Move 3800-Pound Lathe in Penske Truck?

Containers have tie-downs inside and thick wood floors for nailing dunnage into. I've had my container moved a dozen times in the 23 years I've owned it. My last local haul (25 miles) was $300 in 2008. If you've got the space, even temporarily, then that is a good option.
 
Thanks for all the ideas. It's looking like the 300-mile drive, plus the Jacksonville drives, are the things to work on. I am getting truck quotes.
 
Chips O'Toole said:
Thanks for all the ideas. It's looking like the 300-mile drive, plus the Jacksonville drives, are the things to work on. I am getting truck quotes.
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If you're thinking about a Penske truck with a lift gate or ramp be sure to ask the rental company what the capacity of each is. When I was looking to rent one to move my Sheldon lathe only their largest trucks (26 foot 10,000 lb. capacity) could lift more than 1,000 lbs. I found the ramps and/or the lift gate even on the 26 ft. models were only rated for 3,000 lbs.
 
Don't trust a lift gate with heavy loads. This was 2 weeks ago, not five minutes before it happened I asked the driver what the gate was rated for...
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Movers are quoting me less than $400. I don't see how they can afford to do that. Not sure if I can get the lathe on their trucks, but I will be looking into it tomorrow.
 
They delivered my PM935 mill on a liftgate. I asked the driver the same thing because it was bending downward at a worrisome angle. Making things more exciting was that the pallet was about 1/2" too long to get the pallet jack and pallet onto the lift, causing the entire affair to catch on the truckbed and tip when he lowered it.

Good times.
 
It seems the key here is knowledge and experience in the task and I believe if you are not comfortable in doing it, then you do need experienced people in the business. I am guessing the machines are going into a basement, obviously if this is the case the job is a lot more complicated at the new end. In shopping around for riggers insurance may be an important issue. I would look to hiring qualified professionals.
Have a good day
Ray
 
I've had riggers move very heavy equipment, expensive yes, but very good at it. I've had machines moved many miles on semi truck flat beds, relatively cheap! Had a 12,000# CNC moved 60 miles on a tilt car carrier, we got it off the concrete with toe lift jacks and then it was just winched on the truck. At our shop we winched it off and used our 5000# forklift and rented skates. We have a commercial account with Penske so we get the white trucks that are designed for commercial hauling. I wouldn't trust the lift gates on them with much weight. I recently priced having a 14,000# machine shipped from Nebraska in a container to Germany, about $3,000. We would load it ourselves and the customer would unload. The shipper would deliver & pick up the container at our shop, haul it to the Missouri river, load it on a barge, move it to a ship dock, load it on the container ship, haul it to Germany and unload it to a truck and deliver it to the customer's site. Seems really cheap but the customer priced it on his end also and it was about the same.
 
So here's the dope on the crematorium company: they also set gravestones, transport crypt containers and other sundries. As a sideline, they have moved 8 or 10 lathes and a few milling machines for that flat price. They have a 10 ton picker crane on their flatbed truck. Our little machinist group in Calgary uses them often. And for $250 CDN pesos, it is a bargain.

As for liftgates... Well my big mill was just over 4000# on the double pallet (two pallets stacked, on on top of the other) I paid for tailgate delivery... but it was a MAX 3500# tailgate! The driver warned me that once it was down, there was no way to lift it up again, and so it was a 1 shot deal. I didn't want to pay for a second delivery so we went for it. It went okay, but we had to pull the mill up a slope on a pallet jack over plywood to make it work. All went smoothly... It took me a week of careful lifting to get it off the pallets!

If/when I move my shop 800 km North-West, I plan to use purchased containers and use forged eyebolts through the side of the container to help stabilize, along with cribbing and wood supports...
 
projectnut said:
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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I just unloaded a POD with household stuff and some tools, I doubt it would work for this type of move but I do like the shipping container idea. Best is getting someone who is capable to load and unload like you're looking at, moving companies are always looking for extra loads to make their trips pay better. Lots of good ideas on this thread for DIY'ers too.

John
 
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