# Moving A Rockwell 21-100



## john.oliver35 (Apr 28, 2015)

Hello All.  Well I went and did it and bought a 21-100 yesterday off of CL.  Now I have to get it home!  The gentleman I bought it from has an engine lift.  I will be hauling in the back of a pickup.  Does anyone have a recommended lifting method/lifting points for this?  If I don't have to I would rather not remove the Ram and Head - can this head be turned 180 degrees to point the motor down onto the table to  cut the height?


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## FOMOGO (Apr 29, 2015)

No expert, but I would lower and lock the knee, then let the head swing down 180 deg. and lock. Then it's a matter of finding a decent point of  balance, and putting a sling around the horizontal head column forward and to the rear of the mill body it may tilt a little, but as long as you have it attached at the uppermost point it should be fine. looks like a nice mill. On second look, I think I would just separate the head altogether, and move as two pieces. Hope all goes well. Mike


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## JimDawson (Apr 29, 2015)

I would add that setting the knee down on a block of wood for transport would protect the leadscrew nut.  I would also remove the base it it's not too difficult.  You may have to anyway to get it into the back of a pickup with an engine hoist.


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## rsegars (Apr 29, 2015)

You may want to check the weight of that mill and compare it with the load rating of the pick-up.


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## brino (Apr 29, 2015)

Some great advice above.....and when you're sure you have it blocked into the pickup bed so that it cannot slide and tied down well enough, then put on a couple more straps!

That's a nice machine John, make sure it and you arrive home safe!

-brino


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## Kernbigo (Apr 29, 2015)

Remember that is a round head , fun to line back up again, not like a j head!


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## the gentleman (Apr 29, 2015)

Remove the bolts that hold the cabinet on the mill , put a strap around the ram , lift the mill off the base .
LOAD IT ON THE TRUCK


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## omni_dilletante (Apr 29, 2015)

I moved one of these a year ago.  

I rotated the head down and put a strap around the ram arm and lifted it as one piece.

It is around 1000lbs.  So an engine hoist and your truck can handle it fine.

The challenge might be lifting height.  The hoist was at about max height and it barely cleared the deck of my trailer.  Your pickup bed might be higher.

Removing it from the base might not help that much as I believe the knee screw extends down into the base when the knee is in the lowest position.

My concern would be how strong are the cargo hooks on the truck bed.  Some look like they are more for show than for hard work.  I made sure there were two sets of straps holding the mill in place on the trailer and I have a great deal of confidence in its tie downs.


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## john.oliver35 (May 2, 2015)

Thank all of you!   I believe I am going to rent a trailer and get it tomorrow as I am afraid lift height will be a problem in the truck.  Spend an extra $50 to avoid the risk of needing to mess around laying the thing down and breaking something or someone in the process.


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## wa5cab (May 3, 2015)

If the trailer that you rent has a tilt bed, just be damn sure that the tilt lock pin is in place.  I have a hole in the concrete in my drive way (and nearly lost an ankle) one night many years ago because that wasn't the case.


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## randyc (May 3, 2015)

john.oliver35 said:


> Thank all of you!   I believe I am going to rent a trailer and get it tomorrow as I am afraid lift height will be a problem in the truck.  Spend an extra $50 to avoid the risk of needing to mess around laying the thing down and breaking something or someone in the process.



I heartily recommend a drop-bed trailer rather than tilt bed.  I moved my German-made horizontal mill alone with one of those and it couldn't have been easier.  Make sure you have plenty of pipe rollers, several come-alongs and a place to secure them


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## Dan Coleman (May 5, 2015)

You might also check with your local towing folks.  If you are not pressed for time when unloading, most with a boom type tow truck will lift and place pretty cheap.  You might be surprised to hear how much equipment a towing company moves.
Dan Coleman


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## randyjaco (May 5, 2015)

You got a lot of good advice there. The trailer is a very good idea. Just remember , even with the head down and the table lowered, a mill is still top heavy and will fall over very easily.  Be prepared to get out of the way quickly. Do everything slowly and deliberately. Don't get in a hurry.
Randy


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## AR1911 (May 6, 2015)

700 lbs
I have seen those moved with a furniture dolly and a stout operator


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## john.oliver35 (May 10, 2015)

Well a friend and I went and got the mill last week.  We used a u-haul 4x9' motorcycle trailer - it worked awesome.  Turned the head down and loaded it with an engine hoist.  Bolted 2x6's to the base to provide some additional stability and strapped it through the ram to the corners of the trailer with 2" 2000lb ratchet straps.
	

		
			
		

		
	




With the straps good and tight the mill traveled wonderfully.  Even with this little mill it felt much more like the trailer was strapped to mill rather than the mill strapped to the trailer.  When the mill bounced the trailer was along for the ride!


Took the mill off of the trailer with a chain hoist in my garage, put in some new wiring and began to find its problems.  Found some problems with the pulley bearings and pulley shaft - more on that in a different thread.

Thank all of you for your help!


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## Halteclere (Jun 2, 2015)

I just bought a 21-100 that I'm picking up this weekend. How would the mill travel in the motor cycle trailer for a 400 mile trip? I'm leaning towards renting the U-haul 5'x9' trailer with ramp instead, due to the long trip. But I don't like paying the extra $50 to rent the larger, heavier trailer plus the extra gas required to pull it. (The trailer will be rented for several days due to me picking up the mill on one leg of a family road trip.)

Are there any special tools (besides basic mechanic tools) needed to rotate the motor 180 degrees? What size bolts fit the mounting pads on the base?


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## JimDawson (Jun 2, 2015)

Your motorcycle trailer should work fine for a machine that small.  I decked over my motorcycle trailer so I could haul small machines on it.  2x6 crossbracing with 3/4 inch plywood over that.  That allows boxing the machine base in with 2x6's screwed to the plywood deck.  I don't think I've had to make a 400 mile round trip but I don't see why that would be a problem.  I think my trailer has a 3500 lb axle.  I can have the decking off in a few minutes if I want to haul the bikes.

Here is the best picture I have of it.  It shows how I decked it over.


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## john.oliver35 (Jun 6, 2015)

Sorry I didn't see this until the weekend!

To loosen the ram and turn the head requires a 3/8" allen wrench. You should bring some lubricant/WD-40 etc in case the ram is frozen.  The ram slides in and out as well as turns - I had to push the ram forward about 3 inches to get the head far enough forward to allow it to turn 180 degrees.

My mill didn't have any mounting feet - I don't know what was stock.  The holes are unthreaded, approx 7/16 dia.


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