“He said he was leaving and taking everything and he meant that.”
That Americans are innovators and problem solvers is not even up for debate. We are the people who make apple pies with Saltines, liquor out of corn, and homes out of old tires. So when Flipwithtev (@flipwithtev) posted a TikTok saying, “Sums up Alabama for ya,” it’s not entirely surprising to see a U-Haul put to the ultimate test.
The video starts mundanely enough, hardly the stuff of 1.1 million views; just a moving truck scooting down the road. But as the U-Haul truck speeds along, the reveal is almost too Alabama to be true: it’s pulling a single-wide mobile home on a trailer.
“What the hell?” Tev exclaims off camera.
Of course, the internet ate this clip up. In the comments, you can feel folks jostling to get to the “front of the line” with their jokes.
“Ten bucks he found that trailer for free on Marketplace, but the description said ‘must be move,’” speculated Ashton.
“He said he was leaving and taking everything and he meant that [expletive],” observed Lilsamtn.
“In his defense,” said Jacob, “They advertise that U-Hauls [have the] ability to move up to 3 bedrooms.”
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Of course, no conversation about Alabama is complete without residents of that sweet-tea-loving state chiming in. “Alabama native here and I really wanted to get offended but you know what, carry on,” says PinkFloyd75.
The jokes kept rolling in. “Where there is a ‘wheel’ there is a way,” quipped Timothy.
Brayden asked the question we all want the answer to: “WTF under the hood of that U-Haul?”
As the U-Haul hurtles past, Tev zooms in on the rear of the trailer, and it’s pretty clearly lurching right like it’s about to slide into the ditch.
It’s moving so fast that the under-the-hood question gains new traction. Though not specified in the video, the U-Haul appears to be the company’s 17-foot box truck. U-Haul lists the specs for the ‘06-’10 model years as having a 6.8L V-10 engine, the ability to handle a payload of 5,830 pounds, and a towing capacity of 10,000 pounds. Since the average weight of a mobile home is about 20-30 pounds per square foot, that structure probably weighs between 20,000 and 35,000 pounds.
At that weight, it’s less about what U-Haul allows and more about safety. The company does list towing and trailering options on its site, but nowhere is there a trailer engineered for a house. It’s also worth noting that there are some important legal hindrances in the way of moving a home yourself. Requirements include permits and also licensed and bonded professionals (among other bureaucratic requirements).
However, for some innovators, safety is secondary to fiscal considerations. If renting a truck from U-Haul starts at about $19.95, that’s a far better deal than shelling out upwards of thousands of dollars to move your house across town. After all, we are living through the era of “move fast and break things.” If you choose to tow a mobile home with a U-Haul, you might quite literally accomplish both.
Motor1 reached out to Tev for comment via TikTok direct message. We will update this article if he gets back to us.
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