Hammer A3-41 on the way - moving it up steep driveway

[Scott Bernstein]

After reviewing multiple threads on various J/P combo machines I finally pulled the trigger on a Hammer A3-41 for my two-car garage shop. Judging by the specifications it should fit well enough in my space, especially with the mobility kit - we'll see how well it actually moves on my extremely rough garage floor. In case, that is a minor issue compared to moving it up my driveway from the curb into the garage. It's a blacktop driveway, about 60 feet long with an average grade of 25%, peek grade 30%. I've contacted a local professional rigging company who will be more than happy to do the move for me, and get it off the pallet...for a professional fee. I've also looked at other options like motorized pallet jacks or renting a telescopic handler to do the job myself, but since I have no experience with either of these I just don't feel comfortable with operating that type of heavy equipment on such a steep grade. I would rather not take the machine apart. I suppose I could do it with a rented pickup truck that has a lift gate, plus a pallet jack but renting both of these for a day or two, plus the time it would take may not be worth it compared to hiring the pros. I imagine they can do the job in 20 minutes or less. Any thoughts on moving an almost-1000# crate up a 30% grade?

Scott

[Rod Sheridan]

I would suggest a winch pulling a pallet jack.

When we do this we put a strap around the machine on the pallet and pull it with the winch............Rod.

P.S. Nice machine.

[Scott Bernstein]

Thought about that, too - but I don’t have a winch and i’m not sure what I would anchor it to

[Yathin Krishnappa]

I'd get this move done professionally. Someone else posted this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA9-KD19eDs)of a Minimax delivery a while back that shows it doesn't take much to tip the machine over.

[Jim Becker]

What about lift-gate service with the truck backing up the driveway? (assuming it's a straight truck) Another option is to use a low trailer and pick the unit up at the trucking terminal. You can then back right up to your garage/shop and do what's necessary to unload from there.

[Edwin Santos]

I have to agree, with a high ticket item like this, you may be better off handing the job to a professional. It's a 900lb machine and they will set it down wherever you wish, and look at this job like a cakewalk.

If you're a diehard DIY type, then I would say jack it up onto a couple of 1000# rated four wheel dollies, strap it down securely, and use a Maasdam type cable or rope puller to pull it up your driveway. If you can't anchor to a structure, then a large vehicle should work.

You might save some money over a professional rigger by calling a local moving company and seeing if they feel they can handle it. My shop was moved by a house mover and they had no trouble with any of the equipment, though no grades were involved.

Count me as jealous. I have an A3-31, and if I had it to do over I would have sprung for the A3-41 like you did, not just for the 33% greater width capacity, but the longer jointer beds too. There is a lot of good information in the forum archives here about these machines, adjustments, etc. Look before you leap when considering making adjustments.
Edwin

[ChrisA Edwards]

It comes on a pretty substanioncal pallet. Do you have a vehicle with a hitch?



If your pallet is the same as mine, below in the video, I would tilt it and put a couple of 2"x4" X 8's on each side and make rudimentary skids.

Get either a tow strap or Come Along. Anchor either one of these to the hitch of your vehicle and the other end to the pallet. You could then most likely just drag it up your driveway behind your vehicle, assuming you have a truck or SUV. If you want to make this dragging process easier, go buy three three tubular chain link fence posts or steel conduit. lever up one end of the pallet and slide one of the steel tubes underneath, pull it a little forward and slide another tube under, now the pallet will roll easily on the tubes. Pull it a couple of feet and slide the third tube, grab the one at the back and keep repeating.


P.S. I'm descended from the folk that built Stonehenge and the Pyramids, yes British with and Egyptian grand parent.

Here's mine arriving last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1psOo6Te98

[Doug Dawson]

If you're a diehard DIY type, then I would say jack it up onto a couple of 1000# rated four wheel dollies, strap it down securely, and use a Maasdam type cable or rope puller to pull it up your driveway. If you can't anchor to a structure, then a large vehicle should work.

The problem with anchoring to (what part of?...) a vehicle is that it typically won't get you all the way into the garage. Anchoring to a structural part of the garage is probably risky (not meant to handle the load like that.)

You might consider drilling a couple of (deep) anchors into the concrete of the garage floor (hammer drill, like you were installing a compressor or something.) Load distribution. Then winching the machine into the garage using that. The advantage then is that you'd always have them, for anchoring other heavy gear. Provided they were flush with the floor.

I hate sloping driveways like that. When I bought my current house, it was a requirement that it not have them.

[John TenEyck]

The problem with anchoring to (what part of?...) a vehicle is that it typically won't get you all the way into the garage. Anchoring to a structural part of the garage is probably risky (not meant to handle the load like that.)

You might consider drilling a couple of (deep) anchors into the concrete of the garage floor (hammer drill, like you were installing a compressor or something.) Load distribution. Then winching the machine into the garage using that. The advantage then is that you'd always have them, for anchoring other heavy gear. Provided they were flush with the floor.

I hate sloping driveways like that. When I bought my current house, it was a requirement that it not have them.


That's exactly what I did to get a 1600 lb jointer into a friend's garage. I bolted a piece of hardwood with large Tapcons to his garage floor. A heavy D-ring was bolted to the wood.

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I was pulling the jointer off a U-haul truck but the process would be the same. A cable goes from the pallet (or machine) through a snatch block and then back out to a winch or vehicle. The snatch block is connected by chains to the floor anchor.

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I used a winch on the trailer hitch of my car to pull the jointer off and into the garage, but I could just as easily have just hooked the cable directly to the winch and used the car.

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This would be even simpler in the OP's case because there would be no Uhaul to block his vision. Two people, one driving the vehicle, the other giving commands, easy peasy.

FWIW, I would pull the pallet on the blacktop, no rollers, nothing. That way if something goes wrong that nice new machine won't take a fast trip down that 30° slope. In any case, this is an easy and low cost job. Less than $100 for materials; almost free if you already have the chain and cable or can borrow them. An hour or less to make/install the anchor point. 15 minutes to safely pull it into the garage.

John

[Kevin Smira]

I can't believe nobody has suggested this yet...

Just reroute it to my address. I don't have a grade on my driveway to worry about. I can get it in my garage just fine.

Problem solved!

:)

[Malcolm McLeod]

I can't believe nobody has suggested this yet...

Just reroute it to my address. I don't have a grade on my driveway to worry about. I can get it in my garage just fine.

Problem solved!

:)

Or better, send it to me? I bet I'm closer (I just have a sense about these things:cool:); think of all the lumber you can buy with the reduced freight.

[Mike Wilkins]

Received my A3-41 last July and it is one sweet machine. Did you get the Silent Power cutter head? Such a smooth surface that I am considering selling my dual drum sander.
I got lucky as my driveway and yard is flat. Moving solo, I rented a pallet jack and rolled the big box over some cheap plywood laying over the lawn and muscled it into the shop.
With a driveway as steep as yours, professional movers would be money well spent, less strain on the back, and less chance of tipping the machine.

[Mick Simon]

I'd agree on the rigger. They're usually bonded and can make it look so easy you wonder why you considered anything else. My A3-41 was a bear to get over my threshold and into my shop. I did it with a come along and chain. Hated every second of it.

[Richard Coers]

I'm a huge fan of hiring roll back wreckers for handling woodworking machinery. They can pick it up at the local freight dock and slide it down right at your door. Cost me $100 to move a massive architectural lathe. Have a pallet jack sitting at the end of the bed and when the machine slides down, it's on wheels. A big advantage is you can plan the delivery much closer than the usual 4 hour window a trucking company lies about meeting.

[John TenEyck]

I'm a huge fan of hiring roll back wreckers for handling woodworking machinery. They can pick it up at the local freight dock and slide it down right at your door. Cost me $100 to move a massive architectural lathe. Have a pallet jack sitting at the end of the bed and when the machine slides down, it's on wheels. A big advantage is you can plan the delivery much closer than the usual 4 hour window a trucking company lies about meeting.

That - is - BRILLIANT !!!

John

[Jim Becker]

I'm a huge fan of hiring roll back wreckers for handling woodworking machinery. They can pick it up at the local freight dock and slide it down right at your door. Cost me $100 to move a massive architectural lathe. Have a pallet jack sitting at the end of the bed and when the machine slides down, it's on wheels. A big advantage is you can plan the delivery much closer than the usual 4 hour window a trucking company lies about meeting.
Agree...sorry I didn't mention that previously. That's what I did for my CNC machine...off the back of the semi onto the roll-back and then right up to the shop doors. $100.

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[Chris Parks]

All terrain forklift would do it.

[George Yetka]

Remember they are pretty top heavy so if you pull it up with a pallet jack it may be a tipping hazard. I picked my 31 up with my pickup, backed it up the driveway and built a ramp. These machines are a pain to move, instructions say DO NOT LIFT BY SURFACE. That makes getting them off truck or pallet very hard without a fork lift.

[Chris Parks]

I picked up mine with a trailer, unhooked the trailer, tipped it backwards and slid the machine off on the pallet. I just tipped it off the pallet onto the floor and it seems to have survived the experience OK. Building ramps and stuff was going to take too long and the same method had worked for the K3 slider I bought.

[Scott Bernstein]

Thanks for the great ideas guys! I like the idea of anchoring a winch into the concrete foundation, but I would simply worry about something giving way and damaging the machine on the way up. Just not worth the anxiety for me. Flat driveway, no problem. I also considered an all-terrain forklift or telescopic handler but I just don't have the confidence or experience on that kind of grade. Love the roll-back wrecker truck! I'd have to back in up the hill and would only be able to pull about a 3rd of the way in to leave enough room for the bed to come down and for the machine. So the truck would be facing downward at a steep angle - not flat - can a roll-back bed like that compensate for such an angle?

Looking at the responses the most consistent suggestion is for the rigging crew. I've muscled all my other equipment up the driveway with the help of friends so I think I'll look at the cost as being spread out over all my tools - at least maybe it won't seem so bad. In any case, with a beautiful expensive (for me, at least) machine like this I'm happy to spend a little more for some peace of mind. Plus I'll be saving a lot of time I'd have to spend otherwise installing anchors or finding a wrecker to rent.. With that extra time I can mill more lumber on my new machine. I am looking forward to simply watching for the 4 minutes it's going to take a professional crew to do this job. Plus they will help me get it off the pallet and get the mobility kit installed.

As an aside, I am giving my 6" jointer to my nephew - he just moved into his first house and is setting up his wood shop.
By the way, anyone know what kind of plug this machine comes with? Or perhaps none at all and I need to install one.

Scott

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, probably a good decision.

It won't have a plug, if it's like the one we sell in Canada it will only have a very short whip.

I normally remove that whip and install a piece of 12/3 with a 6-20P.

Check the info that comes with the machine, electrical requirements may be different than the Canadian model..........Rod.

[Tom Bender]

Two concerns I'd have.

With that thing on wheels going up your driveway, it could get away from you and go down fast, maybe even if not on wheels it could slide down. Or it could tip over. (view the video provided by Yathin)

Not all professionals are equal. If they send the second team for this small job, if they don't have the right equipment, if they decide they can't handle it when they show up, if they just don't show up, lots of things could go wrong. An industrial equipment mover may just send two guys and a fork truck. That won't work. The fork truck will not handle the hill and it will wreck your driveway, as will a pallet jack. A Lull would be good. Or try to get someone who moves pianos. They will be experienced in moving delicate top heavy things onto houses.

[Scott Bernstein]

All terrain forklift would do it.


Never having operated a forklift I am concerned about backing down a 30% grade unloaded. From the little research I did it seems as though this could cause the lift to tip over. I would not be able to turn it around once I unloaded the machine. Perhaps this is just anti-liability nonsense. On the other hand I am not purchasing nearly $10,000 in equipment to save money. If it it costs another $1000 for a pro to move it and save me from any worry at the end of the day it's probably worth it.