Need an opinion

[smilebigtt]

My truck is a late 30, 132" WB. I bought it to carry an 11' overall lenght, 850 lbs car. With the truck cab on, that gives me 8' +/- bed lenght to end of frame. This means I need to extend the bed 3 + feet to the rear. Plus I will have to come up with a removable ramp to load the car. Is this going to work? Or do I need to stop building the truck?
If this AA idea would work, maybe trade it if an A pickup and build a trailer using A wheels? Please give me your best advice on my needed bed lenght. Thank you

[REM]

How much overhang do you have on the rear of the car. Is it longer than 8' from the front bumper to the rear wheels.
Only weighing 850lbs you should be ok if you can get it to fit. Maybe extend just the bed a foot or two. With the majority of the weight on the front of the car you should still be carring the load forward enough on the truck to be ok without extending the frame.

All this without seeing the car or knowing anything about it. Just some things to consider.

Your biggest challenge might be that loading it with ramps will put all the weight on the rear of the bed as you load. Might need some support under the rear when loading and unloading.

[smilebigtt]

Thank you Rem. Check back later this evening and I will post a photo of the car.
I did not want to extend the truck frame, was just wanting to have a long bed. I just began to think about this last night. The car a very stripped down model T. It is a "racer" . Most of its weight is in the front 4 feet which means 70% of the cars weight will be above and just in front of the trucks rear axle. From that point back is maybe 30% of its overall weight.
I was hoping to build the flat bed close to the frame as to make the bed as low to the ground as possible. But now that I have began to think about how to make the bed, I'm begining to question whether or not this is going to work and/or be safe to do. Three feet plus of unsupported bed plus the weight of load of the car being rolled onto may be more then I had planned on.

[smilebigtt]

Rem, I'm having trouble loading photo of car but look on page two and see "why I bought my AA" thread. I just measured the car and it is 5 feet from front edge of front wheel to the second back "red" hood strap. From that strap forward is most of the cars weight. At five feet, that puts the red strap above the rear truck axle +/-. That gives me two foot +/- from center line of the axle to the end of frame. This leaves me an overhang of 4 +/- foot needed just to carry the car.
What if I hinged the four foot overhang to fold up when not needed and when needed it folds down at an angle to become part of the ramp system. Get the idea. The rear of the car then will set on the angled ramp. But then the "ramp" would have to be beefed up to support the weight and that in turn would make the ramp very heavy.
I see you have an A pickup that needs lots of work

[REM]

Nice looking car. I remember you posting that now.
Your axles are at the extremes of the car. I was picturing a car with the rear axle well ahead of the rear of the car which would make an 11' long car not be that much longer than your 8'ft bed.

How far are you planning to haul to shows. Even with a high speed axle your top speed will be quite slow. If you will be going very far I'm not sure you will be happy with the speed of the truck.

I don't know how far along you are with the truck but if you do go ahead with it for hauling you might be better off to find a long wheel base chassis and switch your cab and parts over and have a longer frame. AA frames are not that hard to find. I'm not sure about the longer wheel base ones though.

Just a thought.

Here are a couple pics of the RPU.
Click on pic for larger view.

I would like to put this cab on one of the AA's when it is done. I think an open cab AA would be neat. Plenty of time to decide though.

[smilebigtt]

What do you think of this? Put like a pickup bed on and make a trailer using model A wheels? Dose anyone know how well an AA will pull a trailer?

[REM]

Maybe put a fifth wheel on it to pull a trailer with.

[smilebigtt]

thanks for all your help Rem.

[rikz]

in mikes a ford able cataloge they show a aa with a fifthwheel trailer with model a cars on it,i liked the way it lookes. rikz

[preachermaneddie]

Hey Just thought I would chime in. I have found it a lot easier with Model A's to have low trailer to ease the loading process. I have put smaller tires and wheels on my trailer to help with loading so you do not have to fly up on it. Also the longer the ramps the better it is. The hauler is a neat ideal but I do agree that You might find the slow travel unappealing. Some haul the AA's around on trailer. You could use the front axle or axles out of a couple cars to make a neat trailer but again getting it low I think would be the way to go. I hate to give this advice cause I like folks to build what they want to. But you did ask and I hope it helps. Have fun.

[smilebigtt]

preacher, yes your advice is welcome. Yes I did buy the truck in mind of hualling my little T racer to car shows but have since began to figure out eventho the car is only 11 feet from outer wheel edge to outerwheel edge I can't get the truck bed safely long enough to haul my car. Though I do car shows mostly around town (topeka) I do somethings will travel 30 - 50 miles for one. So now that I have figured out this may not work as hoped what do I do.
I like your idea of using front A axles and perhaps A spoke wheels to make a trailer. Question, 1. Is the AA designed to pull a pull behind trailer? Is it better to be a 5th wheel type?
2. To do a trailer, am i still pissing in the wind regarding the lack of speed?
3. Is an A pickup any faster and still haul a trailer safely?

Are you with Model T Haven? If so my racer is made from one of your rolling chassis.
Any and all info and advice is welcome. I just hate to give this idea of my hauler up. But if I can't do this safely, I will.

[Rosenkranswa]

I've seen AA's used to haul Fordson tractors which weigh more than your racer, Roger Kaufman I believe has such a setup, but you would probably want to find a 157" chassis and bed to get the clearance. You could then replace the rear axle with a high-speed rear and at least be able to do 40-45 with it - enough to get you around Topeka. Problem is loading and unloading the racer. The AA bed sits very high and was really designed to load and offload onto a loading dock of standard height. You're going to need really long ramps to get it on there without bottoming at the top, and those will probably need both front end and mid-length support of some kind.

The only kind of hitch I've seen for an AA is a fifth wheel setup making it into a semi-tractor. There are a couple really nice tankers and stake trailers around, but the loading height on the stakes doesn't help you much. I've also seen pictures of period car haulers which must use some kind of drop axle to get the loading height down.

You'd have to fabricate a hitch for an A pickup, but that's not that hard to do. Biggest thing I've seen pulled with one though is a Ford-Gorden-Smith Air Compressor which is basically the front end of a Model A on a two wheel trailer. I'm working on modifying a FGS to pump water as a pump trailer for my A Fire Chief's Pickup. I would think your racer probably doesn't weigh that much more than a FGS, so if you put it on a very light trailer you might be OK. You might even get away with a mower trailer that's long enough, providing your racer doesn't have the wide-track axles.

[E.Moore]

If a 5th wheel is installed, the ones used in the Model A era were much smaller than the ones used in today's trucks. They are very hard to find.

Be sure to check your local DOT regulations. Trucks with 5th wheels are taxed heavily. If a Model A truck with a 5th wheel is driven on public roads, even if only for a car show, it may be subject to the same road taxes that modern 18 wheelers are subject to.

Addition of a 5th wheel may also cause one to have to get a CDL driver's license.

Your insurance company may also get in on the money act and raise your rates.

[smilebigtt]

E.Moore, your no fun.

[E.Moore]

Thank You.