Another shop move thread :)

[scott vroom]

The misses and I sold our home and relocated out of state. I'm planning to move my shop in 2 weeks in a 16' bobtail. Truck is equipped with a pull out ramp, no lift gate. The three tools that present a challenge are all Griz: G0690 TS, G0490 8" jointer, and G0453 15" planer.

I've considered using a come along anchored to the front of the truck box interior to pull the tools, all on mobile bases, up the ramp. Seems sketchy though, especially the jointer which is top heavy and easy to tip over.

Another alternative is to disassemble each tool as much as needed to reduce weight and lower center of gravity, rolling the pieces up the ramp on a dolly using the come along.

The third alternative is to use an engine hoist to lift each tool onto the bed of the truck. My neighbor has a hoist and has offered to help.

I'm flying back to the old house next week and will have a couple of days to solve this and get the tools loaded. Any thoughts on the alternatives I'm considering, or maybe suggestions on better ways to do this?

Thank you.

[peter Joseph]

My initial thought is to hire movers with experience moving machinery. I did it for my shop and consider the expense well worth it. A less expensive option is to hire movers to load the truck and another company to unload. If neither, at least get a truck with a lift gate. The ramp on a 16 footer is still going to be quite steep with several opportunities for injury. Before I decided to hire movers I was going to palletize everything and rent a pallet jack to load and unload which I believe would have worked. I dont suppose you have access to a forklift, no?

Good luck with it.

[scott vroom]

Thanks for the ideas Peter. My tools are 10 years old and well used, I doubt they're worth what it would cost to pay someone to move. Lift gates aren't available on rental trucks out here so that's not an option.

Ideally I'd like to use the engine hoist to place the tools onto the truck, my only concern is whether the feet on the hoist are spread wide enough to go around my tool bases...I suspect not. So I'm leaning toward partial dismantling. I can remove the planer in/out feed tables, and then decouple the top from the base. Can do the same on the jointer and table saw. I could then easily use the come along to roll the pieces up the ramp on a dolly. So maybe that's the answer.

[Victor Robinson]

Well I don't have any bright ideas to offer but just wanted to say thanks for starting the thread. I'll be moving the shop in about 3 months - not nearly as far as your move though - and have the same jointer and planer, so I'll be following along closely.

So far I've settled on using Zip Cubes...(roughly a 5'x8'x7' container...I'll need several) but loading the machines into the cubes will still be a challenge. However, the ramp to get inside would probably be much shallower of an angle than on your 16 footer.

[peter Joseph]

The engine hoist sounds like a viable option Scott but how would you unload at the new house?

Peter

[Nathan Callender]

I would hire 2/3 guys at each end for labor. I recently moved and at one point was considering upack. They quoted me extra help on each side 2 guys and 4 hours for less than $200.

If that weent an option I'd disassemble like you already mentioned.

Good luck!

[Charles Lent]

If your truck floor is the standard loading dock height, an engine hoist is not going to lift high enough. If the floor of the truck is the U-Haul low bed type, it might work. If you use the engine hoist, don't forget how you will attach it to the tool. Lifting slings are the best method. Harbor Freight sells them, but I'm not sure that I trust their weight ratings.

You might be able to hire someone with a truck and lift gate to lift the tools up to the bed of your truck so you can easily transfer them. Even a pick-up mounted lift gate can handle 1,000 lbs plus.

Charley

[Jim Becker]

A key part of the solution is...to get a few strong folks to help you load and unload. Those tools are heavy but they are not "HEAVY". Dolly, heavy hand-truck and elbow grease should be helpful in getting things up the ramp and in the trailer. Personally, I'd still break down things like table saw wings, fence, jointer fence (but not tables), etc., so it's easier to securely move and tie them down for the haul. It also gets the easily removed weight off them.

[John Lankers]

My wife and I moved the entire shop not long ago.
I rented an enclosed car hauler which has a low enough loading ramp and winched my KF700, AD741, band saw and everything else that I had all bolted to pallets out of 3/4 OSB screwed to 4x6 skids into the trailer.
Chamfering the leading edge of the skids helps preventing them from catching while winching. It's also a good idea to place blocking under the rear of the trailer to help support the weight.
A pallet jack in combination with a winch can also be helpful.
The key is getting creative and take your time, don't brake your back.

[Dave Cav]

A key part of the solution is...to get a few strong folks to help you load and unload. Those tools are heavy but they are not "HEAVY". Dolly, heavy hand-truck and elbow grease should be helpful in getting things up the ramp and in the trailer. Personally, I'd still break down things like table saw wings, fence, jointer fence (but not tables), etc., so it's easier to securely move and tie them down for the haul. It also gets the easily removed weight off them.

What Jim said. Those tools aren't that heavy, relatively speaking. A couple of strong guys on each end could move them up and down a ramp without any trouble.

I just moved my shop this past June from the Everett, Washington area to northern Utah. My heaviest tools are a Delta 12/14" table saw, an 18" Powermatic 180 planer, a 12" Invicta jointer and a widebelt sander. We used a 38 foot ABF trailer. I hired a local moving company to send three guys out with a liftgate truck; we loaded the stuff, a few pieces at a time, onto the lift gate truck then transferred them to the trailer. The entire process took about six hours because the trailer was about a foot higher than the truck and we had to use a dock plate to bridge the gap. The sander and the planer both weigh over 1300 pounds.

On the receiving end we used a big skid steer with forks to unload; it took about 2.5 hours and was much easier on the receiving end due to the ability to forklift everything off and move it directly to the new shop.

[Matt Day]

I did a similar move - similar machines and similar moving truck. I couldn't find a place that would rent me a truck with a lift gate so I was stuck with the ramp. Everything was pretty smooth using only a handtruck but the hardest was the jointer. I have the shop fox version of the same jointer and took the top off the base and 4 pretty fit guys could carry it without much difficulty but the ramp was the tough part. 4 guys and 400 pounds of jointer is over 1/2 ton going up that ramp, and each of us was shuffling on the edges of the ramp - the edges that are supposed to keep wheels from falling off the ramp. Pucker factor was pretty high.

The other tools were pretty straightforward.

[scott vroom]

I did a similar move - similar machines and similar moving truck. I couldn't find a place that would rent me a truck with a lift gate so I was stuck with the ramp. Everything was pretty smooth using only a handtruck but the hardest was the jointer. I have the shop fox version of the same jointer and took the top off the base and 4 pretty fit guys could carry it without much difficulty but the ramp was the tough part. 4 guys and 400 pounds of jointer is over 1/2 ton going up that ramp, and each of us was shuffling on the edges of the ramp - the edges that are supposed to keep wheels from falling off the ramp. Pucker factor was pretty high.

The other tools were pretty straightforward.

Matt, how were you able to move the planer and TS up the ramp with a handtruck? Was it the type of handtruck that doubled as a dolly when laid flat? Did you use a come along to winch it up the ramp? My 15" planer weighs 525 lbs, with in/out feed tables detached maybe 450 lbs? TS is 502 lbs, and 400+ with wings detached. I've got a 800lb capacity welded steel hand truck w/out wheels and a 900 lb dolly. Problem with using a dolly is that all 4 wheels swivel which almost guarantees it will drift to the side of the ramp. A combo hand truck/dolly would only have swivel wheels on the front which would be ideal.

I've decided to remove the planer top from base but will roll the top up the ramp with a come along. As you pointed out, 4 guys walking up a ramp is sketch.

[Andreas Sohre]

I just moved the same jointer and planer and a few other items. Liftgate trucks didn't work out for me (1-way rental across states) so I got a U-Haul. They are very low to the ground and with using the slope in my driveway the incline was not much of an issue. I had to move very quickly so I didn't dismantle a lot. I took the wings off the planer and the fence off the jointer. I was able to roll/heave both up the ramp on the mobile bases with my wife helping. They are not too heavy if you roll or only lift up on one side. Having 1 or 2 extra helpers will do the job for those 2. Wasn't fun, including driving the truck myself but it worked, and very cheap. Some of the prices I saw for pods (moving across states and storing for a few months) or professional movers for heavy equipment were extremely high.

[Roger Feeley]

I moved all my stuff out of state last December and it's still in storage (I feel naked). I hired riggers to move the heavy machines from my basement to my garage. I had to move a 17" Rikon bandsaw and a Sawstop Industrial Cabinet Saw and some other heavy stuff. I lightened it as much as I could. I removed the wings from the TS and the table from the bandsaw. I did what I could.

I think I spent $750 for 3 guys and a lot of muscle. I would do it again. Hauling that stuff out of the basement was truly dangerous and not something I would have attempted with friends.