Move 3800-Pound Lathe in Penske Truck?

The machines are not going into a basement.

I bought all of the machines new. The lathe would cost $15000+ to replace, plus tax and shipping. The mill would be about $10K. I could probably sell them, if I had time (which I don't) for maybe $8000.
 
JimDawson said:
While it's not a big deal to stuff a lathe into a box truck, I think I have seen Penske flatbed trucks also. Much easier to side load than to end load. Also the flatbed has tie down points. If I had a choice I would not use a box truck to move machines.
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Penskee will only rent the yellow box trucks, and the car trailer to the general public. The white trucks are for commercial rentals. If you get the right salesman, and the right credentials, and enough Karma, it is possible to get a white box truck with a lift gate, but very rare. The vast majority of their business, is long term commercial leases, where they will even get the truck in the right color, and the companies name on the sides. One would not even know they were Penskee trucks, unless you saw them in a Penskee lot.
 
Moderator's note: a few of us are getting short tempered on this thread. I suggest strongly that everybody calm down. Rudeness is not an option.

And before anybody carries their snit to me, everybody here is just trying to help, and the OP asked a legit question.
Let's leave it at that, and either help or remain silent.
 
Talked to a new company today. He says I should hire riggers at both ends and get a freight company to do the driving.

The issue with this is the difficulty of getting the trucker and riggers to arrive at the same time, more or less.

I'm thinking maybe I should have the local guy I talked to today receive the machines at his business. Then all I have to worry about is getting the trucker and riggers together at the beginning of the trip.
 
He claims the company that wanted $3100 for unloading the machines was...not correct, to put it nicely...about having to come from Jacksonville. Says they have a local branch right here. The travel time is what added over a thousand to the price.
 
Do 20ft shipping containers have tie downs inside? Just spit balling, you could have the container dropped at the site where the machines are. Have the riggers load it. Then have it picked up and delivered to the new site. Then have the riggers on that end unload. It would make it easier to schedule and likely be a bit cheaper on the shipping part.
 
As you are learning, it pays to call around. I would also call every towing company between the two locations. Another possibility is to get a towing/rigging company at the location, that can drop it near the final location, then you can have a local company just put it in position.

You have nothing but time to loose by calling around, and think of every angle.

The container is not a bad idea. If you are allowed to keep it in your area, it will make a nice storage shed.
 
If you have no desire to do the job yourself if at all possible I would check with United Van Lines. The agents in our town have a heavy machinery rigging and moving division. For longer distance moves this division loads trucks from other agency outlets and sends them to their destination. They will move machinery across the state or across the country.

Another option might be a company like PODS:

www.pods.com

Moving & Storage Company, Moving Containers | PODS

PODS is much more than a traditional moving company. We offer portable moving and storage containers for local and long-distance moving and storage needs.
www.pods.com www.pods.com

They specialize in moving containers across the country. In this case you would also have to contact riggers on each end to load and unload the container.
 
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kb58 said:
A crematorium moves lathes? (worrying what the answer might be)...
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Not sure where the crematorium would need that sort of lifting capacity but I know that grave diggers have to move concrete vaults and those suckers are pretty heavy.
 
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