Ideas for driving newly delivered JL home (MN) from TN?

[ModsOrMoney]

I'm trying to remember the name of the manufactuer, but there was a guy at GSMJI selling hitch/spare mounts that mounted and locked in the doors behind the Jeep. I was struggling to see actually using it at the time, but it would be the perfect solution for this issue:

Cute idea.

Can you imagine the message on your voice mail when "Allstate" returns your call were you to be involved in a rear end accident with this device.

"Yeah, hi, it's Bob from Allstate. Let me see if I've got this right. You were rear ended AND you sustained damage to all four of your doors? Can you get back to me and better describe the accident? Thanks."

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[SteveTigers]

I did a similar trip in aug. It was a brutal ride home for just me with the seat forward and completely upright. Given how the doors are packed in the boxes, there is no way they would survive being shipped. You are not supposed to tow or highway drive for the first few hundred miles but, I suggest bring the family, get a haul trailer and take an extra day to explore the backroads home.

@C5er Since you have the half doors and I assume you used them, would they all fit in the back if the OP unboxed them and tossed out the cardboard and shipping material?

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Buy a small trailer. The Tractor Supply one is kinda crappy. Spend 50% more at a local trailer store in Tennessee and get a twice as good trailer. They are super handy to have if you don’t have a pickup.

Or even this Home Depot trailer. The A frame is a lot more stable for loads that are not balanced out when loaded.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Karavan...store=722&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla

Towing at the most 700 lbs (trailer plus doors) isn’t going to hurt anything. It’s not the engine that needs broken in, it’s the diff gears. Just take a 30 min break when you refuel so the gears cool. Change the diff lube when you get home. Oh, and the oil too.

 

[GroovyGorilla]

Does anyone know how many boxes, and how much they weigh, maybe I can get shipping quotes ..

I would ask if the dealer might be willing to crate them up and ship them out UPS freight for an extra fee. I don't know if a UPS Store location can crate it, but crating is definitely the way to ship these. It also might not be as costly as you think, considering it will also cover more on the shipping insurance.

I ship large robots from location to location via UPS freight, it's good as long as they can put it in a well secured wood crate and get it out to a UPS lift-gate pickup. If the dealer isn't willing, and the UPS Store doesn't have the tools... might be worth contacting a courier service near the dealer; they can usually handle it.

 

[C5er]

@C5er Since you have the half doors and I assume you used them, would they all fit in the back if the OP unboxed them and tossed out the cardboard and shipping material?

there is quite a bit of foam around the boxes and a lot of air/cardboard/foam inside the boxes. while the half doors are really lite, you wouldn’t want to stack them and i am pretty sure it wouldn’t all fit in the cargo area with back seats in use

 

[omnitonic]

Perhaps the saddest part of this entire thread is that it seems almost unanimous that a "common carrier" will more than likely damage, if not destroy completely, the doors.

I used to have a job with a private carrier. My most important job responsibility was to kiss the customer's ass, and get that customer to associate my company with warm, fuzzy feelings. My second most important responsibility was to get the stuff delivered to that customer intact.

One time, I was unloading at a regular customer when a common carrier rolled up. He had a shipment of my company's products. The guy at the store didn't think the delivery would get there in time if he ordered through normal channels, so he ordered this extra express shipment via common carrier. The stuff got there after my truck did, and it was allllllll fucked up.

I don't guess I actually have a point. That company was great, and I made many hundreds of deliveries of totally undamaged, intact products to happy customers. It was good while it lasted, but that job went tits up back in 2007. They got rid of all the trucks and drivers, and, wait for it, switched to shipping via common carrier. The company itself went tits up maybe five years later, because if people were going to get its products via common carrier, they could just buy the same shit somewhere else cheaper, and take the same risks.

The entire industry has been imploding like that for decades now. People vote for shaving pennies over service every time, and the list of private carries that have gone under keeps getting longer and longer. Today, I drive for a former private carrier that still hauls a lot of its own products, but I also haul tampons and diapers from strangers to strangers.

Uh. Sorry. I got off topic.

 

[omnitonic]

I would ask if the dealer might be willing to crate them up and ship them out UPS freight for an extra fee.

UPS Freight no longer exists. They sold out, and became T-Force.

Crating them up and shipping via LTL freight isn't a bad idea though. The crate keeps underpaid idiots on forklifts from totally wrecking the contents, and you can more than likely work out a deal with the delivering terminal where you just come by and pick the stuff up, if taking motor freight deliveries at home is a problem.

I don't know where I would go to try to get something crated up, though.

Honestly, if I were in the OP's situation, I would just tell the wife and kids to sit this one out, because Daddy needs all the cargo space this time. Of course, my wife is living across town with some unemployed deadbeat dad, so maybe I'm not a good source of advice as it pertains to not destroying a marriage.

 

[jimim]

I'm trying to remember the name of the manufactuer, but there was a guy at GSMJI selling hitch/spare mounts that mounted and locked in the doors behind the Jeep. I was struggling to see actually using it at the time, but it would be the perfect solution for this issue:

On a highway doing 70 mph?! Lol.

 

[jimim]

6 pages did we decide on a plan.


I still say leave the kids home or at this point wife also. It’s 1 trip in a Jeep. Unless you are getting rid of the Jeep quickly what’s the big deal. If I was trying to figure this out this long my wife would already have told me to pound sand she is staying home to do whatever. When you get home take them for a ride.

 

[Rosco P]

I am picking up in PA from Chapman soon and want to take my 3 yo son on a train ride up there. We will sort of make an adventure out of the trip home as well. I just need one seat up in the rear to get him in so if I can unbox enough for that, and use the front seat space, I will be good to go. I definitely think it can be done.

 

[Oilburner]

Too bad Jeep doesn't make a Wrangler with a bed.
Oh wait they Do...

Seriously, just buy a single-axle trailer off Craigslist, pull it to TN, then bring doors back on the trailer. (assuming you got the tow package on your JL) Then either keep the trailer or sell it. This is not a hard problem. If you're flying down, you could even pick the trailer up in Nashville. Here's one, it's even enclosed you should easily be able to sell for what you paid for it: Trailer - trailers - by owner - vehicle automotive sale (craigslist.org)

You will REGRET shipping those precious doors.

 

[GATORB8]

On a highway doing 70 mph?! Lol.

The guy selling them had the doors on the back for the whole weekend. It was pretty goofy for the intended use, but it actually makes more sense for this one time trip.

I believe the front of the mount was held in the reciever hitch and then bolted to the studs for the spare, then each door is pinned with the hinges in the front. The rear bar in the picture used the door latches to secure the rear of the door. That would keep the only contact points the ones intended from the factory. No clue if it was rated for interstate speed, but he said it was built to be off-road, and the half doors should be significantly lighter with no upper frame and no windows.

It's not like you don't see people driving down the interstate with bikes and other crap hanging off the back, and those are only hitch mounted;

 

[191185]

Too bad Jeep doesn't make a Wrangler with a bed.
Oh wait they Do...

Seriously, just buy a single-axle trailer off Craigslist, pull it to TN, then bring doors back on the trailer. (assuming you got the tow package on your JL) Then either keep the trailer or sell it. This is not a hard problem. If you're flying down, you could even pick the trailer up in Nashville. Here's one, it's even enclosed you should easily be able to sell for what you paid for it: Trailer - trailers - by owner - vehicle automotive sale (craigslist.org)

You will REGRET shipping those precious doors.

I can borrow a friends 7x10 trailer. Right now I'm thinking a one way truck rental.


Even flying there solo and driving back sounds like a pain, with the drivers seat forced forward. I'm 6'2.

 

[GATORB8]

I can borrow a friends 7x10 trailer. Right now I'm thinking a one way truck rental.


Even flying there solo and driving back sounds like a pain, with the drivers seat forced forward. I'm 6'2.

If it's enclosed, the 7x10 maybe a pain of a trailer to tow due to the wind load. Rentals are more expensive right now (like everything else) and a one way trip may be a pretty penny to get it there.

The lower/smaller enclosed uhaul trailers would probably be easier to tow. I think u-hauls started the app based rentals, so you may be able to get one without even speaking with a person.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Agree best solution is to rent a Small one way UHaul or have the vehicle shipped. The doors won't travel well via UPS/ FedEx and will likely cost more $$$. This makes the most sense. I wouldn't want to Drive MN to TN solo, and I sure as hell wouldn't be shipping my brand new half doors home.

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