Moving a shop long distance

I have been an over the road driver most of my life. Most of what you say is true, but the forklift capacity is just bullshit. I think the smallest one I have ever seen is 4000 pound, and I have seen them that will barely fit through the door. Drink manufacturers like Coke and Budweiser have forklifts that pick up four pallets at a time and barely fit in the door. Paper mills ship multi-ton rolls of paper that require special forklifts that are huge.

All this is pretty much moot, as the guy has his own forklift.

As for the condition of the trailer, if you pay for the ride, you can turn down crappy equipment.

Ron Thompson On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast, right beside the Kennedy Space Center, USA

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Ron Thompson
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A typical trailer load in a road truck is 40,000 to 45,000 pounds. This plus the weight of the truck and trailer is typically 80,000 pounds. You do need to space out the weight as much as possible so the driver doesn't have an overweight axle, but this isn't as critical as you might think. Most trailers have sliding axles just for this reason. Don't confuse "load locks" and e-track load bars. The former jack out against the sides and aren't very strong, but the latter are much better. When they are locked into the e-track, they won't yield unless physically broken, like in a wreck.

Ron Thompson On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast, right beside the Kennedy Space Center, USA

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Reply to
Ron Thompson

Mostly true, but there are no metal straps with carriage bolts. The entire floor of modern trailers is oak. Depending on the trailer, some do have floor anchors. It depends on what you order from the trucking company. There are all kinds of trailers for special loads.

Steve is correct that you need to watch what they send you.

Ron Thompson On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast, right beside the Kennedy Space Center, USA

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Ron Thompson

I'd suggest you put the machines directly on the floor and nail blocks around them. If a pallet fails it can cause the load to shift. This is how heavy machinery is shipped commercially.

Ron Thompson On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast, right beside the Kennedy Space Center, USA

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Reply to
Ron Thompson

Weyland, did the same thing two years ago. Moved from Seattle back to Ohio. Moved three lathes and two mills (OK, the jewelers lathe doesn't really count).. After a lot price comparisons and bids from movers I went with one of the movers that drop a container off at your house, you load it then they pick it up and ship it by rail to your new location. After arriving by rail it is placed on a truck and delivered to your house. You have two days to unload they they start charging demurage. There was a weight limit. I believe it was

100,000 pounds. I shipped most of a machine shop (including an antique horizontal mill I got from Grant Irwin) a Bridgeport and two SB lathes as well as most of our household goods for ~ $2500. I believe it was a 40' container and it was full!

They delivered it when they said they would and only damage was a broken windshield on the old Guzzi (my bad, should have tied it down better). I rented a fork lift and unloaded the container. My new neighbor told one of the guys helping me "I don't think I've ever seen anybody use a forklift to move before". My friend told him, "you wouldn't BELIEVE what he has in that container." - We were still moving boxes and chairs at that point. Be careful with the Bridgeport, they're top heavy as all get out (even with the table down and the motor horizontal).

Good Luck! Jerry Salisbury

Reply to
Gezzer

Did you bolt the machines to the bottom of the container, or how did you fix them so that they stayed put when they pulled the container to the truck that moved it? It does tilt a LOT when they pull it to the truck, or lower it back to ground.. I'd questimate 30-40 degrees before it tilts to the truck bed, and the acceleration is rather great at that point when it suddenly tilts..

Or did they have some other way to get the contained on the truck, other than the normal way of pulling it with 2 cables, using the rails at the bottom of the container?

Thanks!

Kristian Ukkonen.

Reply to
Kristian Ukkonen

Kristian, I made some 6"X8"X1/4" plates broken 2" from the end ( \----- ) with a 1/2" hole for a clevis. Lag screwed those into the floor. This was per recommendations for the shipping company. The container I rented was elevated. The driver that picked it just raised it slightly (~6"), pulled a low-boy under it and lowered it onto the truck deck. The shipping company told me the containers would not be tilted more than 5 Degrees. Which (IMHO) is a lot for the weights we are talking about.

The company I used (Box Trotters) used cranes to off load from the trucks and load on the rail cars. They told me there would be some tilting but (as above) no more than 5 Degrees. I have no affiliation with the company - just a very satisfied customer. They did what they said they would do, when they said they would do and kept me informed every step of the way. No surprises. I don't need any more adventure in moving. The move was enough.

BTW- I noticed that I misspelled Grant Erwin's name. Sorry Grant .....

Jerry Salisbury

Reply to
Gezzer

already built in

I am in Perth, Western Australia and have moved all my gear in a

40' container, storing it for 9 months between houses, but only a distance of 56 km.

Mine is a 12m/40' hi-roof, which I needed to get tractor/FEL inside to load machinery. Tractor has ROPS/canopy so is quite tall. Container (in those obsolescent things called lb.) Gross 67200 Tare 8950 Net 58250 which is about 26 tonnes

It was delivered to and collected from my old house on a tilt-tray as there was no room to drop it off with a side lift. Made it under the double height carport with 50mm clearance. It was crammed full, 2 radio masts hanging at the top of each side with racks containing corrugated sheets, plastic & metal pipes, chained to the roof tie-down rings, wood & metal lathes, mill, sawbench, thicknesser, 5 workbenches, shelving, about 2 tonnes of steel angle etc., lots of timber & plywood, lots of Jarrah & pine to make furniture, mainly bookcases and doors for wardrobes ( Jarrah is seasoning ), about 1200 books and all normal household furniture. I guess about 15 tonnes all up. Delivery here was on a side-lift, I would have preferred a tilt tray, but it only cost a carton of beer! Make sure that everything is securely lashed down or wedged into place, I filled and held everthing with sheets of cheap ply, lashing tight with ratchet tie-downs, particularly the lathes & mill. The only damage was a broken handwheel on the bandsaw when it fell over when unloading and bashed sheet metal on the dust extractor. Remove all handwheels !!

Forget it for travelling any distance, it will probably take several days to load & pack securely, same to unload, increasing your costs. I have a large trailer to carry the tractor & mini excavator and my normal utility trailer was also packed.

Better idea, but you will need a ramp to load the heavy stuff and move it inside unless you have room to load from each side with the forklift and you will need much more lashings. Most of my stuff was taken into the container on pallets and lifted to stacking height with the FEL forks.

I only have 15 more boxes of books, 12 sheets of ply, 2 large bits of furniture and my 12 x 2.7m model railway modules to unload - and nowhere to put them!

HTH, Alan

Alan, in Gosnells, Western Oz. VK6 YAB VKS 737 - W 6174

Reply to
alan200

Elevated? How?

What I've seen (and used as I have a 20f long container) is that the container is lowered directly from the truck to ground - first they use the cables to pull the container backwards until it tilts (at about middle of it at end of truck bed), and then drive the truck forward while using the cables to make the container stay "in place", and finally lower it with the cables to ground. For loading the container, they use the cables to pull the end of container up to level of bed, and then use the cables to pull the container to bed of truck - again at about middle the container will tilt to the bed and then it is pulled the rest of the away along the bed with the cables..

The system you describe above must be different, so I'm very interested in how it works. It sounds a lot less violent (less sudden tilt) than what I describe. :)

Kristian Ukkonen.

Reply to
Kristian Ukkonen

Kristian, yes it is a different system. The container is and stays horizontal. It's up on legs and does stay more or less parallel with the ground. Go to "

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"that site shows the diverse moving equipment available. All lifting is done in a (more or less) horizontal fashion. It seemed like there was a much higher weight capacity when I moved but a 45,000 pound capacity should cover most moves. I know the intermodal equipment has improved in the last few years but it worked pretty well when I moved.

Best Regards Jerry Salisbury

Reply to
Gezzer

Hey Weyland,

I moved my shop the year before last from San Diego to Houston. I was planning to do it via Uhaul. My wife asked the house hold mover, Bekins, to quote. I palletized my big tools and boxed the small stuff. It cost me about a grand extra on my household items. Much cheaper than what it would have cost me for Uhaul and no hassle. I did have to have a forklift available on both ends. Ask your mover and see what they say.

Jay Cups

Weyland wrote:

Reply to
JayCups

I have a pooched back. I hired movers for a local move. All they had to move was the bulky, heavy, and expensive stuff. They have insurance.

4 to 6 bodies, for 6 hours, and a truck, cost me close to $1000, but my friends will still talk to me.

One friend and I loaded the rest of the houshold goods in a single layer on a flatbed trailer, and hauled everything over the course of a couple evenings, without rushing, or any heavy lifting.

The movers charge, but they can be quite worth their cost. Lots of guys don't have the sense of adventure it takes to skip off across a province or state with all their worldly possesions. The cost is worthwile in that case.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

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