From: Greg (czechsix@cox.net)
Date: Tue Jan 13 2004 - 14:41:08 PST
Great post WGB!
Very informative. The only thing I think I'd like to hear is who the
miscreant tow company is. On the list, most of us are more than happy to
name a good, decent individual or company that's done right by us. But many
of the posts will do the "name withheld" thing with a company that had
mislead or outright screwed up or ripped us off. It's valuable information
for everyone - to know who's good, and who's bad out there. Why keep
rewarding crappy individuals or companies with new customers that have to go
through the same garbage that you've gone through.
I remember when I bought my first Unimog, had a Los Angeles transport
company give me a quote from Palo Alto to San Diego. They loaded it up
there, and then wouldn't bring it past Los Angeles, and wouldn't release it
without full payment first. The excuse the idiots had was the Unimog was
over 10K pounds and had damaged one of their trailers. Actual weight of the
truck was 5700 pounds, but they wouldn't listen. I had to drive up with
another carrier to pick it up. I'd have to dig up my paperwork to make sure,
but I checked a year or so later and they weren't at the same address or
number, so I'm thinking they're out of business. Good riddance, and I was
more than happy to let everyone know who they were at the time.
Okay. Rant over. I feel better now.
Greg
OB MV content: I want an M923A1 also. Ok, and something else - I noticed on
my WC's the frame difference between the WC51 and the WC52. The 51 that I
have came with frame extensions to mount the PTO winch - were these a stock
issue item to convert the non-winch truck to a winch model? Or were these
aftermarket items? I can't see any markings on them, but they have the
standard Braden mounts, and slide into the stock frame channels.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Witold Grzymala-Busse" <wbusse@ips-networking.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 12:55 PM
Subject: [MV] Buying Military trucks from Hawaii
> I am sure many of us have looked at the govliquidation website and lusted
> after the M-939 series trucks from Hawaii going for nothing or next to
> nothing. I did and one foolish day last year in June I bought a m-923a1
for
> $295.00, at first I was shocked and I had no idea on how to get it back to
> CONUS. Here is my story:
>
> Things heated up in October when I got a call from the site saying they
> would reposes my truck if I did not get it moved out. So I started
research
> the topic. There are only two companies that ship goods to and from
Hawaii
> to CONUS, partly I am sure because on the Jones Act (unsure of the name).
> This act mandates that shipping between states is done only by American
> companies by American crews with American ships. The two companies are
> Madson and Horizons. Getting a quote from them is pretty straight forward
> and does not take a lot of time. They ask you the commodity type and the
> size of a container you need. You can have them load you container but
that
> is expensive. Basically you have two options- Containers and Flat racks.
> Looking at the Containers there are two lengths 20 foot and 40 foot, then
> there are the heights - either 8' or a high cube 9'6".
>
> Because of the M-939 size a flat rack is the only option. But there is a
> problem. Container ships have standardized holds, this means that
> everything needs to fit into a 8 foot wide, 40 or 20 foot long foot print
> and the combined height of the container- flat rack with truck should not
be
> taller than 8'. On a flat rack you max height of the cargo is 6'7" If
you
> look at a M-939 with super singles that is a daunting task, here are some
> of the things that need to be taken off, cab top, tires, air intake,
> exhaust, spare tire holder and then the truck will pass the height. BTW,
> the width is an inch over 8' so you hope the dock workers look the other
> way. Because if the cargo is deemed to large for the cargo hold of a
> container ship, it can be classified as conventional cargo and the cost of
> transport doubles. When you go get your rate, remember this, different
> commodities have different costs of transport, i.e. a running truck costs
> more than a non-running parts truck vs. a farm implement. Of the two
> companies I found Horizons cheaper by about $800 and also more flexible.
> Once you get a quote you like, you will need a shipping number that is
given
> to you (I forgot the official name for this number). This number is used
by
> your trucking company to pick up your flat rack or container and drop it
off
> somewhere where you can load your truck. I used a wrecker company on
hawaii
> (No name mentioned - I was very unsatisfied with there service) to pick up
> my truck and they subcontracted the trucking for me. (Loading the truck
at
> the pear is very expensive, this way is cheaper). Finally the truck is
> dropped of the port and within two weeks it is in CONUS, either in Oakland
> CA or Tacoma WA.
>
> A note on flat racks and containers. If you get a containers, you can
have
> it shipped by rail to a rail junction in CONUS for very little, a flat
rack
> stays at the port! I got a hold of Platt and Associates out of Utah as
the
> truck broker and they a trucker to pick up my truck and ship it to KS,
(Try
> to get a LTL, less than load, rate!). The guys at Platt were excellent as
> were the Horizons people at Oakland, (I had several problems with unload
my
> truck in Oakland) And finally my truck came to KS last Thursday.
>
> Overall, the truck is rusty. Rust is found everywhere, I think because of
> the salty air in Hawaii, however it is a great project vehicles, it is
> complete and should be a fun project. One of the things that it had is
the
> SLAVE CABLE for jumping trucks!! as well as all the tools that come with
the
> truck. This summer will be a busy summer for me getting this vehicle
> running.
>
> If I had to do it over, I probably would do it again, however there are
> some things I would change, I would not use the same towing company, the
> towing company I used to remove the truck from the base and load it on the
> rack, lied or misinformed me many times, for instance, they never dropped
> the shaft like they said they would nor were the load binders and chains
> new, that I had to pay for to secure the truck to the flat rack. Finally
> the dimensions of the truck where not below 6'7" height wise, it is a
small
> miracle that I did not pay extra for shipping.
>
> If anybody else bought a truck in Hawaii and want to get it back to CONUS
> and needs help just drop me a line, I did it and it was a lot of very
> stressful fun!
>
> WGB
>
> P.S. The shipping was many times more expensive than the truck itself!!!
>
>
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