Long bed 3/4 ton pickup truck. Ideally 6 panels but I need at least 4. My best supplier is an hour south by highway. When I called they said it was legal, a little bit iffy but doable if I drove carefully. (Obvs we tie it down like crazy and flag it.)
Is this a crazy plan?
eight foot bed? with tail gate down… that leaves about two feet extending unsupported …
here is the regulation for California Vehicle Code (CVC), loads extending to the front and rear of a vehicle, trailer or semitrailer have maximum limits. The CVC Length Section is 35400.
Per CVC Section 35410, the load upon a vehicle, trailer or semitrailer shall not extend to the rear beyond the last point of support for a greater distance than that equal to two-thirds of the length of the wheelbase.
My wheelbase is 173" so that would be legal… but I’m also wondering if it’s just a dumb idea. 
I did it once with 4 panels, but I was only driving 15 minutes across town…
Tying them down was surprisingly tricky, even with good tie down hooks in my bed. I ended up weaving ratchet straps through them, lots of wrapping, and made sure all the straps were really tight.
I made it home in one piece. Not sure I’d want to make a habit of it.
ETA: IIRC, 4 panels took up a lot of space in the bed. I don’t remember there being much extra room, as a matter of fact, I specifically recall having the thought, “good thing I wasn’t getting more.” So just keep that in mind.
I have,a 3/4 ton long bed and I pick up 16’ fence boards in it all the time. They want to bounce a lot more than pipe panels!
I tie them down tight and flag them, (like you said) and go merrily on my way. No problem at all.
Tying them down so they stay in there will be tricky, but entirely possible. Make sure you bring A LOT of straps! And be careful stepping in and out of them that you don’t catch a foot and go head first over the side.
The length isn’t a big deal, they’ll only stick out 2’ past the tailgate on a long bed, so they’re not going to be trying to tip out of the truck, they’ll just want to slide.
Maybe put out a call to see if any of your friends has a little flatbed trailer you can borrow, or pay them to haul you down there and back? It may even be easier to have them delivered in a box truck.
I have, in an 8 foot bed. No problems. How long is your bed?
We did it once with a ton of strapping down and colorful tape for visibility. We got back in one piece but I found it nerve wracking. I was very glad to find that my local TSC can now deliver panels, but I think I’d prefer to rent a U-Haul or something if that wasn’t an option.
I bought a truck bed extender, like this:
https://www.realtruck.com/extend-a-truck-bed-load-extender/
With it, I can easily manage 16 ft. fence boards and cattle panels without worry. And kayaks and canoes, too.
I think I got it at Home Depot or Lowes.
Sure no reason not to. I’ve loaded a lot more than that. The tricky part is getting them strapped down securely. Most people don’t have strapping cleats in their truck bed to attach the ratchet straps to. When only move a few like this I prefer to leave the tailgate up. Load them and bundle together using 2 small 1" wide ratchet straps. Take the wide strap and throw over the rear section wrap under the body and ratchet down tight. Without cleats in bottom front bed I take a something sturdy that I can find laying around that can be placed on top of the pile and sit above bed rail attachment points. Throw the front strap over this and ratchet tight. Its a good safety idea to find a way to “tie” the bundle to the bed. Just in things come loose and it won’t slide, fall off into the road.
Always drive a few miles, stop and recheck how tight the straps are. Things can and do move around loosen after a while. Esp with this sort of load. Pull over and check again when on the highway for bit.
Or do what some of my friends do. Call me and ask if they can borrow my 16" flat bed trailer.
Can you go pick them up in the horse trailer?
That is what we do much of the time.
Even if longer than the trailer, we let them stick out a bit and tie the back gate to them.
I have hauled 12’ easily by slanting them in the bed in front, letting them rest on the closed tailgate, so they point up out of the pickup bed, if they fit in there.
Those Priefert with the nubs some times don’t want to fit like other panels do.
We tied them down on the back to the bumper, in the front put some weight on them, spare tire, etc. and they rode fine home.
With odd loads, we don’t go down the expressway, but take slow back roads, less traffic and other drivers seem to give you more room.
Seconding what Bluey said- use a horse trailer. This is one of the reasons we have a 16’ gooseneck stock trailer. I can haul an entire round pen in it.
I just use my trailer for this kind of stuff. I have tie downs in the floor for this reason, we also use it to haul dirt bikes/snowmobiles/golf carts/fence posts/lumber/furniture/you name it.
Thank you all! I successfully purchased and transported enough steel to make a 12x24 pipe corral with a 12’ roof, and a bow gate. The dudes did a nice job of securing it all down and it traveled really well resting horizontally on top of the bed rails and raised tailgate, on both highway and my twisting road home.
This is my evening/weekend project (assuming the air is breathable!)
Ooooh, how did you/will you do the roof?
It’s a kit, basically, a prefab shelter. They have a couple of different ones. In this case there is a three sided 12x12 pipe panel structure with three special pipe panels (either 4-rail or 5-rail) that have vertical sections to support roof purlins. Then I have roofing to screw into the top, two normal panels and a gate panel. They have another solution that is 12x16 with a 8’ roof.
This is the vendor in question but these kinds of prefab pipe buildings are available from lots of local places in California, welded on site, and usually the places that make them will do custom work too, though obviously with more lead time. There’s actually two such just in Sonoma County and I’ve bought from both. This particular place and structure, they just have the pieces waiting in the yard. Cost for what I brought home, including anchors, roofing, tax, and all hardware, was about $1200.
Of course today the smoke is so bad I can barely see my own trees, so that’s no good for getting it up…
pretty neat… advantages are numerous, if used here no permit required unlike adding onto the barn … no foundation… and reasonably priced
And being portable it is not a piece of the property so can be taken with you if you move …just like a piece of furniture
Wow, $1200 for a pre-fab 12’ x 24’ covered corral is a bargain!
I built a similar sized wood structure at my last farm for about the same price, but the labor was likely A LOT more intense and the structure was a lot less portable.
Sending rainy thoughts your way, OP, so the smoke clears and you all get some relief from these awful fires.
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