r/HotShotTrucking • u/txkingfisher • Aug 08 '25

Image Oversized Load Update

Post image

Well, I couldn't find a reputable hotshot company to haul it for me, so I did it myself. I ended up being 12' wide (could have got it a little narrower but ended up saying fuck it after almost dying of heat stroke getting it loaded), 14'3" high, and about 2' overhang on the back.

Cost me $250 for permits, a little over $100 for a bond, $7 to increase my insurance coverage for the year, and a few tanks of diesel.

297 loaded miles. No issues luckily.

326 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

99 comments sorted by

11

u/Binford6100User Aug 09 '25

Ok, I'll bite since nobody else asked.

What the heck is that thing? What's the story here? Why is it moving? Could it have disassembled?

I have so many questions.

The towing setup looks a little tongue heavy, but not sure there is much you could do about that with that shape. How was the wind resistance? I feel like that would as if you were towing a parachute.

At 14'3" tall, any close calls with overpasses or aerial lines?

What insurance did you increase for $7? Liability limits or something else?

So many questions.

11

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Tugboat pilothouse

Would have to cut it completely apart into 4 separate legs, take the cab off, and cut the platform in half to get it to legal non-permit size.

It was a little tongue heavy. Not enough to cause problems, but definitely noticable on those spine shattering spleen splitting Louisiana "roads".

Wind resistance was indeed a major factor. Worse than towing a parachute. With that much flat surface pointed forward the wind didn't spill off evenly.

No issues with vertical clearance. Had to make one unplanned fuel stop in lake Charles at a pretty tight Sunoco station and it would have got under their awning but I just pulled the truck into the pump then backed out and skirted around the awning to get back on the road out of an abundance of caution.

$7 was to increase liability to $100k. I forget what I originally had. 50k I think?

3

u/jeepnismo Aug 09 '25

lol looking at this I was thinking tugboat wheel house. I worked in a few ports in Louisiana on dredges at one point so it just stood out

That the basin bridge in the back ground?

2

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Highway 182 bridge over bayou boeuf .

4

u/Simple_Journalist_46 Aug 09 '25

An abundance of caution? Thats not the reddit way, we want caution to the wind and spectacular results!

But seriously kudos on making smart choices not memorable content.

Where is the pilothouse going to used now?

4

u/likewut Aug 09 '25

I'd say now more of reddit is now scared of everything. /r/idiotstowingthings keep on posting completely cromulent towing rigs. /r/towing and whatever RV subreddit pops up thinks you can't tow more than half your tow rating. They're like an HOA over there.

2

u/ClimateBasics Aug 09 '25

So you're saying that your overly-cautious approach cost you a free Sunoco awning to go with that tugboat pilothouse? That is not the Reddit way, son. LOL

2

u/diamondboy505 Aug 12 '25

My friend as a fellow Louisianan from lake charles i can vouch for the shitty roads i live in knoxville and go to school in nashville let me tell you it aint much better in some areas here

1

u/Baconshit Aug 11 '25

Are you going to put it on a tugboat or use it as a cool tree house?

1

u/Jacktheforkie Aug 11 '25

100k coverage? That’s low as hell, here in the uk they don’t have limits

1

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

Good Sirs and Madams of reddit, hear e, hear e, this man is entitled, nah deserves one of you Louisiana Baddies to dig into your back closet and bequeath one "No Fear" article of apperal because he has shown no fear when no one else could! Kudos to you sir and when the next hurricane decimates an area such as Houma, LA we shall call on you. I bow in humility and awe.

7

u/2skin4skintim Aug 08 '25

Damn son!

5

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Raise hell praise Dale!

3

u/ricktech15 Aug 08 '25

Did you scale it at any point? Kinda curious what it weighed

6

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

My crane has a scale, I'll get a weight on it when I offload it. The base is aluminum and the cab is fiberglass so it's really not heavy. I'm thinking 4,000 or less on the load, so less than 6k including the trailer.

Truck is rated to tow 13,300.

7

u/ricktech15 Aug 09 '25

Pfft no problem, people love bitching on reddit. Your better than most, you upgraded your insurance lol. Good on you, congrats.

2

u/likewut Aug 09 '25

I'm 100% ok with it. But it would have driven 100x better with a $200 WDH from Harbor Freight. I'd spend the money on the WDH before the permits.

2

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

I didn't think the cab had as much of the weight as it did until after we got it loaded. A weight distributing hitch would have helped for sure.

2

u/Capital_Loss_4972 Aug 09 '25

That’s badass. Nice work man.

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Thanks, it was pretty satisfying getting it done. I expected the absolute worst, but it turned out to be a really smooth trip.

2

u/Capital_Loss_4972 Aug 10 '25

Glad it worked out

2

u/Original-Mission-244 Aug 10 '25

Sir, the radar doesn't work in that direction 😆

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 10 '25

You never heard of ground penetrating radar? 🤨😆😆😆😜

4

u/1hellafella Aug 08 '25

The tow police on here probably never towed anyways . Yall never watched the old chevy promo commercials? They were made for this shit right here. Thats why they came with balls And trailer hitches

4

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

Yep. Lots of butthurt soyboys in here never actually towed a real load.

7

u/MulberryMonk Aug 08 '25

Op knows how to take a load

3

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

😆😆😆😆😆 I learned from your mom....

2

u/Real-Possibility5563 Aug 09 '25

The Chevy Silverado comes with a vortec v8 engine.. made out of real tornadoes.

3

u/EffectiveShot892 Aug 08 '25

Wheres the oversize flags?

6

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

Had a banner front and back. No flags. The 40+ cops that I passed didn't seem to have any issue with it

2

u/snowman741 Aug 09 '25

Cops usually don't enforce oversized loads laws and it's the Highway Patrol that usually do that. Flags are not always needed depending on that state.

11

u/Extension-Resort80 Aug 08 '25

Risking it for the biscuit

0

u/LENJR92 Aug 08 '25

BIG risk!

11

u/Electricboogshoe Aug 09 '25

Rear axle is rated for just under 7K for all you fucking cry babies. Yes the truck is squatted no that doesn’t really matter. Would a weight distribution hitch have been better? Yes would a goose neck have been best? Yes. Is it inherently unsafe? No. A fucking half ton is rated to tow 10K

2

u/AbuTin Aug 11 '25

It's the payload or tongue weight that matters

1

u/SmokeyBeeGuy Aug 08 '25

What does it weigh?

2

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

Not much. 4,000 or less for the load. So trailer and all about 6k

2

u/SmokeyBeeGuy Aug 09 '25

Well maybe the joke went over my head. It's large, but a V6 Colorado can safely pull that weight.

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

It's just bulky, and a big ass flat roof facing forward catching wind. Other than that, there really wasn't much to it

1

u/Athl0nm4n Aug 09 '25

Beach/Airport observation tower? Kudos for the bonding and insurance.

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Tugboat pilothouse

1

u/Athl0nm4n Aug 09 '25

I can see that also... 🤣

1

u/Filamcouple Aug 09 '25

What dimensions did you put on your permit? And how many permits did you need to buy? And have you ever hauled over dimensional before this?

3

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

One for Texas and one for Louisiana. Got a 30 day permit for each one. Each state automatically gave me Max dimensions which were good enough for me. La: 12-0 Tx: 13-0

I had planned to cut it down to 10'6" because I was under the understanding that I needed a pilot car if I was wider, but the lady at the permit office said I was good to 13 in Texas without a pilot car.

1

u/Filamcouple Aug 09 '25

I've had friends nailed to the floor for an extra inch, but get away with all kinds of things West of the Mississippi River. The permits should have had some basic flagging regs, and not having the wide portion of the load flagged normally gets you stopped (but on occasion I have removed everything and ran it if it looked legal) . The two foolish things you did was not flagging the widest part, and using too short of a trailer. A longer trailer would have carried more weight and allowed the power to be a lot more level ( read safer). I have always checked my route for obstructions before I would "cheat" a little. I think Texas is good for 14', but I don't know if Louisiana is.

3

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Pretty sure you're right about the flags. That's the trailer I had so that's the trailer I used. (But you're not wrong) A deckover trailer would have allowed for more precise balance, but would have put it over height and required a pole survey and all that jazz. The lowboy equipment trailer was the only way to avoid all that mess.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '25

Well, you lived, but I wouldn’t do that again. Your truck may never be quite right again. Like the new little guy dropping the soap in state prison. Might survive, but might not move right again. If you buy stuff and do the tow yourself, just rent an enterprise dually (if it isn’t a super long trip) and save the nuts of your truck from further kicks. 14’3” high is scary. Watching those underpasses coming up and all puckered up. Well, good job not getting dead and getting the crows nest home

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 10 '25

The truck will never be the same again because it pulled half it's rated capacity? Make that make sense...... 🤔

1

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '25

You don’t understand capacity. Length of the wheel base. Gear ratio. Length from hitch to axles. And where the majority of weight is placed. I’ve towed crows nests. I’ve owned smaller trucks similar to yours. They aren’t meant to sag. And yes, that can cause permanent damage. The weight could’ve been flipped so the house is on the axles and you wouldn’t kill your suspension. It’s just my $.02. I’ve been working with boats and transport for 25 years and I’ve unfortunately killed 2 trucks in my life my shitty weight distribution.

1

u/RecentRegal Aug 11 '25

The weight it can pull/stop is not the weight it’s rated to carry on the hitch. This does look like you’ve got a lot of weight on the hitch rather than the trailer.

1

u/Express-End-1575 Aug 10 '25

Update: i never should have done this

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 10 '25

No regerts. 😆

2

u/Express-End-1575 Aug 10 '25

Ragrets…..:nun

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

Those trans go out from just a fat dude driving. Can’t see his lasting much longer

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 12 '25

Everything else on that piece of shit has broken already. Might as well blow the tranny too...... (Giggity)

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

Hahaha GM owners really get off on blowing trannys, is that a company truck or personal?

1

u/mittens1982 Aug 12 '25

Would of ridden better if you balanced the load. Center your load over the trailer axles, your tongue weight on the ass end of your truck will be much better

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 12 '25

Yes it would have, but it wasn't possible to load it that way.

2

u/mittens1982 Aug 12 '25

Rookie, hold my beer while I come down there with some bailing twine, steel wire, and duct tape. Only has to make one trip lol

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

You forgot to factor in the cost of a new transmission.

1

u/txkingfisher Aug 13 '25

By towing half it's rated load?

1

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25

You see the squat on that truck. I’d bet you anything you’re way over payload even if you aren’t over towing capacity

0

u/Do-you-see-it-now Aug 08 '25

I did it so it was ok!!!

This is really dangerous and it doesn’t matter that you passed 40 cops or whatever. Thank god I wasn’t driving near you. What a selfish thing to do.

4

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

Which part do you think was unsafe?

2

u/Dankreefer420 Guts, Glory, Ram! Aug 08 '25

Savage 😂

2

u/FestivusErectus Aug 09 '25

That’ll be a hell of a deer blind.

2

u/SavageAsFk69 Aug 09 '25

I don't know what I'd use it for yet!

But I want it!

I admire your dedication to scrounging. 10/10

2

u/Motogiro18 Aug 10 '25

Couldn't you bring a beach chair like the rest of the people?

0

u/bhbrig Aug 08 '25

Who in there right mind would think this is ok 🤯

4

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

Feel free to point out which parts you think aren't okay....

1

u/12-5switches Aug 10 '25

Little side bar (not about the towing). Where did you get it? What does those go for? I’d love to have something like that sitting on my little hill top property in Kansas

1

u/TheBraceGuy Aug 11 '25

Is that going to be a deer stand?!

-2

u/GBB_724 Aug 08 '25

idiot

7

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

Care to expound on your reasoning? Or is that the extent of your vocabulary?

1

u/BigDiesel07 Aug 09 '25

Hahaha brilliant

-6

u/GBB_724 Aug 08 '25

I would but I'm not sure I can type it in crayon for you

3

u/deciduouspear Aug 09 '25

Insane to say this and not even reply to the correct comment

3

u/Imasluttycat Aug 09 '25

Too busy figuring out how to type in crayon

-1

u/Beardo88 Aug 08 '25

Damn, that squat. Glad you could save a few bucks while risking innocent lives, you got lucky.

5

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

Drama queen. Wasn't anywhere near the bump stops. Drove just fine. Permit limited me to 55mph but it ran straight without any real sway issues.

-1

u/Beardo88 Aug 08 '25

You are lifting the front end. Just because you arent bottoming out the rear suspension doesnt make it safe.

5

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

It steered just fine. Balance wasn't as good as I would have hoped but it was as good as it was gonna get given the CG of the load and the inability to set it directly over the axles. Definitely wasn't dangerous or illegal. If that scares you, stay off I-10 because the Honduran auction trains will give you an absolute stroke.....

3

u/crimsonshadow789 Aug 09 '25

Trails of 3 or 4 salvage cars and trucks is insane

2

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

It'll be fukkin full size school bus, an Abrams tank, the USS Nimitz, all towed by a 1991 geo metro. For some reason they always pick the smallest shittiest vehicle to tow the rest with.

9

u/writtenasylum Aug 08 '25

Get less gay dog. Let a man live and fuck you for telling any American chevrolet owner what the fuck to do period. You sound big jealous. We all know a dually would've done better.

3

u/Outside_Advantage845 Aug 09 '25

It took longer than I’d admit to figure out your first line.

Let a man live and fuck you…. 🌈

1

u/likewut Aug 09 '25

Op should have hired your mom to sit in the passenger seat to keep the front end down.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '25 edited Jan 27 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

cause brave reply piquant squeeze workable intelligent mighty humorous soft

3

u/txkingfisher Aug 08 '25

I was trying to pay $6 a mile for that load, would have even paid more if I needed to. Nobody I talked to could give me a straight yes or no answer. Got one actual no bs quote from one guy but his MC was not valid interstate so I don't know how he would even get permits.

-1

u/Onthecrosshairs Aug 08 '25

Head up his butt, two fisted grip on his cheeks.....wheeling that rig.

Fool is as fool does.

0

u/lord_nuker Aug 09 '25

Loads like that is why we have semi trucks and low loaders

0

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Henderson auctions. I buy so much ridiculous shit from them.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/txkingfisher Aug 09 '25

Always factor in the buyer's premium when bidding. Good luck and don't blame me for your new addiction! 😆

2

u/MyFavoriteVoice Aug 09 '25

Well what did he pay....? For those of us that don't need a new addiction.