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Pickup hauling length?

tomstractorsandtoys

tomstractorsandtoys

Well-known Member
I bought some stuff that is 10 ft long a few hours from home. My truck is a short bed (6ft). How long out the back is allowed? I see trucks leave the local lumber yard with stuff like that all the time but that does not make it a good idea. I could take my trailer but we had some other side stops on the trip and hate to drag it along. It will all daylight driving. Would you add an orange flag to the back? I would be leaving WI and picking up in IL with no interstate driving. Tom
 
In Ohio IIRC anything sticking over 2 feet from back of vehicle NEEDS to be marked with a red flag.
I once hauled an 18 foot garage door in my truck with an 8 foot bed. Had to tie it down in the front of the bed to hold it down.
 
I believe it is a red flag of about 1 sq. ft. required (in states I have asked), if it extends 4' or more. But there is also a limit. Jim
 
Best check the rules with both states to keep it legal.

Chances are with a red flag in the end nothing will be said. But if something happened, could be another story.
 
I have always heard 2/3 of wheelbase past the point of last support. 16" red flag. Comes out to 14' length with my 8' box. This is for CA.
 
The tailgate dropped will gain roughly 2' so that leaves 2' overhang. In Va, I'd flag and go. My dodge has an 8' bed and I used a rack mounted into the receiver to haul 16' cedar deck boards for a friend. The rack went back 2' beyond the gate so only 4' was in space. Really flagged it, turned on lights, and drove it out.
 
Best way to haul lumber with a pickup truck is with an over head. A overhead rack can be as simple as a temporary wooden frame work stuck into box pockets , built in a simple H design. So long as the cross bar will let the lumber hang over the truck cab. And strap it down to the box bed cargo hooks. Easy enough to put 10-12 foot lumber on a overhead one piece at a time. Nothing over hangs the length of the truck, and no flags necessary. Also leaves the truck box available to carry other materials .
 
Unless the boards are falling out of your truck I doubt the cops will bat an eye. Throw a flag on if it makes you feel better. I don't bother. I've hauled 14'ers in my shortbed without issue. I also have a toolbox which allows me to wedge boards underneath it... 10'ers with the tailgate up will only stick out about a foot. No more than your hitch.
 
Years ago I saw someone hauling some really long pipe by tying it up under the pickup. It must have been about 20' long, so there was quite a bit sticking out from the front and back. My first thought was "you can't do that!", but it seemed to be working just fine.
 
Anything over 3 or 4 feet over length requires a red flag. Put the tail gate down, load and secure your cargo, add a flag, and head home.
 
If you have the tail gate down, be sure to secure whatever you're hauling. When you take off, say from a stop sign or light, the back of the truck will drop slightly when you take off and there is a possibility your load will wind up on the road. Lost plywood sheets that way once and learned a lesson.
 
With the tailgate down your going to overhang what? 2 3 foot? Hang a flag on it and haul it. If such wasnt legal the cops would hang out in front of the lumber yards and make a fortune writing tickets, LOL. Be sure to tie it forward so it can't slide out the rear.
 
If whatever you are hauling is skinny and long poke it into the driver side front corner of the box and stick it out the passenger rear corner. This will gain you possibly a foot in length and it does not stick out the side all that far, possibly no farther than the mirrors.
 
Here’s a website https://motorandwheels.com/truck-sticking-out-laws-per-state/ that gives you the regulations for every state. You can look your state up.
 
I live in Ohio and always heard 4' from farthest back part of truck so 4' behind tailgate before you need the red flag in daytime, at night you need a red light where the flag would be.
 
The guy loading beside me yesterday at Home Depot made fun of me yesterday when I opened the rear window of the cab and set some 16ft. 2x4s on a rag on my dash and had them hanging over the tailgate only about 2 ft. I would just make sure you have it secured and put a red flag on it.
 
I saw that more than once in Puerto Rico only with re rod SP? only under cars not pickups, I don't recall seeing many pickups there, this was in the eighty's. I also saw a guy riding in the trunk of a 70 something chevy with his legs hanging down and holding onto the tung of a trailer loaded with building material. I got a little OT sorry.
 
I hauled 8, 20 ft. 2x8, by lowering the tailgate and the other end was up on top of the cab. I laid a piece of carpet on the cab and the tailgate. Strapped them in tight with cargo straps, I was not over height, the 2x8's were about 2 ft over the edge of the tailgate. This was on a 8 ft. box but might work for you.
 
really no way to know how far you are hauling as have NO ides how fast you will drive. Why not give mileage and be closer to reality?
 
Oh oh.....I posted this on the wrong web page....
Sorry.:(
cvphoto49174.jpg
 
In 1972 I hauled 24' 2x6s with my 8' box. I built a simple and cheap wood rack using the stake pockets of the truck box with braced cross pieces about 2" higher than the cab.
8' was out over the cab, 8' above the box and 8' past the back of the box. Tied them down, flagged them and headed home.
 
Depending on the amount of pieces and the weight you could hang it on the right side of the pickup. I hauled a 2 foot 8 inch auger tube 60 miles that way. tied to the front and back of box then a strap inside the door to the grab handle to keep it from tipping down in front. Had about 3-4 feet hanging off the back for balance. Went right down 127 with it. padded the side of the pickup where the tube would rub. Was shorter than the truck.
 
I don't know or care what the particular rules are. It just seems like common sense to me to hang an orange or red flag on anything that sticks out the back of the truck past the lowered tailgate.

The only concern I'd have about hauling something 10' long like this is forgetting it's back there, and backing into a parking spot on the way home.
 
If whatever you are hauling is sticking three or four feet up over the top of the tailgate the only people you will bother is someone walking around the back of the pickup while looking down or that hotshot young truck driver who gets so close behind you at a stop light he can't see your pickup over the hood, and rams your boards into his grille. Just tie it down well and go.
 
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