Moving: need ideas

Over the summer I moved to philly. I am currently in contract for a house with a large garage and shop space. Which to my mother means i get to clear out her garage in cleveland ohio. no big deal most of the stuff will be pretty easy to fit into a uhaul truck. the company i work for has a contract with uhaul and they in my hire contract they will pay for the truck for me to move from cleveland to philly.

so the problem. back in cleveland i have a 800lbs 7.5hp 10gallon vertical air compressor. how in the world do i get this into a uhaul van??? and then get it back out?

i have car dollies, some pallets, engine hoist, come-along (sp)

uhaul trucks as far as i know and what i can tell from their website have a ramp for loading. the website lists the deck height of the truck at 32" and it seems the ramp is maybe 7ft long?

my initial thinking was to lift the compressor using the hoist onto a pallet and dollies, and then use the come-along to winch it up the ramp, but i dont know what i would attach the come-along to?

do you guys have any other suggestions?

thanks Wes

I suspect what you have is like this.
http://www.toolsource.com/vertical-stage-compressor-volt-three-phase-irt2475n75-p-101789.html?sourceid=googleps

How is moving this more difficult than moving a really big refidgerator? I would think it could be moved with a two wheel dolly that you can rent at Uhaul (or similar.)
Two wheeled hand cart and a few buddies to steady and push/pull.
Load it into the truck early and be sure to strap and secure it to the sides of the truck so it does not "shift" in transit.

Mine was bolted to a pallet when I bought it, I never unbolted it.

BTW: DO NOT yip this thing on its side! The oil gets in bad places and kills it. I think I did this to the first one but didn't tell the store selling it. They just replaced it, no questions.

Dan

U-haul may have an engine hoist for rent as well if you find a bigger dealer. Rent one with the truck for half a day and use it to put the tank into the trunk, then return it. In Philly, drop by the local U-haul place and repeat the process.

jrw1621 wrote: How is moving this more difficult than moving a really big refidgerator? I would think it could be moved with a two wheel dolly that you can rent at Uhaul (or similar.) Two wheeled hand cart and a few buddies to steady and push/pull. Load it into the truck early and be sure to strap and secure it to the sides of the truck so it does not "shift" in transit.

This. When I had to move mind we strapped it real well to a 2 wheel appliance dolly and rolled it up onto my trailer. You have a bit more of a hill to climb getting it in the truck but you should be able to roll it up in there on a dolly with a friend or 2 to assist.

75% of the weight is at the top. Real easy to tip over. Bad things then commence.

I a big commercial compressor like this about a year ago, but I had the benefit of a truck with a liftgate. It still wasn't easy, especially because I had un-level surfaces at each end of the move.

Good news is that U-Haul trucks have low deck heights. Bad news is I've never seen one with a liftgate.

The 'easiest' way to do it would be:
- bolt it to a pallet
- beg/borrow/rent a pallet jack
- buy enough beer to pay all the large friends you know to help load it; I'd have 4 guys, minimum, for this
- put it in one of the front corners of the box, and strap it like crazy, especially around the top

However, I doubt a pallet jack will fit on a U-Haul ramp, so look into that first. Anyway, having it canted so far over going up the ramp would be to your disadvantage. So, in that case that you're dealing with a ramp, use an appliance dolly under your pallet. If you're dealing with a ramp, the other problem will be that the guys on the ground will be useless once it gets about halfway up the ramp. I'd make some ramps for them to walk up out of 2x10s or something, and find a way to anchor them to the deck of the truck so they don't slide out from under the guys on the ramps.

I can't see a come-along helping, since I can't picture a sufficiently sturdy attachment point inside the box. And, aside from lifting the compressor enough to get it bolted to the pallet, I don't see the engine hoist helping too much.

The ramps on U-haul trucks are fairly long so the incline isn't all that bad, and they're plenty wide enough for an appliance dolly. With one guy pulling and one guy pushing it shouldn't be any problem to move that compressor up the ramp.

stuart in mn wrote: The ramps on U-haul trucks are fairly long so the incline isn't all that bad, and they're plenty wide enough for an appliance dolly. With one guy pulling and one guy pushing it shouldn't be any problem to move that compressor up the ramp.

Agreed. Going up/down shouldn't be too hard. But if you're on any kind of sideways incline relative to the run of the ramp, you need guys on the sides, since the guys doing the pushing/pulling will have almost no leverage to steady it side-to-side.

My family owns a large appliance dolly. You guys think a 800lb compressor can be moved by a few people with dolly.

I think so. I'd definitely put it on a pallet.

914Driver wrote: BTW: DO NOT yip this thing on its side! The oil gets in bad places and kills it. I think I did this to the first one but didn't tell the store selling it. They just replaced it, no questions. Dan

Drain the oil first.

I've seen frigs moved laying on the side. Experts say just leave them upright a couple of days before you turn it on.

spitfirebill wrote:

914Driver wrote: BTW: DO NOT yip this thing on its side! The oil gets in bad places and kills it. I think I did this to the first one but didn't tell the store selling it. They just replaced it, no questions. Dan

Drain the oil first. I've seen frigs moved laying on the side. Experts say just leave them upright a couple of days before you turn it on.

This is what I plan to do with the borderline junk compressor I'm getting from my dad. I'll let you know how it works out.

Proper refrigerator hand trucks (the kind with the small platform, 2 small hard rubber wheels, and straps to hold it on) rent for about $15 per day from any local rental supply.

It can then be handled by 1 person (though 2 is easier). I've got one. I've done it.

I wouldn't use a 4 wheeled dolly. Too top heavy. That's asking for trouble.

An appliance dolly as SVreX described is what i have.

Thanks for the input everyone i appreciate it.

Wes

Your big problem will be in Central Pennsylvania when the U-Haul breaks down and you have to move everything into the replacement truck.

Or 10 miles out of Cleveland. I was moving from Chicago to St. Louis and didn't even hit Joliet before my U-Haul shot craps.

On the other hand, if we weren't standing in that empty weigh station on I-55 waiting for the new truck, we'd have never seen the maniac in the Viper coupe run down the weigh station road at about 140 to get around some traffic. A dumb thing to do, but a sight to behold.

Yup, we use one of the good appliance carts for moving copiers up/down stairs. Two of us can do the ~300lb ones, but we use 3 or 4 for the heavier ones.

well should have done a bit more research before posting this question. spoke with our relocation dept today. turns out i have the option of a moving company to move all my crap! upon further investigation the moving company will move the compressor they will just charge extra to have a truck with a lift gate. the extra charge will be covered by my company!

so still some great advice thanks all! will remember all of this when i move next.

That's by far the best way to move one of these: have somebody else do it.

im just outside cleveland...maybe i can lend a hand when you actually move it.

lemme know

"That's by far the best way to move : have somebody else do it." Fixed that.

Ive grown up in a family that only under extreme circumstances do you have someone else do something for you. Hence the giant air compressor....

Ive moved a few times and ive helped several people move. Having someone else move me is going to be a whole new experience and i have a feeling that it will ruin me for any moves in the future

Well...I know that this has already been figured out and I'm late to the game.

But 700lbs is FREAKING HEAVY. I would not do this without at least 8 friends on hand.

Here's how it would work for me:

Buy copious amounts of high quality beer, tequilla, etc.
Advertise on facebook, GRM, email, etc to all my friends that I had above in exchange for 20 minutes worth of help with a lifting project
Refrain from dispensing any of the booze until the compressor was securely strapped into the truck
Enjoy high quality booze with friends. See...the secondary benefit is that you've just organized a kick-ass party!

Don't reverse the order at the other end of the trip, though...that would cause problems.

Instead, just repeat the process at the other end.

With a similar method to above I've successfully unloaded a moving truck in DFW, moved a miata tub on at least three occasions, stretched fence, moved a dead '59 cadillac (that one wasn't mine but proved the method), moved my own compressor (not as heavy), and other's that I can't recall right now.

Clem