Moving shop across country

[Andy Pratt]

I'll be making a WA - NY move in about 8 months and wanted to get some tips on moving the heavy tools from guys who have done it before.

I'll be renting a roughly 25' moving truck, loading &driving myself or maybe with one helper and towing my personal vehicle behind it, so my only option for moving the heavy stuff is to get it up into the moving truck.

I checked into getting a lift gate moving truck, but can't find anyone who will let me do this one-way across country, anyone know someone?

Assuming I can't get a liftgate truck, what are my other options? The 30" (standard size it seems?) ramps aren't wide enough to accomodate the mobile base on my table saw (probably jointer/planer too), so even if I had the help to push it up the ramp that's not an option. If I rent a forklift, I'm worried I'll bend the mobile bases.

Also, are there any mechanical concerns with major tools. I heard something about needing to brace the motors, what is this about?

Thanks for your help,
Andy

[Lee Schierer]

Check with Ryder, most of their straight trucks have lift gates on the back.

Another option would be to rent a smaller truck and a trailer. Put the heavy pieces in the trailer which would be much lower to the ground.

I would back off all tensioned belts and insure the motors are blocked so they cannot bounce or move. Also remember gravity sometimes fails in the back of trucks when they hit rough roads or bumps. Tie everything so it cannot roll, slide or tip.

[Brent Smith]

One other tip I'll add is to make sure you do a good job of rust protecting your cast iron surfaces. The changes in humidity along the way can cause some serious rust build up on them. I learnt this the hard way helping a friend move his shop from Vancouver to St Johns (west to east cost).

[Brian Tax]

How could you ever want to leave WA?:)

For that amount of moving would it be possible put everything on pallets then go the forklift rout? It could save a lot of heavy lifting/rolling.

Also I will be moving across town at some point, so I am curious to see how it works out.

[David G Baker]

I agree with Brian Tax on the pallet and forklift method depending on the amount of equipment you have to move. On smaller items a 4'x4'x4' super heavy duty cardboard moving box works great and saves a lot of work and time. It is amazing how much you can get in one of the boxes. The boxes fit on a pallet or can be stacked depending on contents and are reusable. I still have a bunch of items stored in mine.
A 25 foot truck is pretty small depending on what you are moving and how well you stack and pack.

[Brad Sperr]

In addition to Ryder, you could also check with Penske for one-way rentals with lift gates.

[Gary Lange]

When you load the truck make sure that you apply some blocking and bracing to the heavy equipment so that it does not shift around in the truck and get damaged or damage something else. A little extra care can go a long way to you having a safe trip across country and that yourself, most important, and your equipment and household items will arrive in good condition.

[Kevin Groenke]

Have you looked into containers that you load and pay someone to ship to the other end? These are basically on grade so should be pretty easy to move equipment into. I've no idea of the relative cost of this sort of thing, but it may be worth looking into.
http://www.doortodoor.com/

[William Hutchinson]

Two years ago I moved my shop about a thousand miles. Just use your best judgment securing/immobilizing your major tools and balancing the weight within the truck. I built a side ramp used in conjunction with the pullout truck ramp to load the larger mobile tools. Getting heavy tools into the truck wasn’t that big of a deal; getting them safety off is more of a concern. I did this job by myself and I did leave everything on their mobile bases.

I would suggest that you remove motors, fences/rails, CI tables etc to make larger machines more manageable and less prone to damage.

I did learn something I’d like to pass along to you. The small parts, bits and pieces that come from deconstruction of your tools will not look the same after you move, that is, if you can even find where you packed them. Use a digital camera to photograph your tear down (before/after) and bag and clearly label each part.

Good luck.

[Steven DeMars]

Keep in mind that if you rent a U-Haul, while it sits lower & rides smoother, it can be over loaded . . . When we moved from Louisiana to Oregon we used a 25' U-Haul Super Mover. With my tools & books in addition to our limited house hold stuff we moved, we found that the truck could not climb the inclines. We found ourself rolling back-wards coming into Golden, Colorado . . .

Try to get a Ryder, they are basically just a freight truck & actually has an engine that is not governed down for "safety" . . .

Tell them how much you will be carrying weight wise . . .

Steve

[John Bush]

Hi Andy,
I have a couple of personal movng experiences that may be helpful for you. I tore down an old barn on our farm in Ill. and shipped the timbers, 1000+ bf of old lumber(cherry, walnut, maple, and oak, yippee, it was free!!), lots of old family tools and equipment(a.k.a. heirloom junk) and shipped it by container and rail from the farm 3 hr. south of Chicago to Seattle(Edmonds actually). The shipping co. delivered the container to the farm, left it for a week, hauled it back to Chicago to load on the train, delivered it to our home, left it another week for unloading, then hauled the empty container away when we were done. They estimated the load was ~~48,000#s and the cost was ~~$1,500. This was 8 years ago and they were deadheading lots of empty containers east to west then. It would be worth a call to a shipping broker to check out the feasibility of going by rail.
The next experience...... I bought a full shop from an estate in Moses Lake Wa. and rented a 16' lift gate truck for the haul. It was a 4+ hr drive, and it took me(and two of their family members) over 6 hrs to box-up, load and pack all the goodies. Included was a PM4224 lathe~1000#s, PM66, 25" drum sander, PM 6" belt sander, DP, large DC, and lots of boxes of power and hand tools + accessories, and a big stack of cabinet grade ply and ~500 bf of alder. Then another 4hr over the mountains, in the rain, back to Seattle. The truck was absolutely jammed full and I had the passenger seat loaded as well. It was really a lot of work, and the drive itself was a PITA. When I started to unload, everything had "settled" a bunch and ,tho nothing was really damaged, I could see that better packing could have protected things better.
Shared wisdom and suggestions.....Take lots of time to pack well. Start saving newspaper for packng. I like the earlier suggestion of the 4x4 shipping boxes that can be loaded with a forklift or pallet jack. That way you could take lots of time to pack well and minimize the hassle of schlepping lots of smaller boxes. I collected the Dole banana boxes from the store for several weeks also. They are strong, have lids, and being the same size, stack well and have less chance of shifting in transit.

Another issue worth considering... Stress factor...If the container option was feasible could you possibly ship all your household goodies as well?? It would likely be much cheaper than truck rental and fuel costs, and the big issue... it would be nice to have a more leasurely drive cross country in your car so you can enjoy the sights, etc., and not be stressed by the driving such a load and hauling you vehicle behind you. Time of year is a consideration as well. There are several big mountain passes that look beautiful when covered in fresh powder, but not when you are driving a truck.

You have a lot of work ahead of you but it will all be worth it when you get resettled and start making sawdust in your new home. Good luck, JCB.

[Brian Backner]

I too am looking at a cross country move (MA to NM) a few years down the road and have given a lot of thought to the process. For me, it's a little more complicated as I have a complete machine shop as well as all the usual woodworking tools.

Hiring riggers to move the heavy stuff (Bridgeport vertical mills and surface grinders are all over a ton each) is not an option.

I considered the UHaul route, but was leary of putting something so heavy up so high on a what amounts to a light duty commercial truck.

What I eventually came up with, after looking at PODS (they rent the transportable containers) was to buy two 20' shipping containers. I got them for $750 locally, including the delivery. Each is water tight, has nailable steel decking for flooring and has a 25 or 30 ton capacity. Virtually all common carriers will have roll off trucks that can come to a residential address and pick them up. They can then be taken back to their terminal where they can be blocked/loaded onto the same trailer for transport and delivery. Many terminals can also store them for whatever length of time is needed at rates cheaper than typical storage units (I have to build my new shop from the foundation up once I get there, so it's likely to be a while before I can start making chips or sawdust again).

Since most of my tools are in a 3-car garage, I will rent a forklift to load the tools, securing them to the floor and blocking them as I go. You can also get really heavy gauge inflatable plastic bags to stuff into open areas to take up volume and further stabilize the load. For the smaller stuff, I plan to load/pack everything into stackable plastic gaylords.

While it is possible to put a lock onto the loading doors, I've been investigating the possibility of welding the doors shut to prevent theft. This may be problematic if some federal inspector wants to check out the contents in their cross country travel - I've been trying to get an answer from the ICC if this is permissible and under what circumstances.

Several of the advantages about buying your own containers is that there are no rental charges - they make for great storage until you make the move - and you can resell them when you are done with them!

Just my 2 cents.

Brian

[Scott Kuykendall]

A few years ago I moved from CA to SC and used PODS. The main reason I used them is that there is only a few inches that you have to lift things into.I loaded everything myself and took my time and packed every little spot I could fit something. Another plus is you can get the containers delivered early and load it over a few weeks if you want. When its full you put your lock on it and call them to pick it up. I used three 18 foot container for all the house hold and shop stuff and everything arrive in great shape.
Scott

[Andy Pratt]

Thanks for all of the input everyone. I've looked into most of the easier options and they don't seem to be panning out:

- Ryder's site says it doesn't even do one-way moves, am I missing something on this one?
- Penske doesn't do lift gate on one-way moves, only local. Same with budget.
- PODS and Door to Door won't deliver to my destination address (rural upstate NY)

Thanks to all for tips on blocking/bracing and especially the motors, I probably wouldn't have done any of that if you hadn't mentioned it.

You guys who have done pallet&forklift, how are you getting the heavy items fully inside the storage area of the bed after lifting them up with the forklift? I don't have a loading dock or anything to get level with a truck bed on, is there another way I'm not seeing?

John, I'm very curious to check into the rail shipping option. I did a few google searches but wasn't too sure where to start, do you remember the company you used to organize the shipment?

Brian, buying the shipping containers would definitely be an option for me. From what I understand they are lifted up at a pretty steep angle when loading onto the trucks, did you have any problems with this? I would just keep them for material storage at my final destination, so this would be a very viable option. Do you remember what your shipping cost was?

Thanks,
Andy

[Craig D Peltier]

Thanks for all of the input everyone. I've looked into most of the easier options and they don't seem to be panning out:

- Ryder's site says it doesn't even do one-way moves, am I missing something on this one?
- Penske doesn't do lift gate on one-way moves, only local. Same with budget.
- PODS and Door to Door won't deliver to my destination address (rural upstate NY)

Thanks to all for tips on blocking/bracing and especially the motors, I probably wouldn't have done any of that if you hadn't mentioned it.

You guys who have done pallet&forklift, how are you getting the heavy items fully inside the storage area of the bed after lifting them up with the forklift? I don't have a loading dock or anything to get level with a truck bed on, is there another way I'm not seeing?

John, I'm very curious to check into the rail shipping option. I did a few google searches but wasn't too sure where to start, do you remember the company you used to organize the shipment?

Brian, buying the shipping containers would definitely be an option for me. From what I understand they are lifted up at a pretty steep angle when loading onto the trucks, did you have any problems with this? I would just keep them for material storage at my final destination, so this would be a very viable option. Do you remember what your shipping cost was?

Thanks,
Andy

How big of stuff you got?
A TS an anything on mobile base can be easily wheeled up a handmade ramp with help. Might be a longish ramp pending height but it would work fine.
I have unloaded a JET TS with 50 inch rails cabinet style this way. A 20" planer as well, it was easy. I only used a few 2x4s with sheet layed over it.Was on and off in 5 minutes.

[Brian Backner]

Andy,

From what I can remember, I think I paid around $600 for the containers and another $150 or so for delivery. This was several years ago. I went down to the port of Boston (south Boston, actually) where there were THOUSANDS of them just lying around. At the time, it was cheaper to either sell or scrap them rather then ship them back to Asia as empties. I would bet the dynamic has changed a bit with the cost of oil!

Given that you are in the Pacific Northwest, I would bet you could find similar collections of containers at your nearest port.

The containers I purchased had NSD for a floor - nailable steel decking. They also take bolts fairly well, especially if you drill and tap holes for them. The loading/unloading was a concern for me so I talked with a friend of a friend that works for Yellow Freight. He thought that bolting the machines to pallets and then bolting the pallets to the floor would NOT be adequate (remember that I'm talking 2500# Bridgeports here, and not a 500# Powermatic tablesaw); adding straps around the machine and fixing those to the floor would help, but he was still leary that I wouldn't end up with something shifting catastrophically with that type of container loading/unloading.

What we eventually decided is that each machine would be palletized and strapped to the decking. Ideally, you want to drive the bolts into the underfloor support beams. The machine would then be "caged" - i.e., a series of steel tubes would be welded to the interior walls of the container at about 5-6' off the deck - the machine would then be strapped/fixed to them. Smaller containers and air bags would take up any spare volume within the cage.

A lot of work, you bet. But I have a lifetime invested in my tools. While it might be cheaper/easier to just sell my machine tools and buy new ones on the other end, that would require learning all the quirks of the "new" machines (I put new in quotes as I think the newest machine tool I have is a Reid 618H surface grinder that was manufactured in 1965!).

As I am not a mechanical engineer, I probably should hire one to figure out if it'll actually work as envisioned. Then again, maybe a six pack or two and a poker game with a couple of old time tractor trailer drivers I know may get me to the same place. I also need to find out if there are any liability issues - what happens if a Bridgeport breaks loose and squashes a VW bug kind of thing.

Brian

[Jim Becker]

One option you have for loading (and unloading) a box truck is to enlist the help of a local flat bed tow truck at each end. Machine gets winched up onto the flat bed, it's tilted flat and backed up to the box truck. You roll it off and into the box. Repeat as needed. At the other end...same deal.

Do yourself a favor and buy a big box of bulk moving pads. They can be had relatively inexpensively "out there". They will be helpful to protect your equipment and be sure to strap everything down securely so they don't shift during the long drive.

[Karl Brogger]

If you want your mobile bases to continue being mobile bases, you will want to take the tool off of them. The bouncing down the road will destroy them, or the truck.

[John Bush]

Hi Andy,
I called several shipping co.s and they either had their own agents or referred me to a shipping broker. There should be plenty of them out here. Let me know what you find out. JCB.

[Robert Parrish]

Check with a moving company for moving your heaviest tools you may find that it is cheaper and a lot easier. I moved my shop from Virginia to Florida 10 years ago and had Bekin move all my stationary tools and I moved the rest including all work benches, cabinets and several hundred feet of lumber in a Penske 24' van. Although with todays fuel surcharge it may be too expensive but again with the current real estate market they may just need the business.

[Andy Pratt]

Thanks everyone, I'm pursuing the 40' shipping container option but haven't had too much luck finding a company that will do it, hardly anyone on the web is geared toward this for an individual. I did find a site, www.uship.com (http://www.uship.com) where you list what you want done and various businesses send you estimates. The site looks pretty active, and there are a number of people who have completed transactions along the lines of mine on there, so I'm looking forward to seeing the estimates I get and hopefully finding a good shipper to work with.

From what I'm hearing, it sounds like I can get a 40' container (used) for roughly $2K and shipping will be $2-3K, which roughs out to about the cost of a rental truck and gas to go across country. If this all lines up, then I get a free shipping container in the bargain, and get to make the drive in my personal vehicle instead of a huge truck. Hopefully these estimates are close.

Thanks,
Andy

[Tony Bilello]

I know it adds to the cost, but I am with the Fork lift idea.
You can buy a used walk behind fork lift for approx. $800.
They are always for sale. You have the advantage of time on your side to look for one. The Walk behind battery operated models can usually lift 2000 lbs about 8 to 10 feet high. Do not get the hand crank type. It will take you forever to move.
Pallets are all over the place just for the taking. If you get one of these models put everything on pallets including your furniture. You will be able to load and unload all by your self. Use the lift to move the stuff in and out of the truck and a cheap Harbor Freight pallet jack will move the stuff around inside the truck.
I owned one of these fork lifts many years ago in my shop. I refinished a lot of stuff right on the pallets and stored them up high on racks.
You can easily sell the fork lift and pallet jack at your new location.

[Brian Backner]

Andy,

One of the reasons I went with 20' containers is that it much easier to find a freight company that can handle them at a residential address - getting a full size slide-off tractor trailer up my driveway would take a world class driver! The 20'ers, however, can even be handled by one of my local trash haulers.

Brian

[Tim Marks]

Lots of moving blankets and LOTS of straps and ropes (you need to tie all your heavy stuff to the wall).

I had no problems getting my PM54A 6" jointer, Grizzly edge sander, 4x6 bandsaw, Rikon 14" bandsaw, HFDC up a UHaul truck ramp on their mobile bases by myself. I took my DP to pieces for the move.

I took a couple shots at the ramp with my TS with no luck. I would strongly recommend pulling off the CI wings (if applicable), and getting a couple of people to help you wrestle it up the ramp... it will go with a couple people helping you.