NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

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Brunswick Carshops
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 7:47 am
Location: Central New Jersey

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by Brunswick Carshops »

Hey John-

All the good ones have been listed, Pedowitz, Hopatcong, Izzi, a few others. Tow companies can be pretty good if you can find a guy to work with you. At 5-6k lbs you're actually pretty light.

We hauled a pretty ancient and big TIG back in 2011 on the back of an equally ancient and borrowed 1973 Ford medium duty flatbed wrecker with long defunct Sal's Auto body on the door. The longest part of that endeavor was driving that old truck with double granny low gears at 50 mph on the interstate from Iselin to Bridgewater and back. That poor old Big Block powered truck is long gone now but the TIG is still sitting back in in the truck shop at the bus garage next to a replacement 8V-71 for a bus that is also long sold.

I moved my 14" chucker and copycat Bridgeport in a day by myself, and some strong backs with weak minds. I broke them down, hoisted them out of the basement on some novel rigging, loaded them into an Enterprise Isuzu NPR Box Truck with a lift gate (14k gross), and unloaded them back at the ranch. Total cost of that job was around $300 for the truck and four large pies.

I've also heard of some guys moving pretty big machines into their basements using loaded mason-dumps as ballast. Where there's a need there's a way.
~ John Sommer ~


Whats' the fastest way to make a million dollars in racing? Start with two!- Frank Rio
MsChrissi
Posts: 72
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:21 pm
Location: Mid West

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by MsChrissi »

Sort of the reverse of that is finding a novel approach to the problem; a friend up in Ottawa built a 4 seat plane in his basement, about 11' wide without wings attached, the old joke about not being too bright how are you going to get it out of there?
Nearing completion he was sitting in the living room with his wife, he started talking about how many years they had lived in the lovely home and maybe it was time for a little remodeling, "You know I've been thinking, wouldn't this room look so much better with a nice big bay window right there?"
She agreed with him. Next day out came the chain saws, big hole in side of home, a large portion of the living room floor gone and a loader lifted the plane out.
It's a question of how bad do you want it? =D
PS, plane flys great.
SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by SteveM »

40 years ago, my dad was offered a large safe for free.

The safe weighed 2,000 lbs and the deal was he had to move it.

Luckily, he had a friend that had a crane, and he loaned my dad the crane and the operator as long as he paid the hourly rate for the operator.

They went to the shop where the safe was sitting on the dock, picked it up and put it on the truck. Drove it to dad's and, from the street, picked it up, over the fence, over the patio and dropped it down the bilco door about 30-40 feet from the street. Then it had to be manhandled into its permanent location.

We sold the house last year with the safe still in it.

Sometimes it's not what you know, but WHO you know.

Steve
MsChrissi
Posts: 72
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:21 pm
Location: Mid West

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by MsChrissi »

I think that will forever be "House, with large safe" =D
pete
Posts: 2518
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by pete »

Fwiw, without knowing a persons past experience and ability's I sure as hell wouldn't recommend anyone with zero experience operating equipment, loading, adequate and sensible load securement, transport and safe unloading at the other end to just do it themselves to save some bucks. I've operated equipment for over 50 years and everything from those little forklifts to 1,000 + ton open pit mining equipment. And I've also seen enough pros drop or seriously damage loads from making tiny but important mistakes or getting over confident. Yes it can and has been done by inexperienced people many times if there half way competent and willing to use logic and some thought every step of the way then most times it should go fine. Except when or until they happen to get a bit unlucky and miss something critical. I've also got a few million miles on the hwy and know more than well the average persons ability's aren't anywhere close to what the average driver thinks they are. If you do have some past experience or know someone that you can 100% trust there judgement who does know what there doing, then by all means do it yourself. I'd also bet my last dollar there's 10 times or more failed equipment moves that never get mentioned on the forums or seen on Youtube. Damaging or permanently destroying an already operational, decent and expensive machine is bad enough, injuring yourself or someone else is far worse. 5-6k on slippery forks and no experience is enough you better know what your doing. Lathes as we all know are always top heavy and heavily biased towards the head stock for there center of gravity. Unless I was using a crane or hiab, I'd want that lathe properly lag bolted to 6" x 6"'s to help stabilize it.

There's also no mention of just how complex the move at both ends really is. Many types of hard surfaced residential driveways aren't built to handle the load the correctly sized forklift and that load weight of 5-6k. You don't rent a 3 ton capable forklift, you rent one good for 4- 5 tons to have some fudge factor. If it's being moved at industrial locations at both ends then obviously that weight isn't a concern. Depending on John's exact circumstances a forklift may not be the best machine for the job and a tandem flat bed with a decent capacity hiab might be needed. Those roll back recovery trucks as someone mentioned could be an option. Again the job situation at both ends dictates if one can be used. If I was going that route I'd want to talk with the driver and explain in detail how easy a lathe is to tip over and where not to attach the chains or straps. Those guys move autos, machine tools aren't something most of them know much about. And whatever towing company I was using I'd be sure to tell them you want there most experienced operator and are willing to wait until he's available.
SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by SteveM »

Our own Jim Rozen has an excellent bit of advice:

"Hiring a professional will cost you less than the emergency room visit".

Steve
rrnut-2
Posts: 691
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:40 pm
Location: Bennington, NH

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by rrnut-2 »

Speaking of the riggers with insurance, the place where my wife works had a CNC mill brought in by the riggers. It got dropped hard, mistakes happen and nobody got hurt. Shortly there after, they brought in a brand new replacement.

Jim B
Sandiapaul
Posts: 567
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2004 8:04 am
Location: Princeton, NJ

Re: NJ/NYC/LI Machinery Movers

Post by Sandiapaul »

Here is the machine Izzi rigging used to move a lathe out of my shop. A pretty neat rig!
IMG_0500.jpg
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