What is the minimum size pickup to haul 2.5 tons of water?

A properly configured F350 or GM3500 would do the trick. BUT you need to look for one set up to carry the weight.

If I was looking I wouldn't even bother with a P/U and tank, I'd buy an older fire tanker with a plastic tank. Dump some clean water and clorox in it and drive it around some. Then dump it and rinse it out. Then start hauling. 1800-2000 gallons and purpose built to haul water. Probably for less than the P/U alone would cost you.

Plus being a true fire truck you might get an insurance discount for it.

"Steve W." wrote in news:lpf8hd$s3$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

you can use a 3/4 ton pkup fine. I use a tonner for 500 gal. sprayer with no problems. the important thing about weight is speed and tires. you will have to have tires with the proper weight rating and drive slow, not over 40 to 45 and you will have no problems. (remember corners are at a crawl). If you just have to go faster, you will need much more truck to safely do it. KB

The fire truck is a good idea, albeit one which takes a decent amount of capital (and a commercial class A licence here in Califronia). I did talk to the local calfire fire department, whose baffed trucks are only 500 gallons, but they rely on accompanying tankers to supply the bulk water.

Calling a bulk water delivery company, we found that the cost is prohibitive, since we can buy the water from a hydrant for 1/3 cent per gallon, but the bulk haulers we called charge roughly 7 to 12 cents a gallon (depending upon whom we call).

We've determined that the huge markup is due almost totally to the transportation, so, that's why we're looking at what trucks can transport

We did find rentals (e.g., Hertz Equipment Rental) in the local area, but they told us construction companies use their water trucks and they'd never drink from them, ever. Plus, the rentals require a class A (commercial) driver's license.

Back to the truck we should try to line up from the neighbors. Is the recommended truck a Ford F350 or GM 3500? How do we know if it's configured for 2.5 tons?

What's the spec we can google? (We're ignorant of trucks, sorry.)

This is very good news that a 3/4 ton pickup will suffice for 2.5 tons of water!

BTW, when they say "3/4 ton", what do they actually mean? Do they mean what it's supposed to carry normally, all day, every day? Can that weight be on a trailer? Or is it only in the bed?

As for tires, that makes sense since they have a load-bearing limit. Driving slowly is not a problem because we have to go a few miles up a 9% continuous grade for a few miles of windy road. Nobody is going over 20mph on that road!

We're just going from a local SJWC fire hydrant at the bottom of the hill to houses at the top, which is at most 5 miles away one way, so the round trip is 10 miles at 20mph for each load. (We would pump the water out of the truck into the top of the water tank, which are generally 5,000 gallons each, so it takes about 15 trips to fully fill up one household).

Sorry. My math was wrong. For a typical 15,000 gallon houshold in his extreme fire hazard area (of which 10,000 gallons is reserved for fire), it would take 30 trips to fully fill the tanks.

Some may take more trips, as they have upwards of five 5,000 gallon tanks (because permit requirements change at the 5,001 gallon point).

Kevin Bottorff wrote, on Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:01:00 +0000:

It looks like this will work with a 3/4 ton pickup:

You may want to consider using poly totes. We use them for DEF. They can be fork lifted or lifted with a hoist when full. One person can easily move them around when empty. You can easily put one 275g or 330g poly tote on a p/u truck. Two or four or six will fit on a small trailer. I like the trailer idea, that way you have a p/u truck available for other uses when necessary.

An F250 or GM2500 ton won't last very long hauling that much weight. Notice that he uses a 1 ton (F350 / GM 3500 / Dodge 3500)for a 500 gallon spray tank, BUT you don't use spray tanks like you will be using your water tank, and you have about 1000 pounds in extra water over the

Also if the tank pictured is the one you plan to use you can't use a P/U anyway. It won't fit in the bed between the wheel wells.

So you need either something with a flat bed OR a trailer. Or a purpose built hauler.

You also may want to check with the DMV on the requirements on an older fire engine. You won't be using it as a fire truck and may not need to have a CDL to operate it as a not for hire vehicle. Not sure where you are in Cali. but you can operate a vehicle up to 26,000 pounds GVW without a CDL. and many older fire engines fall under that rating! Speaking from experience as a fireman here in NY. If you were out here my FD has one you could buy cheap. BUT the gas to drive it out there would probably cover the national debt!

My neighbor hauls water in a purpose built trailer.

He started with a tank like this one

He bought the tank new and the trailer used. He also had to get certified by the state to haul potable water and the new tank was a BIG help with that as they wanted proof that it had never hauled anything "bad".

Nice thing with a trailer is that you can just park it out of the way when not needed. You just need to watch out how heavy it is. Anything over 10,000 pounds also requires a CDL.

You may want to consider your tank on a purpose built trailer. If you figure you fill it with 625 gallons you have 5,200 pounds of water, Tank weight of around 120-150 pounds. You are in the 5,400 pound area. Add in a trailer and your around 8,000 pounds.

Or look at these for an idea.

If it was me I'd hunt up a medium duty truck, either an old fire tanker, ex military 2.5 ton (M35A3, M44 or M1078 series)or common cargo truck like a GM top kick or Ford F650/750 series. Paint WATER and not for hire on it, add a tank and register it at 24,000 pounds and start hauling water.

What would be ideal would be to find an M-50 water tanker. They have a

"Steve W." wrote in news:lpl8s5$b2q$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

He won`t have any trouble hauling 500 gal with a 3/4 ton pkup if the speed is kept down. My spray rig alone is more than 1000 lbs heaver than a simple 500 gal tank. and I have used mine for over 15 years doing much harder work spraying in the field than any road hauling would be. tires will be more of a concern than anything else. now that said 300 gal tank in the pkup and 500 on a trailer would be more efficient use of trips. KB

What about a good old farm tractor?

JR wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

with a tractor and trailer he could easily haul up to 2000 gal at a time, uphill. downhill it wouldn`t have the brakes to do safely unless the trailer had brakes too. KB