Unloading a Bridgeport - Car Hauler

I got a great shipping rate for a Bridgeport mill but I need to pick it up at a trucking terminal. I plan on using a "roll back" tilting flatbed car hauler to get it from the terminal to my shop ~$60.00. I am hoping I can slide it back down the bed and in the doors far enough to close them. But my question is: has anyone had any experience doing this? I don't know the minimum angle the roll back can maintain without tipping the crate over. It will be well crated from the seller. I will tell them to lower the knee and invert the head. I wonder if I need another line attached to the top of the crate to prevent tipping. The crate is 68x56x85".
Any words of wisdom?

Thanks
Steve

Steve: I recently picked up my Knee Mill, it's a BP cloneish thing and weighs 2200 Lbs.

I had them remove the head which was put in the back of my Ute/Pickup and the main casting went into a 6'x4' single axle trailer.

When I got it home I reversed it into my workshop which has a low roof (cross beams are around the 7' mark).

I used a chain hoist to lower the main body then another to get the head out.

I transferred the head on a trolly to beside the body and using a sheet of 1" thick timber against the side of the body I used the chain hoist to raise the head into position.

I've done it this way a couple of times now and it's been quite easy even on my own.

To move the mill into position I place a sheet of 1/8" thick stainless under one end then use a 6' crow bar as a lever.

Hope this helps in some way but above all else be careful and triple check any slings you're using.

Steve,

I'd be nervous as hell about sliding the machine down a ramp, unless you can hold it back with a small winch or something. If it gets going too fast, it could tip over when the leading edge hits the ground, even if it did not want to tip while on the ramp itself.

It is quite a simple matter to roll the machine around once it is on the ground. I have moved all kinds of heavy machinery with old 1" or 1.5" round bars laid beneath them. You just need to use pieces that are long enough for both sides of the base to roll on. Ideally, use 3 bars, so you can keep moving the back one to the front as you push it along. You can even lay the bars down at an angle to the current path to steer the machine in a different direction. You'll need a crowbar to lift it a little now and then to get the next roller to go underneath it

Yes, it will be lowed off using a winch and cable to prevent it from getting away from us. But now I am wondering how steep the ramp would need to be to overcome static friction. I am pretty sure it would be less than an angle that would cause tipping.

I plan on using a rented pallet jack to move the mill around and into place.

My Rigger places a fork truck under a pallet which the machine is bolted to it, while on the shop floor. He then braces the upper most part of the machine against the fork truck lifting frame so it can't tip back and also criscrosses a chain so it can't move left or right. He then drives the fork truck and pallet/machine, to the edge of the roll back that is touching the floor with the "forks toward the rollback". He then attaches his rollback winch cable to the fork truck (this has to be done properly!!!). He then winches the machine/fork truck (tires rolling-no friction) up the inclined rollback. It then comes off in reverse the same way. Just to remind you for your own financial situation, he is INSURED, and provides me a current copy of his policy.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by gtslabs
Yes, it will be lowed off using a winch and cable to prevent it from getting away from us. But now I am wondering how steep the ramp would need to be to overcome static friction. I am pretty sure it would be less than an angle that would cause tipping.

I plan on using a rented pallet jack to move the mill around and into place.

---

Just use the Pallet jack when you slide off the flatbed. IE lift the crate using the pallet Jack, attach the "crate" to the winch, and lower the bed until starts to pull on the winch cable. It should slide nicely on the pallet jack rollers.

however, you make have problem moving off the bed onto the ground. A grade above 8 or 10% will probably prevent you from pushing the jack off the bed and onto the ground. if the Angle is too large for the pallet jack its going to be too large to simply slide the crate anyway. ie its going to get catch the corner from the flatbelt and the ground.

Best way is to rent a truck with a lift gate, and avoid the whole mess in the first place. Or simply ask the freight dock if they have a local delivery service with lift gate trucks.

Thanks
I have researched that liftgates are only good to 1500 lbs and my crate will be 2300.
I like the idea of putting the pallet jack on the bed first to assist in the rolling down the bed.

Not All Lift gates are the same. There are trucks equiped with 5,000 Lbs liftgates.

I think your going to run int a problem with the flatbed angle with the ground. I am pretty sure its going to be way too steep of a grade to permit you to roll the jack off the bed onto the ground. The wheels of a pallet jack can only handle angles of a few degrees before the forks edges start digging into the ground.

If you can't find a truck with a heavy duty lift jack, consider renting a fork lift. Use the flatbed truck to deliver the fork lift and then load the BP on to the flat bed.


Good Luck!

Steve do you have an overhead hoist If so screw an lifting eye in the top of the ram and pick it drive the truck away and set it down I moved a lathe with a rolback and my 2500# forklift we loaded the forklift went to the guy's shop wich had no hard surface outside and roled the forklift in his door I picked the lathe backed the truck under it tied down the lathe then winched the forklift back on and went home You may be able to rent a small forklift from a rentel shop or see If therwe is anyone in your neighborhood that would pick it and set it in the shop $50.00-$100.00 would be cheep to not have a mess The guy with the rolback may have a wrecker with a boom and you could use it to pick the mill like a crane also be carefull the only thing more top heavy than a mill is a surfacegrinder Good luck Kevin

Ran into an unloading problem when my V2XT got delivered.

The typical "drag it to where you can snag it" suggestions were discarded as all I could imagine was dragging it so far and then having the damn thing tip or some other ugly story that would be hilarious to watch unless it was your machine.

So, in spite of numerous well meaning suggestions to the contrary, I called the wrecking service at the end of the street where I live.

They brought this tandem axle multiboom hoist over and etended the boom and picked it up and we drove the truck out from underneath it. It took longer for the truck to get here than it took to snag and lift it off.

Seems that they do this sort of thing all the time and they were more gentle with the thing than the experts who loaded it (less, actually no damage versus broken connector by the expers)

Best $125 I ever spent as there were NO worries about dropping it, it getting away or any such other grief. I was more concerned about our own ability to lift and carry it with the forklift - the last time we moved stuff, my business partner dropped a lathe off of the forklift (road rash but a still scared the hell out of me to see that lathe tumble).

You could also lift it up with a H/D fortified "swing set" and drive the trailer off from underneath it.

Well, I donno. I hate lift gate trucks, on the rentals the gate always droops and they likely won't lift their rated capacity.

I had a guy pick up an old M head machine from my shop some years ago, using a tilt bed auto hauler. The machine was uncrated, with head in place (of course, it was a smaller head) and we had no problems. I had the base of the machine on the 2" pipe I used to roll it to the door, he put the tip of the ramp under the edge of the machine base, lassoed it with strap low around the back of the base, and pulled it off the pipes and onto the truck deck with no problems. The machine didn't seem tippy at all.

Now for your problem. The machine is on a wood pallet, and the wood won't slide down the deck worth squat. Resist the urge to tip the bed enough to make it slide, or you'll end up wearing it.

Instead, arm yourself with the pipes, which you'll need to move it on the floor anyway. While the crated machine is on the truck, use the winch to pull the top enough to get a pipe under the far end. Move the cable down to the middle or a bit lower on the crate, where it will be more stable, and tilt the bed until the crate starts to slide back. The biggest prybar you can find will be helpful to urge it along. When the pipe gets to about the middle of the crate, feed another pipe. At some point you should be able to GENTLY push it over center so it is rolling on two pipes. Keep rolling it down the ramp, using the pry bar, not gravity, to move it along and the winch cable to keep to from running away. It'll be fine.

Now, how do you expect to get it off the pallet and onto the floor?

Dennis

you need one of these....scroll down for a diagram.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cg...1;t=020916;p=0

I'd have it off the skid, both for shipping and moving, and be very careful with a pallet jack, they're a tripod (tippy); the mill is already top heavy. this trailer should work well, but you have to control both the tilting and sliding.

another idea as its off season, is either a sod truck (with the fork lifts that detach off the back) or a brick/block truck (call block manufacturers) with its truck mounted crane. for that matter its light enough any truck with a Hiab could do it. i've had the sod truck bring lots of treasures, don't know how far you have to go but it might be a lot easier and not much more money. make sure you have the proper slings, they're unlikely to.

I have moved a couple on a heavy 5x8 utility trailer. Usually load with a forklift but unloading has always been by removing the trailer wheels so the back deck sits close to flush with the ground and walking the mill off with a big crow bar. I always go very slowly and use a couple of big straps that I slowly let out just in case it wants to run away. I recently unloaded my new old Hurco that way a couple of weeks ago with no problems. The worst was a 3500 pound top heavy lathe, but it just took a little longer.