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Hi all,
I'm a m715 rookie but am a prospective owner. My uncle has a 67 m715 that has been completely gone over has new brakes, new chevy 350 in it, runs great, and it's the coolest vehicle I've ever seen! So the kicker is its in souix falls SD. And I'm in old town ME. I was wondering if any of you have had any experience shipping these beasts? I've got a fue estimates and they are pretty high around $2500. I really want this thing so Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Howie
Howie, Welcome to the M715 Zone.
For that money, you could go and get a U-Haul truck and trailer and bring it home yourself! Could be a first "Road Trip".
That's not a bad price for the 1800 miles and locations involved. You can get it yourself if you have time, a 3/4 ton truck and a trailer capable of handling 6500# of payload. You can figure on $1200+ in fuel if you avg 12 mpg which greatly depends on your rig.
Road trips are an adventure. Especially if your equipment isn't in A#1 condition.
Back when I was staitioned at Fort Rucker in Alabama I had my 94 BMW convertible i paid 350 from CT...there's a Web site that will have carriers bid for your vehicle move, I can't remember the name right now but it should be cheaper than that...that was 6 years ago, even with current fuel prices that sounds high.
Uship.com I think is what it was...good luck and welcome, great people and knowledge here!
Shipping costs more when you are off the beaten path, which is why I think the quotes aren't that unreasonable. I have found that shipping to Houston is much more expensive than to Dallas for cross-country shipping.
You could also try yesterday's tractor (http://www.ytmag.com). they have a shipping forum where you can hook up with individuals moving stuff cross country. Uship uses commercial trucking companies while yesterday's tractor is more hobbyists and some commercial.
Thanks! That's all great info, considering driving out my self. If I'm going to spend the money may as whell enjoy the ride.
Last year I towed a M715 (along with about 600lbs of extra spare parts) using a uhaul trailer and a Ford Superduty. AND IT WAS DANGEROUS. The trailer could not be driven over 55MPH without developing a violent shimmy.
My advice is to rent one of the big box trucks for pulling the trailer with. It will be much safer and faster.
My advice is similar but maybe different in that I was driving a 17' U-Haul Ford truck that was filled and the M715 was the only thing on the trailer. I had checked the load for proper position and had no extra weight on the trailer. The M715 exceeds the trailer capacity by about 200 pounds so I didn't want to stretch things. I even had the winch off of the the M715. My experience was that I could hardly feel the trailer behind me. It always tracked true but again, it was being pulled by a full 17' truck.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrNeutron
"Your Mileage May Differ... ;) "
http://www.freightquote.com
But if I trusted the truck, I would fly there and drive it home!
I think it can be trusted, would be quite a trip at about 50mph.
I just shipped mine from upstate NY to WV. I used Riteway, like Uship they contract it out to a local driver.
I tried Uship first, and they ended up coming back with a great price , unfortunately they took a couple extra days to contact me and I ended up going with a slightly higher bid that called back first. In either case my vehicle was in transit less then 24 hours (diesel pickup towing a 5th wheel trailer, two vehicles on it besides mine).
Uship works like Priceline, you set a price and they find someone who will accept your offer. Long distance like yours, the idea of renting a car carrier might be cheaper.
Man, I think a chance to take three weeks off from work and just take the slow scenic route back would be a pretty cool trip.
Life doesn't offer too many opportunities like that. Do it while you can...maybe even take the wife or girlfriend along....heck, take 'em both.
Fly out,rent a Uhaul or Ryder truck, load your 715 in the truck and bring her home. Look on Midwest Military's site under restorations and check out him loading his Command car in a Ryder truck.
More and more I think about it the three week drive sounds pretty good.
If it is road worthy I would fly and drive. Stock truck gears will do 55-60.
Yeah, road trip!
Take your time but you could do your own version of "roadkill", military style. Great show on motortrends u tube channel but seriously, its got 350 right? The truck would have more stories to tell
Put a high quality synthetic oil in the transfer case, keep an eye on temperature and take lots of photos!
I got my truck shipped from a company out sourced by uship... Was $350. Great bargain considering it cost me more then that to drive and see it, and I had a tow bar....but I didnt realize how big it was.:rolleyes: haha. So i bought it and left it.
The guy who I bought it from drove it up in 4WD, the guy had to make 2 other deliveries. So when i saw the guy, he wasnt actually thrilled about the truck bc it had to be pulled on and off. It gave him a hard time bc he had no experience.. Apparently acidic Jews wanted to buy my truck from him in the streets of Brooklyn, right before he made it to me. He said they had to help him figure how to get it back on the truck again. I wasn't too thrilled to hear this of course,. But I was happy to see the truck. My maiden voyage was from a local stop and shop grocery parkin lot to my house. If I wouldve towed it w the amount of gear oil and other misc things. I dont know if it wouldve made it.
Pros and cons.....in my experience
You could try Car Shipping Pros. They will give you an average price estimate, post your load and then contact you with bids they receive on your behalf.
They give you an estimate upfront so tha you can make a reasonable informed decision once bids start coming in.
I am working with them on a load right now from Miami FL to Niagara Falls NY and it looks like around $1350 average. Pretty cheap considering the mileage.
Well their you have it, "A truck load of options", pun intended. On the more serious side Howie, welcome to the #1 M715 site. We all love to hear these stories of truck finds and bringing them home. As was said earlier, take lots of photo's. Can't remember your first post, is the truck being given to you free of charge? Might have some bearing on getting home.
Oh yea she's got a 350 all rite. Keep an eye on the transfer and hammer down, So do you think I should even try to figure MPG. I'm thinking that smiles per gallon will be off the charts!
Not free but a good family deal. I think shipping is the way to go but the thought of driving it is really exciting !
I did both... My wife and I flew into Texas and drove our truck up to Portland OR. We averaged 11mpg with a 351 on 37s (we did make 17mpg on one tank- dropping 3000ft out of the Cascades!), and were grateful for the Jerry cans more than once. I think it took us 5 leisurely days.
I then had Drftco Transport haul it the rest of the way up to Alaska. He charged $1800, which was only a little above what the fuel to drive would've run me.