How Did You Handle Getting Your Lathe Home?

Holescreek

Holescreek

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I've been selling "extra" equipment off all summer trying to make a space large enough for a new gunsmith lathe and I'm just about ready to place an order for a 13"x40" G0709. The only reason (well, one of them) I haven't already ordered is that I don't know how the shipping works. Grizzly will ship the lathe for $255 but they don't specify how it's delivered, how close they'll get it to the shop, or equipment necessary (forklift?) to consummate the delivery. Having a semi show up at the end of the driveway (even with a lift gate) won't do much for me if I can't get it up the driveway into the shop in a reasonable amount of time.

I could pull my trailer for a 16 hour round trip and pick it up but even with low fuel prices the shipping option would save my time (and I'd still need to get it off my trailer). At least I'd be in control in that situation, not at the mercy of the shipping company for scheduling and equipment rental.

The FAQ page on the Grizzly site suggests picking it up at the shipper's terminal but that's hard to plan if you don't know who the shipper is and how close it is to home.

So what have you done, what are your experiences?
 
Not knowing the layout of your property It's kind of difficult to say what the best way is. Normally local lift gate delivery's are done with a smaller truck that could back into a residential driveway. The truck will have a pallet jack. The shipping weight is stated at 1550# so not too heavy to move around on a pallet jack. If the driver can back up near your shop door, just rolling it in on the pallet jack is the easy way. Once you find out who the shipping company is, give them a call and explain your situation. They'll most likely send out a smaller truck.

The freight terminal should be more or less local, so you could go pick it up from there. In that case, I would recommend a drop deck trailer from your local rental place. On Saturday I moved a 3500# mill on a drop deck, we just set the lip of the trailer just inside the garage door and drug it off the trailer with a come-along. 2x6 skids were lag screwed to the base. We anchored the come-along to the bollard in front of the water heater in this case, but a bolt in the floor would work too. I used a 2x4 across a door frame as an anchor point to skid a 2000# mill across the floor.

IMG_0594.jpg

If you went to get it from the freight terminal with your trailer, you might be able to pick it off of there with an engine hoist. Or skid it down a ramp while still on the pallet.

Moving 1500# of lathe is pretty easy, but remember, lathes are top heavy. Lift from the top when removing from the pallet. Plan your moves, think about what could go wrong and plan for that. Make sure that you are never in a position where you could get trapped by anything in case of a disaster.

Good luck! We'll be waiting for pictures of your new toy,,,,er tool;)
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"won't do much for me if I can't get it up the driveway into the shop"

The key seems to be word is up so I assume that the drive is up hill or up a grade?

Call grizzly and ask who will deliver it and find the terminal location, call and ask what type truck they will use if it's a short truck aka a 6 wheeler or a pup short trailer. Every time overfright freight delivers to me they show up with a 55' van :( so at the least you will know right off what you can or can't do.
If you have to pick it up, the terminal will load it on your trailer so don't pay for lift gate till you find out as the terminal should be no charge for loading on your trailer. The dimensions of the lathe is roughly 6'L x 5'H so keep that in mind if going to get it.
Tomh
 
Grizzly have a YouTube channel with the shipping info they said that the truck come to the curb and the driver will unload it their and you have to do the rest but if your driver wants to help you push it UP the driveway that his discretion good luck
 
I got a mill/drill and lathe from Grizzly last year. They were significantly smaller than your machine, ~400#. They were delivered by UPS Freight on a lift truck. My driveway is uphill and the driver and I pushed them up and into the shop on his pallet jack. He would not have been able to back into the drive because of the available turning radius, so I didn't ask.

Pushing 1500# uphill ain't gonna happen and I'm not sure the driver will want to hang around long enough to pull the pallet jack up the drive with a winch or lawn tractor.
 
All of the above is great.
However, bear in mind that lathes also tip. It's an awful feeling watching her roll and knowing you can't catch #1500.
Preplan everything.

Daryl
MN
 
I have had two large pieces delivered by Grizzly. They ship by freight which in my case meant semi. I had ordered lift gate service for the delivery. Otherwise, I would have been responsible for unloading the items (a cabinet saw and a lathe) myself. They backed the semi off the road and dropped the items on the lift gate to ground level. I used my tractor to then move the freight from my driveway.

Several years before, at work, we ordered a lathe and a mill from grizzly. We didn't have a loading dock so they were dropped off outside our large door where we were responsible for moving it in.

The bottom line, is it would be very similar to you transporting the machine by yourself except that if you were to do it, you would probably use a trailer that was capable of getting much closer to its final resting place.
From what I have seen on the freight company documents and Grizzly's site, the drivers are not permitted to assist you in maneuvering the machine to a safe place although it has been my experience that they will help.

If you have a particularly difficult layout, it may be better to have the freight company hold the machine at their warehouse and you pick it up from there. Be aware that they most likely have a loading dock and may not have any means of loading into a vehicle or trailer whose bed is much lower than their dock height.
Grizzly does do a good job of crating and palleting their products though so you should have a secure package to move about. I would expect that it would be delivered as a single package which would mean a top heavy package.

Bob
 
Helps to have a skidsteer handy. An acquaintance of ours keeps his over at our place.
A 14x40 just barely fits in the bucket. This was the 2nd attempt. The initial pickup at auction
was done by fork truck and straps onto the same trailer. Then my truck sucked #3 cylinder getting
on the freeway. This was picking it up at the repair shop.
20130124_181200r.jpg
When I got it home we put it on pipes and scooted it into the shop.
There's also the option of renting a set of forks for the SS, I've done that a few times.
 
I sold a 3500# T&C grinder several weeks ago and the buyer rented a forklift to get it onto his trailer from a local rental company. We used the forklift for a grand total of 5 minutes at a cost of $150. I've used drop deck trailers many times to move large lathes for other people, it's actually what I used to the the 3500# T&C grinder into my shop years ago. I also called a towing company once to send a wrecker with a boom over to lift a bridgeport off my trailer, that was a fast $100. If I buy some slings for the lathe that could be another option.

I found a thread here last night that gave good detail on receiving a G0709 and it said that the lathe is too heavy for a lift gate so a terminal/forklift would be the way to go if I get it shipped.

Yes, my driveway has a long uphill grade. If it wasn't for my shop and the tonnage inside we would have moved away from here long ago. If I had a place to store it I would've bought a forklift by now.
 
Why is it that the grade of the driveway/access seems to be negatively proportional to the amount of equipment
in the shop? The more equipment the steeper the grade... :grin:
 
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