# Best way to unload a Bridgeport from back of truck



## lordbeezer (Nov 22, 2018)

Hopefully getting a Bridgeport dropped off at my little shop.all I have to unload is a engine hoist.thinking might need to disassemble some to get unloaded.maybe a lot.no lift gate on truck.any ideas? Thanks Phil


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## benmychree (Nov 22, 2018)

Engine hoist is completely out of the question; do you have a strong beam over your garage door?


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## lordbeezer (Nov 22, 2018)

No beam.might have time to make a a frame out of 4x6" treated beams..or would disassebly be better.just sold my 3 ton chain hoist cause never used it..


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## Ulma Doctor (Nov 22, 2018)

a gantry can be built rather inexpensively, 4x6 would be great!!!
but then you'll need the chain fall again too 

that would be the easiest way


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## benmychree (Nov 22, 2018)

I would not recommend taking things apart; with limited means to handle parts, damage could be a likely result, to say nothing of injuries,  Possible you could rent a gantry -----


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## Bob Korves (Nov 22, 2018)

Get smart and move it with a drop deck (drop bed) trailer.  The money spent renting the trailer could easily cost much less than a damaged mill, a damaged truck, or an injured person or two.  Not to mention that moving it that way is a piece of cake.  All you need is some pipes to roll it on, a pry bar to get it up high enough for the pipes to roll in, and some tie down stuff.  A pickup is a very poor way to move a knee mill.  Too top heavy.


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## bl00 (Nov 22, 2018)

Check with your local wrecker/towing company to see if they have a boom truck.  They can lift it out of the truck and set it in your shop.


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## BaronJ (Nov 22, 2018)

Wind the knee right down and rotate the head 180 degrees.  That will move a lot of the weight lower down and reduce its hight.


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## lordbeezer (Nov 22, 2018)

Thanks for the suggestions.I've got some thinking to do..gonna be in a box truck.makes it more difficult.


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## talvare (Nov 22, 2018)

lordbeezer said:


> No beam.might have time to make a a frame out of 4x6" treated beams..or would disassebly be better.just sold my 3 ton chain hoist cause never used it..



This is what I built to unload my BP from a flat bed trailer



Ted


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## Shootymacshootface (Nov 22, 2018)

Unless you have plenty of time to build something, just get a wrecker there to reach in the truck and lift it up. They almost all have a boom with a winch cable coming out of the end of it. Being in a box truck really complicates everything if no lift gate.


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## eugene13 (Nov 22, 2018)

Call a lumberyard and ask them to unload it, be prepaired to spend some $$$$$$


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## mmcmdl (Nov 22, 2018)

Hire a Bobcat skid steer for 1/2 hr . May cost a few bucks but well worth the money spent . My neighbor lifted 2 Bridgeporsts and a Lagun FTV2 off my trailer with no problem . The Lagun was the heaviest of the 3 but it handled it readily .


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## middle.road (Nov 22, 2018)

+1 on the wrecker. F-550 sized or better. This one was a mid-sized IH. Best $50 I had spent on it.
Had a bit of an issue with the lower chock brace thingy getting in the way of the tires of the trailer.
And I can't remember for the life of me WHY I had rotated the head back up.
And I'm not sure at all why it dangled at an angle... No doubt a mis-calculation on my part.
I lasso'd a rope around the column base and all went fine.


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## samstu (Nov 22, 2018)

In addition to the good ideas above, I've used a front end loader, backhoe and forklift to move similar machinery.  The forklift involved a small boom mounted to forks, not lifting from below.  Maybe you have neighbors or other nearby businesses.  

Harbor freight sells a 1 ton gantry crane for 729 without hoist. Maybe less with coupon.  Not cheap but maybe something you could use for other projects or resale instead of hiring wrecker.  Check your local CL, sometimes gantry cranes to cheap.  Don't forget machines seem to get lonely and need new friends.......

Uhaul rents flat deck trailers for about 50 bucks in my area which would easily handle 1 ton.


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## middle.road (Nov 22, 2018)

mmcmdl said:


> Hire a Bobcat skid steer for 1/2 hr . May cost a few bucks but well worth the money spent . My neighbor lifted 2 Bridgeporsts and a Lagun FTV2 off my trailer with no problem . The Lagun was the heaviest of the 3 but it handled it readily .


Mind the 'Bobcat's' lifting capacity. Some are under 2000#.


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## mmcmdl (Nov 22, 2018)

I believe the ports weighed in around 1900 and the Lagun was 2350 or so . I added a couple buddies on the back as counterweights .  Looking back , I shoulda held on to the Lagun but I just didn't have the room to keep them .


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## Shootymacshootface (Nov 22, 2018)

I would guess getting a wrecker would cost $150 or less.


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## tjb (Nov 22, 2018)

I just moved a BP clone from Auburn, AL to my shop in Madison, GA.  Used a gooseneck trailer so it was much easier to securely strap to the trailer.  But it was no picnic.  The guy I bought it from thought it would take about thirty minutes to an hour to load it.  It took four hours (because of where it was located in his garage) and he had rented a boom-style forklift.  Rarely does 'everything' go right on a move like this.  I have a skid steer, and I had made a set of forks for it, but even with that, it was a little tenuous getting it off the trailer.  All kinds of things can go wrong.

I would strongly suggest you figure out some other way to move it than in a box truck.  For starters, how are you going to get it IN the box truck?  I contemplated using one (as protection against potential bad weather during the move), but unless you have the right kind of equipment, you'll be risking serious damage and/or injury just getting it out of the truck.  At the very least, you should use a box truck with a heavy duty lift gate, but even that is a long way from ideal.  If you MUST use a box truck, you'll probably need to rent a forklift that has a boom to reach into the truck.  Some have recommended using a boom-style wrecker or a crane to unload it.  While good advice for a flat bed truck or trailer, I can't see how that is going to be of any use to you on a box truck.

Several posts have offered some valuable advice on how to move the mill.  Some of the best being to drop the knee to its lowest level (I would add moving the table as far toward the back of the mill as it will go), and do a 180 on the head.  That lowers your center of gravity, but it's still a bear transporting something that heavy.  Depending on your shop layout, you may want to consider renting or borrowing a pallet jack after it's in the building.  As has been suggested above, you can roll it around fairly easily with just two pieces of round stock and some sort of lever, but a pallet jack is much more maneuverable (a little challenging to get out from under the mill when it's at its final resting place, but quite doable).

Best advice anyone can give you:  BE EXTRA CAREFUL!!!  That machine weighs around a ton and is very top heavy.  Think it through carefully, and don't rush it.

Regards,
Terry


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## middle.road (Nov 22, 2018)

mmcmdl said:


> Hire a Bobcat skid steer for 1/2 hr . May cost a few bucks but well worth the money spent . My neighbor lifted 2 Bridgeporsts and a Lagun FTV2 off my trailer with no problem . The Lagun was the heaviest of the 3 but it handled it readily .


Unless your neighbor has a big assed 8xx series or better - that was a risky endeavor. 
Load of dirt or stone down low, fine, using it for lifting, it would be at it design limits.
But then that is why they engineer in a safety factor.


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## 4ssss (Nov 22, 2018)

(1) Run a long chain to preferably a telephone pole.
(2)Get in the drivers seat. 
(3)Crank up those RPM's.
(4)Dump the clutch.
     It'll come off.


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## Groundhog (Nov 22, 2018)

You did ask for the best way!! -- not the most practical - -


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## Superburban (Nov 22, 2018)

Groundhog said:


> You did ask for the best way!! -- not the most practical - -
> 
> View attachment 280529




NO! No! you got it wrong, he wants to lift the bridgeport off the truck, not the truck off the bridgeport.


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## mmcmdl (Nov 22, 2018)

middle.road said:


> Unless your neighbor has a big assed 8xx series or better - that was a risky endeavor.
> Load of dirt or stone down low, fine, using it for lifting, it would be at it design limits.
> But then that is why they engineer in a safety factor.




Yes , he has a large machine with forks for his business . We just lifted them off the trailer bed and pulled the trailer out . Lowered them and then pushed them all into the garage . Did just the opposite when I sold them . One of the BPorts went home in the back of a pick up . 1/2 ton POS with the tires spewing air . Now THAT I call a risk ! He called when he made it back to his place . I had my doubts he was going to make it .


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## lordbeezer (Nov 22, 2018)

Neighbor has John deer tractor with fork attachment..maybe.have to ask capacity..guy I'm getting mill from is bringing from Florida when he picks up some furniture..in box truck.wish it was a flatbed.is what it is..lots of good ideas.didnt think of neighbors.if John deer doesn't pan out a boom type wrecker might ..thanks


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## Cooter Brown (Nov 22, 2018)

I drove my Bridgeport home with my F-150...... I had the Bridgeport loaded on a pallet, borrowed a pallet jack from a friend stuck the pallet jack under the bridgeport on the back of my truck and then called a Flatbed tow truck, they pulled up to my bed winched the pallet jack over to the tow truck and then he set it down in my drive way, paid the guy $65...... I've set 7 machines down like this....


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## middle.road (Nov 22, 2018)

Groundhog said:


> You did ask for the best way!! -- not the most practical - -
> 
> View attachment 280529



With that I could lift the garage up and add that 2' I keep dreaming about.
Of course it would turn our concrete driveway into gravel when it pulled up.


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## Dave Smith (Nov 23, 2018)

too bad you live so far away---you could use my small Payloader with forks or my a-frame hoist and chain hoist----I also have a IH tractor with 2000 series loader that would  easily unload your mill----your neighbor with a tractor and loader with forks would work great as long as it isn't  too small of a tractor----main thing is to be careful and not rush unloading---Dave


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## JimDawson (Nov 23, 2018)

This is how I do it.  A 9x42 BP is about 2100 lbs, that's a 3500lb machine on the forks.  Kidding aside, I really do recommend at least a 5000 lb forklift.  But I also like @Cooter Brown 's idea above also.


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## Winegrower (Nov 23, 2018)

For lifting, the Bridgeport is threaded for a lift ring in the arm or ram or whatever it’s called.   Don’t recall the thread size offhand, but buy or borrow a ring...makes life much simpler compared to straps, I found.

In my case I had a low door header problem and I had to remove everything above the round turret, bring it in only as far as a rented forklift could reach, and then set it on a pallet jack to position in the shop and use an engine hoist to replace the whole top assembly.

Removing the mill will be left to my heirs.


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## Winegrower (Nov 23, 2018)

BTW, I left the Bridgeport on two 4x4s so I could always get a pallet jack under if I wanted to move it around.    It's been solid as a rock.    If you look at the casting, it only sits on the left and right sides of the base, with a cutout in the middle.


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## lordbeezer (Nov 23, 2018)

Plans changed.open trailer now..should be easier.maybe trailer to trailer. Thanks for all the good ideas


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## barnett (Nov 23, 2018)

Ok, since  I didn't see anyone else say it... very gently !!! lol


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## lordbeezer (Nov 23, 2018)

You got that right.don't want to damage my $600 investment or me..


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## BaronJ (Nov 24, 2018)

Safely is the word !


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## tjb (Nov 24, 2018)

lordbeezer said:


> You got that right.don't want to damage my $600 investment or me..


$600!!  I'd pull it home with a mule if I had to for that price!


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## lordbeezer (Nov 24, 2018)

Was thinking I did ok.has dro.still under warranty.all paperwork on mill and dro..collets.cutters.small and large vises.gonna have to sell or move my older enco 30.i have a 1000 pounds of stuff in a 10 pound box..


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