Any suggestions for moving woodworking shop ?

[Benjimin Young]

I am in the process of moving my wood working shop and would appreciate any suggested do/don'ts from anyone who has previously moved their shop. Targeting completion by Jan 18th.

My current plan in progress is,
I have already purchased a 20ft shipping container but later found out I can only load to a gross max of 8,000 lbs for tilt truck lifting which means about 3,000 lbs load; this was a big disappointing surprise! I am also challenged in finding companies that even want to move the ship container, so my plan has changed.

1) I already moved my lumber via Uhaul 20 ft truck.

2) Now I am loading heavy or large equip onto the shipping container and securely fastening in place. I built a ramp from garage door to shipping container door, only 8" rise in 8Ft, so this part is working great. This will include lathe, dust collector, 12 ft work bench, band saw, jointer, hydraulic pump work bench, mobile planer, mobile sander cabinet, and last will be the long cabinet highbred table saw with custom drum sander. Shoring lumber in the container includes about 30 finger jointed 2x3s.
I am guessing at weights and any help on weights is appreciated.

3) Everything else will get rolled up a ramp onto a Uhaul, they do not rent trucks with lift gates but their one way rentals are in my price bracket. Alternatively I may try to rent a truck with a liftgate but the smallest truck with liftgate I have found so far in my area seems to be 25ft which is overkill for me.

PS, the reason for the shipping container is to have storage at my new place while I take my time to build a new but smaller workshop in the empty detached garage. When all is said and done I may sell the ship container in a couple of years.

Thanks in advance.

[John Pendery]

How far are you moving? Loading a shipping container full of machines on a tilt bed truck sounds like a dubious prospect. I would opt for a side curtain flatbed if an option. If not perhaps hire a crane to load and unload container, but weight distribution would play a role. I’ve moved my shop several times, but never further than 20 miles and I’m lucky enough to have a large flatbed trailer/truck and a forklift. Any time I’ve shipped a machine long distance I pay a bit extra for side curtain tricks with air ride.

[George Yetka]

If its close your best bet is a trailer. U haul has some extremely heavy duty trailers that are inexpensive to rent.

Ive moved a couple shops but they were local and I have a 22' flat bed with lift gate.

If its far, that becomes a more difficult problem. I would check with another freight company 3,000 lbs is ridiculous. You should be able to get at least 10x that

[Michael Burnside]

See if you can rent a "drop bend" trailer in your area. They are awesome for loading super heavy machines, safes, etc. because the bed drops a couple inches above the ground.

[Brian Gumpper]

I'm trying to find a good way to move some tools 1000 miles without crating or putting on a pallet. Usual stuff; cabinet saw, jointer, planer, bandsaw, large toolbox ... My only option seems to be drive a trailer up and back.

[Daniel O'Neill]

When we moved 6 years ago I made the mistake of "needing" to get some stuff done. So I setup a few tools and then a few more. Now the shop isn't 100% finished but has a bunch of tools in the way. As to moving stuff, we moved within 10 minutes of our old place and I found a storage unit closer to the new house than the old. I made trips after work as I disassembled the heavy tools. Now I have more tools and that would be harder.

As a side note, I did have a POD dropped off for awhile while I did some work on the floors. (That would have been my second chance to finish an empty shop but the money was tight). Those go straight up onto the truck so there isn't any tilt. Just an idea.

Perhaps another idea if viable. A friend was able to keep his old shop while he built the new one. Maybe a rentback option might save you the cost of the container.

Hope it goes well for you! Moving a woodshop is tough.

[George Yetka]

Another alternative is to sell large equipment. The cost to buy it again may be less than or equal to what you get for it + cost of shipping. Selling felder tools and trying to re buy on the other end wouldnt be worth it but user grade tools may. Definitly not worth doing this for anything you can pick up.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with considering using one of the medium to large UHaul trailers for the remainder of the stuff because they are lower to the ground when it comes to moving things up a ramp. Assuming you have a vehicle that can tow a trailer with those specifications and weight.

When I moved shop, I used my own trailer and multiple loads. I did sell the big slider, however, as I knew I would have no room to store it on property and moving a 1500 lb machine twice and paying for storage for a year was not in the cards.

I'm not surprised at the weight limit for your container due to the type of truck that is being used to move it. It is what it is and for a residential loading situation from the ground, it's kinda the only option.

[andy bessette]

...they do not rent trucks with lift gates...

Of course they do.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I moved my shop in the back of a Chevy 3500 mini school bus with the seats removed. I had to open the roof vent/emergency exit to get the bandsaw to be able to stand up straight. I bought a folding aluminum ramp for $20 or something at a moving sale where I had gone to buy a small chest freezer. I saw the ramp and it turned out to be just the thing. It's solid with a non slip surface and folds out to about 10' long and 3 feet wide. Using that I would roll heavy things on their own wheels or on a hand truck up into the bus, and back out again. With a U-Haul they often come with a slide out ramp, at least the bigger ones do, and they are quite nice. I would be leery of things tipping over in the loading process with the container. It's not smooth or graceful, when I've seen the loading process.

[Richard Coers]

I consider U-Haul the last place to rent a truck, except for in the same city. You can get a Penske with a lift gate, no problem. With Penske, you get a reliable truck. None of us can guess weights since you tell us so little about the machinery. Just go to the Grizzly website and reference off their machinery.

[mike stenson]

I'll add on to the trailer being the easiest I've ever done for a local move. The last long distance move (SF to Tucson) I got a Penske truck, the lift gate was awesome and the truck was so much better than anything I've ever rented from U-Haul.

[Carl Beckett]

I have moved my shop several times.

Once internationally. (which I just sold most all of the large equipment and re-purchased).

You state a lift gate is overkill. If that is the case, then I echo the suggestion of uhaul trailer. (personally I have rented lift gate trucks more than once, but as you say they are the larger size). I have moved equipment on a uhaul car trailer that rode well (tandem wheels, and some plywood across the base rode well across the state)

Pushing heavy equipment up a ramp is not a great proposition so the less the better (but yes I have done it several times - just saying the lower to the ground the better off you are). One move was a tilt trailer with a winch - that was helpful. You still have to get everything over the 'edges' of a ramp. And 'tilting' heaving equipment comes with risk of toppling.

If your container hits max weight it defeats the purpose. Be careful of how much incline or tilt to your ramps. DO NOT STAND ON THE LOW SIDE - if something decides to go over it will and you do not want to be underneath it.

One move I hired - it was not cheap and although 5-6 men could muscle some things around it came at a price.

Good luck. It is a lot of work.

[Benjimin Young]

I am in the process of moving my wood working shop and would appreciate any suggested do/don'ts from anyone who has previously moved their shop. Targeting completion by Jan 18th.

My current plan in progress is,
I have already purchased a 20ft shipping container but later found out I can only load to a gross max of 8,000 lbs for tilt truck lifting which means about 3,000 lbs load; this was a big disappointing surprise! I am also challenged in finding companies that even want to move the ship container, so my plan has changed.

1) I already moved my lumber via Uhaul 20 ft truck.

2) Now I am loading heavy or large equip onto the shipping container and securely fastening in place. I built a ramp from garage door to shipping container door, only 8" rise in 8Ft, so this part is working great. This will include lathe, dust collector, 12 ft work bench, band saw, jointer, hydraulic pump work bench, mobile planer, mobile sander cabinet, and last will be the long cabinet highbred table saw with custom drum sander. Shoring lumber in the container includes about 30 finger jointed 2x3s.
I am guessing at weights and any help on weights is appreciated.

3) Everything else will get rolled up a ramp onto a Uhaul, they do not rent trucks with lift gates but their one way rentals are in my price bracket. Alternatively I may try to rent a truck with a liftgate but the smallest truck with liftgate I have found so far in my area seems to be 25ft which is overkill for me.

PS, the reason for the shipping container is to have storage at my new place while I take my time to build a new but smaller workshop in the empty detached garage. When all is said and done I may sell the ship container in a couple of years.

Thanks in advance.

I am moving 200 km. so float charges alone for a crane rental will be out of the questions. I already have the shipping container so I am married to getting a tilt load truck to move it, 5100 lbs empty, aprox 8000 loaded, same kind of unit that delivered it. Based on my experience so far I would never use a shipping container to move anything ever again. However I am looking forward to having it at the other end for storage while I build my new shop, LOL. Re anything not being put on the container, I do not have a truck that could pull a heavy trailer but I am still looking into finding a rental truck with a lift gate. So far, backup plan is Uhaul and dolly up their ramp, done this before with other stuff. I'll send some pictures of the container loading in progress soon, but on the bad side I just broke the trunnion on my Steel bandsaw, should have listened to R&D bandsaws and removed the table first. Live and learn.

Keep the suggestions coming, thanks.

[Benjimin Young]

Yes, I agree, a 3000 lb load for a gross weight of 8000 seems low. I am still looking for other transport companies with tilt load capability. I may consider uhaul trailer with uhaul truck rental if I have too but not my first choice.