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best route towing from LAX to DFW, I-10 or I-40?

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amauri

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Planning on a road trip from LA to just west of Ft Worth next month, towing a 15k 5th wheel.
I believe the I-10 to I-20 is the most direct and flattest route. But I'm tempted to go I-40 to 84 and I-20 instead.
The Northern route should be more scenic, but more hills to climb and about 30 miles longer than the Southern route.

It's been several years since I drove on I-40 between Barstow and Flagstaff. At that time the road was in bad shape, rough and so many pot holes that I wouldn't want drive my truck and trailer on that part of I-40 if it still as bad as I remember.

Anyone been thru there lately?

Thanks
 
I would take 40 and hope for the best around the areas you called out. I simply would want to stay away from the border right now.

I've taken both ways and 40 is way more scenic.
 
I 40 has had some pretty bad potholes from Flagstaff west. In fact all Arizona State highways have been terrible with potholes, tar patched cracks, missing layers of asphalt etc., so much so the state has been forced to come up with an additional $85 million plus for emergency repairs around the state. I would imagine I 40 repairs were taken care of by now though.
 
40 does seem to have a lot more congestion on it, but definitely more scenic
 
I towed my 12k lbs 5th wheel across I40 last month from Kingman to North Carolina and will never do the AZ/NM portion again. There are spots that are fine, but most of AZ and NM are truly awful and will beat the sh!t out of your rig. With just a single vehicle it's okay, but the truck/trailer combo simply takes too much of a beating for my comfort level. Dodging potholes and dodging big rigs dodging potholes as great fun and all, but it gets old after a while.
 
CaptainMike said:
I towed my 12k lbs 5th wheel across I40 last month from Kingman to North Carolina and will never do the AZ/NM portion again. There are spots that are fine, but most of AZ and NM are truly awful and will beat the sh!t out of your rig. With just a single vehicle it's okay, but the truck/trailer combo simply takes too much of a beating for my comfort level. Dodging potholes and dodging big rigs dodging potholes as great fun and all, but it gets old after a while.
Click to expand...

I also agree - some parts of that section are terrible, went thru in March and they couldn’t even get the wrecks out of the median in a safe/timely manner!
 
Gear box said:
I also agree - some parts of that section are terrible, went thru in March and they couldn’t even get the wrecks out of the median in a safe/timely manner!
Click to expand...
Man, there were times the potholes came so fast and furious I wondered if the the hitch was going to hold up through it. I was laughing my a$$ off thinking this was how I was going to die o_O:D! Between the rig bouncing all over the road and me laughing maniacally my poor old dog didn't know what to think! Not to mention my kidneys!
 
The last time we were on I-40, it was me, my wife and our 8 months pregnant daughter in law. Bad doesn't begin to describe it! Every bump and pothole sent our DIL into the air in the back seat, we felt so horrible for her. Bridge transitions were so abysmal, that my trucks rearend would step out sideways!
 
as others have mentioned i40 has a lot of rough spots between flagstaff and NM, not to mention the Semi trucks like to play reindeer games on the 2 lane sections where they will run side by side road blocks for miles on end not letting people around that want to go faster. increasing and decreasing speeds with the hills.. it gets really frustrating. i would vote the southern route. no issues being closer to the boarder. I have also seen i40 completely shut down for hours due to wrecks east of the NM/AZ boarder fairly common.
 
Thanks for all the replies.
Yesterday I stopped for fuel at a Love's and spoke to the trucker on the next lane, he also said I-40 is rough and recommended I-10.
I plan on making the first overnight stop in Tucson, second stop in Van Horn and arrive in Weatherford on the third day.
About eight hours driving each day.
 
I haven't posted here for a while, been super busy moving cross country and setting up our new house and land.
Ended up going the southern route and made a total of 4 round trips pulling a slightly overloaded 28' trailer. 12k miles total.
The roads weren't bad, weather was good except for extreme heat and sometimes high winds.
Truck now has 30k miles and running perfectly.
 
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