Could use some advice on moving heavy woodworking equipment

[Richard Link]

Thanks to everyone's input on my wide belt sander question, I am now planning to purchase the G0527 model from Grizzly. Now I really could use some advice concerning getting it into my garage shop....

This item weighs about 890 lbs and is about 1000 lbs in its wood slat crate. The delivery service will lift gate it onto the ground at the end of my driveway and I have to get it into the garage. I have a slightly sloped driveway (maybe 10 degrees) to negotiate, with a slight lip at the garage entrance.

A few options I have considered:

(1) Hire 8 lowland gorillas to carry the thing in brute force style (simplest but I've only been able to find 4 gorillas willing to do the job).

(2) buy a shop crane and use to lift vertically off the base of the crate and lower onto some type of heavy duty mobile base. Then just roll the thing into place. As I understand it, trying to role such an item up an incline while suspended on a shop crane is essentially an expensive form of suicide.

(3) Rent (or I guess buy) a pallet jack to lift the item. This seems like a good idea except for the fact that the thing has to go uphill slightly and is very tall. Not sure how safe or practical that would be.

Any more practical ideas that I've missed? I don't (obviously) own a forklift or a Chinook helicopter....maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all....

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rick

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Easiest is to use those 4 gorilas and the pallet jack, or rent a forklift from your local rental store and save your back and life in the process. I just purchased the Grizzly 20" planer, not much difference in weight. I had it delivered to work and the guys in recieving put it on a freinds trailer. We stipped the crate and walked it to the end of the trailer and the the use of 3 2x4's walked/slid it the rest of the way into the shop. Then I installed the third wheel and was able to move it.

[Jeff Duncan]

I would recommend the pallet jack, though I'm sure there will be several other good suggestions made. I keep several of the machines in my shop on pallets just so I can move them onto the floor when I need them. Alternatively a mobile base would be very practical also for moving the sander around. Though it won't help you with your future big purchases
good luck,
JeffD

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Richard, a pallet jack and a couple of friends will make easy work out of moving that into your garage.

Perhaps you could borrow one from work overnight?

To put it into perspective I recently moved a Hammer A3-31 up the front steps to my townhouse, down the hallway, right angle turn onto the basement stairs and then down to the basement.

Have fun with your new machine......Regards, Rod.

[Ryan Cassidy]

Got any friends with Trailers? Have the delivery service lower it on to there, back the trailer into your garage and slide it in there. Or to make it even easier, get 4 heavy duty casters (atleast 4 inch, $12 each from HD) make a small square frame out of 2x6's, have the delivery service lower it onto the frame in the back of the trailer and back it into your garage. I know the frame and the wood will hold it. I used this same setup for a year on a car I was building.

Cheers,
Ryan

[Jim Foster]

Depending on your driveway, I do not think that the liftgate service is being reasonable. I just had a 600lb tool delivered yesterday. The fellow (I helped him) pulled the pallet up my steep long driveway with pallet mover.

For the extra cost of the lifgate service (If it's $75-$150 like mine was) you should get the tool in the garage.

If it would work out better you may want to skip the tailgate service and just have the item delivered at the freight station. Rent a smaller truck with a gate and pallet mover and do it yourself. The freight station will load it onto you truck at no charge,and then hopefully in a smaller truck you can get a lot closer to the final destination.

Thanks to everyone's input on my wide belt sander question, I am now planning to purchase the G0527 model from Grizzly. Now I really could use some advice concerning getting it into my garage shop....

This item weighs about 890 lbs and is about 1000 lbs in its wood slat crate. The delivery service will lift gate it onto the ground at the end of my driveway and I have to get it into the garage. I have a slightly sloped driveway (maybe 10 degrees) to negotiate, with a slight lip at the garage entrance.

A few options I have considered:

(1) Hire 8 lowland gorillas to carry the thing in brute force style (simplest but I've only been able to find 4 gorillas willing to do the job).

(2) buy a shop crane and use to lift vertically off the base of the crate and lower onto some type of heavy duty mobile base. Then just roll the thing into place. As I understand it, trying to role such an item up an incline while suspended on a shop crane is essentially an expensive form of suicide.

(3) Rent (or I guess buy) a pallet jack to lift the item. This seems like a good idea except for the fact that the thing has to go uphill slightly and is very tall. Not sure how safe or practical that would be.

Any more practical ideas that I've missed? I don't (obviously) own a forklift or a Chinook helicopter....maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all....

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rick

[Don Bullock]

My Grizzly jointer was delivered by FedEx Freight. I paid the extra bucks Grizzly charged for liftgate service. The driver pushed the jointer on a pallet jack up my inclined driveway and into my garage. Before you panic check with the freight company to see what level of service they offer. If they don't put it in the garage for you combine #s 1 and 3. That should work. Good luck.

[Don Abele]

I've had a lot of heavy equipment delivered and each time sprung for the liftgate service. Each time they indicated they would "drop" at the end of the driveway. My driveway is about 80 feet long. Never once did they just drop it at the end. They use a pallet jack to move it from the front of the truck onto the liftgate. Then lower it. It's only a couple more minutes for them to pull it up the driveway. I've always tipped the driver $20 for his efforts (since they said it was not included in the price).

If they just drop it at the curb, the pallet jack is the best way to move it up the drive. They rent pretty cheap and if you check around, maybe someone has one at work you could borrow for a night.

Once you get it into your shop, if you plan on taking it off the pallet, that's when the gorillas will be needed.

Let us all know how it turns out.

Be well,

Doc

[George Bregar]

Should have started a thread before I alone moved a DJ-20 onto a trailer from my garage and off into my shop up north. My back only hurt for a month.

[leigh seaver]

Had an old 16" Crescent jointer delivered to the curb ... didn't want the truck on my lawn to get the jointer to the basement. I took the entire thing apart ... needed to do this anyway for the refurb ... and rolled the heavy pieces on logs/pipe about 250' into the basement. Kept me and my 12 yo son busy and out of trouble for an entire Friday afternoon.

Got a used bandsaw the same way ... took it apart to fit in the trunk of my car and reassembled it in the shop.

[John Harden]

Richard, once you get it into your shop will you ever want to move it around or will it sit in one spot forever? If you want to move it, you might consider buying Zambus (or similiar brand) casters and install them while it is still on the pallet. If you're clever you can likely sawzall away enough of the pallet that you can get at the machine to lift it with a pallet jack. Once it is up, just install the casters (or mobile base), set it back down and use them to roll it up into the garage. If you do this, don't put your hands under the load until you block it up with wood. In other words, don't trust the pallet jack to hold up 900 pounds for the time it takes you to install the casters.

Benefit of the Zambus' is once you get it where you want, you can extend the feet to level and lock it in place. The pallet jack will help here too. Pallet jacks are wonderful to have around, but they do take up a lot of space when not being used. Borrow or rent if possible.

Personally, I think the 4 lowland gorillas you scared up could handle it, but if you want to go the hard route......

[Steve Kohn]

I've had a lot of heavy equipment delivered and each time sprung for the liftgate service. Each time they indicated they would "drop" at the end of the driveway. My driveway is about 80 feet long. Never once did they just drop it at the end. They use a pallet jack to move it from the front of the truck onto the liftgate. Then lower it. It's only a couple more minutes for them to pull it up the driveway. I've always tipped the driver $20 for his efforts (since they said it was not included in the price).

If they just drop it at the curb, the pallet jack is the best way to move it up the drive. They rent pretty cheap and if you check around, maybe someone has one at work you could borrow for a night.

Once you get it into your shop, if you plan on taking it off the pallet, that's when the gorillas will be needed.

Let us all know how it turns out.

Be well,

Doc

I have had 3 very heavy Grizzly machines delivered to my house (WB Sander, 12" jointer, and 19" bandsaw). In all 3 cases I paid for liftgate service thru Grizzly as part of my order. They claim the service only includes delivery to the ground, but with a $20 tip to each driver they moved the tool into the shop.

I have all of my tools on mobile bases, custom made for each tool. I leave the tool on the pallet until the base is made. I have then been able to "walk" each machine from the pallet right onto the mobile base with the help of a friend (who also designs and welds the custom bases for me).

Needless to say my friend has full access to use any tool in the shop.

[Rob Damon]

I don't think you will have any problems, especially if you have a paved driveway. I have had several large tools delivered by freight and after contacting the freight company, thier standard line is "drop it off at lift gate" but they have all said it is up to the driver.

In all cases the driver moved it from the truck into the my shop building and I gave him a great tip. The last round a tools I had delivered all at one time was about 2200 lbs total (four tools) and one was PM 511 panelsaw, that was bulky and was too wide to get out of the truck on a pallet jack. The driver had to park on the main road, cross about 12 feet of compacted gravel driveway and roll it back about 200 feet to my shop on a concrete driveway. The heaviest was about 870# gross. No problems at all.

A engine lift will help to get it off the pallet (which you can rent), but with a little patiences, some wood blocking and a gorrila bar, you can get it off as well. It will just take a little longer to do.

Rob

[Brian Backner]

I would have to agree with the last poster, Rob, that a Johnson bar, some 2x4's, 4x4's and a lot patience will allow you to move anything. I recently had a massive metal lathe delivered to my house (I'm talking 7,000#). While the hard part was getting it to my garage, moving it while in the garage was relatively easy - put the tip of a Johnson bar under the ledges cast into the bases at either end and lever it up on a chunk of 2x4. I could only move it a 1/4 or 1/2" at a time, but I got it into position (some five feet in total) within an hour or so.

Something that weighs less than 600# or so can be moved with a 2-wheeler furniture dolly with pneumatic tires - just strap it on well and have at least one other person to help when you move it. If you need to move it across a lawn, get two sheets of 3/4" plywood and move it across them as you leapfrog them across the lawn.

Something that weighs 600-2,000# can also be moved with a Johnson bar, blocking and some sort of four wheel furniture dolly. Block it up and get it onto the dolly, using 2x material to stabilize it if necessary. Again, you can roll it along on plywood if you have an uneven surface. If you have a hill to go up, you can tow it, SLOWLY, with a tractor or even your car - but make sure you have several people to help stabilize it as it is moved. Did I mention that you should do this slowly? Once you get it into the garage/shop, reverse the process to lower it to the floor close to it's final resting place and then lever it into final position with that Johnson bar. If you have to move it quite a distance, you call also lower it on several pieces of 3/4" black iron pipe - it is amazing how much weight you can move on pipe rollers. Try to keep 3 or 4 pipes under the machine at all times and add them to the leading edge after they pop out the trailing side. Simple and very effective/easy.

My uncle was a rigger in the Army in Europe during the war and I helped him move all kinds of really heavy stuff for his rigging company when I was a kid (how about a 150 TON lathe), but stuff like that takes serious equipment and planning. Woodworking equipment doesn't need quite the same level of equipment, but planning and an overabundance of caution is still in order - even a 200# machine tipping over on you can still ruin your day in a hurry.

Brian

[Tony De Masi]

I'm with Doc and Steve. Never had a liftgate delivery just dropped at the end of the driveway. Even without offering any type of monetary enticement all three of my heavy deliveries were placed in my garage. Of course then it was time to have the gorilla friends show up to move the items to the workshop.

Tony