Hello. I haven’t posted here in a while, but could really use some advice. I am taking delivery of a mid-sized lathe soon, but will have to store it in a climate-controlled storage unit until I'm able to find suitable shop space. The manufacturer will ship the lathe in a crate that has a footprint of 33”x64” and a height of 60”. It will weigh 800 lbs. I’ll somehow need to get it off the truck and into my storage unit with the help of only one or two other people. I intend to build a heavy duty platform on heavy duty casters, onto which I’ll place the crated lathe. I already own the casters -- they have 6" wheels and are rated for up to 500 lbs apiece. And I'll construct the platform out of inexpensive 2"x4"s -- my plan is to essentially laminate a bunch of them as you would a cutting board. But how do I get the crated lathe on top of it? And how do I wheel the whole thing over a 3" lip and over a door's threshold?
Being a mostly hand-tool woodworker, I am unfamiliar with moving and managing any kind of heavy equipment. I have done a fair amount of research on how others move things of this size and weight, but am unsure of what method will be best for me. Many people suggest lifting the crate from above, whether using an engine lift or some other device. This approach isn’t suitable for me. Others suggest using blocking. If I understand them correctly, I think the approach would be to insert two beams through the crate’s pallet, lift one side, place blocking underneath the beams, and then repeat on the other side. I guess I’d keep doing this incrementally until I get the crate 11” off the ground, at which point I would be able to wheel my platform underneath. This method concerns me given that the crate is only 33” wide for its 60” height. Uncontrollable tipping is a real concern. And how would I even slightly tip something that weighs 800 lbs?
I wonder if the simplest method would be best for me. What if I were to lower the crate on the lift gate, stop the gate at the same height as my platform, abut my platform up against the gate, lock the casters, and then slide the crate onto the platform? Sounds reasonable, but I have no idea of whether it’s even possible to slide an 800 lb crate with only one or two other people. Is it possible, or is it just too heavy? I really have no idea. What do you think?
If it’s not possible, I imagine I could use a pallet jack to drive the crate onto the lift gate, lower it to the hight of my platform, and then drive the pallet jack with the crate onto it. This approach presents two problems: 1) do all lift-gated delivery trucks even travel with pallet jacks?, 2) would I have to build my platform much wider than the dimensions of the crate to allow the pallet jack to drive on top of it? There are solutions to these problems, but both are very inconvenient — borrowing a pallet jack and transporting it in my car to the storage unit will be very difficult; building a platform bigger than the 33"x64” crate could create an issue with doorway clearance.
Lastly, I am concerned with the 3” high “step” from the driveway up onto the concrete entrance to the storage unit. I suppose I could make some sort of wedge/ramp to help wheel it up. But getting the mobile platform with the 800 lb crate on top of it over the doorway’s threshold will have to be done with nothing more than muscle and finesse. Is it even possible to wheel an 800 lb items up ANY kind of incline or over ANY kind of obstruction like a threshold? I honesty don’t know.
Thank you very much for reading through my long-winded questions. This is going to be a challenging(for me) delivery and I could use any suggestions, advice, thoughts anyone has to offer. I truly will very much appreciate it!
Best,
David