to get and would it be worthwhile. I use it mostly for pulling my boat (relatively small, not going to be pulled by a car but just about any vehicle designed to tow will tow it). But only using it (on the good years) 10-15 trips to the lake (~20 miles one way) makes it hard to justify. There are other places I would like to take it, but they tend to be far enough I don't want to pay for the gas or deal with the uncomfortable ride (especially in the summer, when I would use it most). I could go with an SUV, something like an XTerra or an Explorer would be better for camping and could pull the boat but is too small to pull much else and can't carry stuff like a real truck. Then there is full sized trucks, but the 1/2 tons don't have full sized beds with a larger cab and the larger ones get way more expensive and not that much better mileage than what I get now. In fact they aren't even required to list MPG on 3/4 or larger trucks, but most estimates put them in the 18 mpg range. Of course the 1/2 tons aren't much better MPG until you get to the last few years where they've managed to push it into the mid to low 20s.

Would I use it a lot more if it was more comfortable to ride in and go better mileage? Is that the reason I'm not going on longer trips, or am I simply not going because I don't have the time or the ambition to actually go?
Would I really get a camper or anything else that requires a larger truck to pull or is that just wishful thinking?

I know a lot of it depends on finding a woman and what she likes to do. The reason I didn't have the boat out the last year was because my girlfriend at the time didn't like "the nature" so we didn't go do anything of that sort of stuff.

I suppose this is the sort of thing that deserves a first world problems hashtag but I hate those things so no.

[TheThan]

On truck sizes - I'd also add to the useless pile any truck where the back is so high you can't reasonably lift things into it. Three feet off the ground is plenty, four is already getting needlessly difficult, five is just ridiculous. If you're using a pickup in the first place the goods are probably pretty heavy, which makes not lifting them up to shoulder height a priority.



Route 1 is probably the best of these.

Not just heavy, but big and awkward; anything larger than a moderate sized box needs an extra set of hands or a device like a dollie/hand truck to move. My point of view is that if you can't reasonably pick it up without hurting yourself you can't move it yourself.

[lio45]

The big problem is that people seem to have this over exaggerated view on what a pickup truck can fit. To put it into perspective. I cannot fit a queen size mattress box spring, and bed frame in my truck bed in one trip. Not without extensive shenanigans, lots of bungee cords, and a prayer for not bumpy roads between me and my destination. You might be able to fit as many as two dressers at a time if they arent too big. My point being, STOP ASKING ME TO MOVE YOUR ENTIRE FREAKING HOUSE! Just rent a freaking uhaul already! My truck is for moving a single bit of furniture you just bought but didnt want them to deliver. My truck is for making a fairly standard dump run of a ton of random scrap and nonsense. I cannot fit your 150 cardboard boxes into my truck. Paying for the gas I need to make the 2 dozen trips to your new place with one bit of furniture at a time is probably more expensive than just renting the damn uhaul, and it takes 10x longer.

In fact I thought a bit about it and realized there are simple solutions to your problems.

#1 Dually and rear susp. upgrade for the Sonoma
+
#2 Get a nice big open trailer.

Then you'll be able to move people in one single trip.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g122/m3cH/ZR_Dual_ezr.jpg

http://i648.photobucket.com/albums/uu201/chau8238/DSC01992.jpg

[Knaight]

Not just heavy, but big and awkward; anything larger than a moderate sized box needs an extra set of hands or a device like a dollie/hand truck to move. My point of view is that if you can't reasonably pick it up without hurting yourself you can't move it yourself.

Absolutely, but with the really high backs there's an entire class of heavy, awkward stuff that already requires two people to move, which could be easily loaded into a truck with a back at 3ish feet off the ground, and which is going to be a total pain to get up there because the back is way too high for some bizarre reason - whether it's just the truck being designed for size as a status symbol and not actual utility, or because somebody felt that they needed to jack the truck well over its normal position.