Planer Disassembly Do's & Don'ts?

[Eric DeSilva]

Mixed blessing here... Found a 20" Grizzly G1033 planer for $350, so I bought it. It is now sitting, under a tarp, in the bed of my RAM 2500. The guy I bought it from hooked chains around the steel bars in the bottom, hooked the chains to the teeth of the bucket on his front end loader, and put it in the back of my truck.

Sadly, I don't have a front end loader. And, this guy weighs 770 lbs. And, the RAM bed sits pretty high off the ground. I thought briefly about renting an engine hoist, hoisting it up using chains, driving the truck out from underneath it, then lowering it to the floor. I may still try that, but I don't know if the boom arms on such hoists or--more importantly--the overall height will render that workable.

The other option, of course, is taking the thing apart. Anyone ever disassemble a planer? Doesn't seem like it implicates the same kind of finicky alignment as a jointer, but thought I'd ask for creeker's opinions...

[Chris Jenkins]

I would not take the planer apart cause you have to get the threading aligned on all 4 posts so it raises and lowers in parallel once you put it back together.

Why don't you try reinforced ATV ramps. THe kind with the metal ends and 2 x 8 material as the ramp. I would reinforce the 2 x X material with another 2 x 4 or 6 on edge to keep the ramps from bowing. Then have a few guys help with a Controlled slide down the ramp. If I remember correctly those machines have wheels on the bottoms so once you are on the ground you can push it about.

Chris

[Lee Schierer]

There are several methods you can use.

Get four strong friends and get them to help you pick it up and set it off.

Get an appliance dolly, strap the two together and use it to run it down a strong ramp.

When I was in Egypt a number of years ago some egyptians working for us had a similar dilema (sp?) and they solved the problem by getting several mattresses from a nearby barracks. They placed them on the ground behind the truck and pushed the itme off the truck onto the mattresses. It bounced and then they rolled it onto a lower pile of mattresses until it was gound level. They had to do this several times. As unorthodox as it seemed at the time it worked. :)

[Ted Jay]

Eric,
I have a front end loader on my tractor.....
come on over, I can get it out for ya.....:D

[Eric DeSilva]

Problem may be solved--a friend just notified me that he just picked up a 2-3T engine hoist over the w/e. :)

Hopefully the boom will be long enough--if worst comes to worst, I can jack up the truck, pull the rear wheels (or mebbe just deflate them) to buy some headroom.

I thought about the ramp thing--I've got an appliance dolly and a couple metal ramps for ATVs. Having used them to move a JDS cyclone and a unisaw, I can attest that even 400lbs on a dolly rolling down those things is terrifying. The back of the 2500 is really high, and those ramps are sort of convex... This thing also has no wheels...

Word taken on disassembly. Guess this puppy will live in the garage... must get 220V installed in the garage then...

Thanks Ted. If I use the Egyptian method and stuff starts rattling around the inside, I'll give you a really good deal. ;)

[keith ouellette]

Do you have a hill you can back up to. I back my truck down into a swale at my house and it puts the tail gate down close to the ground on the other side of the swale. Some scrap wood and a couple of sheets of plywood and you can roll it off. (If it has wheels like mine does) I moved my 20" planer 150 feet by rolling it on plywood. When i got to the end of the sheet I would put the other sheet in front and just under the edge of the previous one.

[Scott Kilroy]

You could always try finding someone with a lift gate on their truck. back the two trucks up to each other, roll the planer onto the lift gate then lower it down.

[Eric DeSilva]

No hill. But, if the cherry picker doesn't work, the liftgate truck idea seems like a possibility to consider. I know a lot of the major truck rental co's no longer rent trucks with liftgates, but there are still some places that do... Interesting... Had not thought about a truck to truck transfer then going to ground. Definitely out of the box thinking there!

[Rusty Elam]

If the hoist doesnt work try a tree and a come a long (cable puller) then set it on what you were going to move it on the ground with. (a good kids wagon works great)

[keith ouellette]

If the hoist doesnt work try a tree and a come a long (cable puller) then set it on what you were going to move it on the ground with. (a good kids wagon works great)

This is a great Idea. I have lifted and pulled all kinds of heavy things with a come along (Only 20$) and some chain. We put a couple of 2X12's between two trees and lifted a 8 cylinder engine and left it hanging for days.

[Alan Schaffter]

I just picked up a new (old) 20" Delta RC-51 planer. Now this is a beast at 1150#!!!!! We (3 old guys) unintentionally dumped it on its back while trying to get it up the trailer ramp. I decided to leave it on its back, and we used 2X4s to lever it up enough to get some 2X6s under it. We then slid it, an inch at a time, up the ramp (gentle incline) and onto the trailer using a come-a-long hooked to the planer and the trailer tongue.

Once I got it home I had to get it up to my second story shop. See these threads for the whole story!!!

Loading and hauling (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11538)

Hoisting (http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11554)

Oh, the easy way to lighten your load (I didn't) is to remove the lower cabinet and motor.

[Eric DeSilva]

Got it off the truck, as well as the 8" G0500 jointer I picked up at the same time. Friend told me he had just picked up an engine hoist for $50 and volunteered its services. I must say, I was a bit skeptical, since the hoists I'd seen were rated at maybe a ton and didn't look very substantial. The hoist he brought over, however, was a 3T monster constructed of 4" x 4" steel posts that had to be 1/4" thick walls. Went up, came down nice and soft. Now I just need some power to fire this guy up!