Best way to transport an FJ40?

breckbone · 04-23-06, 01:41 PM

Hi all. I'm looking into the best way to transport a 68 FJ40 from Denver to Springfield, VA. I'm not going to drive it that far...because that would be brutal in that thing and I'm not sure it'd make it. Anyway, I haven't found a car rental agency that rents trucks w/hitches. I did check the Penske rental-truck website and they will rent a truck for about $1200 plus whatever the cost would be for a car carrier. They gave an option of using either a dolly or a car carrier. The dolly can handle up to 4300lbs while the carrier is limited to only 4055lbs. I don't know the weight of the FJ off the top of my head, but it seems to me it was somewhere in the area of 4000lbs. Also, their site recommends the usage of the carrier for rear-wheeled autos. Not sure if putting the thing in neutral would alleviate that problem.
Anyway, if someone out there has a better (ie. cheaper) way of transporting this across country, I would really appreciate hearing about it!
Thanks

Craig

cruiser ken · 04-23-06, 01:50 PM

You should be able to get is shipped for less. I paid $1000 to ship an FJ55 from Georgia to Idaho. I paid $600 to get my troopie shipped from S. Cal to Idaho. Do some searches online and get several quotes (they vary greatly). You should be able to get it shipped for $800-$1100 I would think.

breckbone · 04-23-06, 02:07 PM

Thanks! That's a great idea. I guess I just assumed that that would be more expensive. Do you happen to remember the name of the company you used? I'm looking at www.movecars.com and am seeing about 70 different companies. I want to get several quotes, but also don't want to drown myself in options.
Thx.

Craig

cruiser ken · 04-23-06, 05:30 PM

I don't remember, just went to a couple sites and put in the info. Then I probably got 10-20 quotes. Some were almost 2x the ones on the lower end which is why it pays to shop around a bit.

wesintl · 04-26-06, 09:20 AM

If you want to transport my 40 out here I'll give you room and board, you can pick up your 40 and head back

FJ62_rAf · 05-03-06, 10:54 AM

If this is a 40 in great condition I would not recommend just any carrier, I went with these guys: http://www.enclosedvehicletransport.com, ask for Kevin or Chris..Tell them Rafael sent you (not the cheapest, but I was not messing around with my FJ. These guys also have open transport options, cheaper than enclosed but more expensive than the average open transport company. I went with an open trailer from CA to MD). If this is a C or below you can check out www.uship.com.

You pay more for direct "door to door" service, some shippers like Depenable Auto Shippers (http://www.dasautoshippers.com/) use a terminal system. A truck can be coming west to east but not all the way, so they'll unload it at a terminal (various locations across the country) and the vehicle will "wait" until a truck is going in your direction. These guys have exploded in business because ebay recommends them, so the wait is not to long. I used them three years ago to transport my Chevy K5 and Honda Accord from CA to MD for $500 and $600. The vehicles got to MD which was my main concern, but the truck arrived with "damage". Since it is a terminal service, they point the finger at each other and you know the drill, it was there before it shipped, then call Corporate, then "You didn't buy the "Special" insurance"... I gave up.. it was an older truck and I was broke. The damage was below $500 bucks (backed the tail gate into something), but the point is that they're a UPS, FedEx, Postal service type of transport...for the masses.

The uship website, you can find all sorts of options, check it out. If time is not important, that might be your best bet. If you have any questions, just ask... I spent way too many hours researching and stressing over this topic my last move.

Raf

joemck7 · 05-10-06, 02:05 PM

Sorry to chime in so late but if you still need the service I suggest Kiwi Karriers. I had my 40 shipped from Denver to MD and the total cost door to door was around 1100. I paid a slight premium over the other companies because of the d2d service.

Driver was great, shipped as scheduled, very happy!

Check out these links:

http://www.kiwiskarriers.com/

http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.p...highlight=kiwi

Colorado Boy-74-FJ40 · 05-10-06, 02:55 PM

Numerous threads on this.
I trailered mine from Colorado to Oregon on a U-haul. However there was someone who recently lost both the towed and the towing rig with a U-haul . The trailer flipped and wiped out both. I would trailer again. Just make sure your towing rig weighs more than the load.

Cruiserhead05 · 05-10-06, 08:35 PM

I know its not very practical but driving that thing back would be a blast and i'm sure you would get some awesome stories by the end of the trip.

wesintl · 05-11-06, 11:15 AM

I've driven from denver to Nova too many times to count and the worst was in an fj40. It's a long drive on I70 and not something I ever want to do again in a 40. If you think it'll be fun I have a 40 with an m416 that still needs to come out here.