Loading a J series B-Port

twstoerzinger

twstoerzinger

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I am looking at a Bridgeport mill being offered for sale by a school district. It has always been used in their shop program and never used for production. It appears to be lightly used.
The price seams reasonable, but they are saying that there is no dock facility available, no help with loading, and will not allow the use of school tools or equipment.
To further complicate pick-up, they want to restrict the access time to 2 hours.
If I were to show up with an appropriately rated trailer behind my pickup, any good ideas on how to move a 2200 lb Bridgeport through a garage door, and then lift and load it into the trailer?
I could pre-fab a shipping skid from 4x4's with a 2" lumber deck to allow movement with a 4000 lb pallet jack that I have.
I can envision using ramps and a pair of come-alongs to winch the mill into the trailer once it is safely bolted to a stable skid.
I am still trying to imagine a way to get the mill onto the skid (while yet in the building), using only equipment that I would bring along - in 2 hours.
Any ideas or history is appreciated.
(I am also looking at some other mills where there is forklift assistance available for loading).
Thanks,
Terry S.
 
Is the garage door a loading dock??
If not, just get it up on skids and get it out the door... then you can take all the time you need ot get it in the trailer!
(bring friends!)

I toe jack and some cribbing should bet it up onto some skids, then work it out the door on some 3/4" pipes Egyptian style.
(hopefully there isn't a sever grade to the area!)

With a winch at the front of the trailer, and a strong ramp (4 or 5 4X4s?) you could likely get it all the way on the trailer in
similar fashion.
 
twstoerzinger said:
I am looking at a Bridgeport mill being offered for sale by a school district. It has always been used in their shop program and never used for production. It appears to be lightly used.
The price seams reasonable, but they are saying that there is no dock facility available, no help with loading, and will not allow the use of school tools or equipment.
To further complicate pick-up, they want to restrict the access time to 2 hours.
If I were to show up with an appropriately rated trailer behind my pickup, any good ideas on how to move a 2200 lb Bridgeport through a garage door, and then lift and load it into the trailer?
I could pre-fab a shipping skid from 4x4's with a 2" lumber deck to allow movement with a 4000 lb pallet jack that I have.
I can envision using ramps and a pair of come-alongs to winch the mill into the trailer once it is safely bolted to a stable skid.
I am still trying to imagine a way to get the mill onto the skid (while yet in the building), using only equipment that I would bring along - in 2 hours.
Any ideas or history is appreciated.
(I am also looking at some other mills where there is forklift assistance available for loading).
Thanks,
Terry S.
Click to expand...

I can't remember if BP have a lifting eye bolt or not. If you can get a wrecker with a boom in there they should not have any problem lifting it up on your trailer. Good luck
 
You might just want to touch base with some heavy equipment movers they'll pick it up that one and set it down at the other, and no one gets hurt including the equipment.

- - - Updated - - -

You might just want to touch base with some heavy equipment movers they'll pick it up at one and set it down at the other, and no one gets hurt including the equipment.
 
If you Google "Moving a Bridgeport" you will find several forum threads of how it's been done.

Steve
 
I usually first give thought on how it was put in there in the first place. It doent need to big of a rented
fork lift. We moved ours with the forks right under the ram, carry it low. Pallet jack will work just get
her out the door.
 
It is money well spent getting someone with a ramp truck to move it. Put it on skids and they don't need to be real stout. Pipes under the skids just to help it across the floor. I just did this same thing about a month ago and once I got it to the door it took about 10 minutes to get it on the truck. I did make a toe jack to fit on top of a 4 ton bottle jack that helped greatly. Once you get it home you can unload it with pipe rollers and assisted by the ramp truck winch to ease it onto the floor.

mill jack.jpg
 
Portable engine cherry picker would be a great thing to have or borrow. I would only raise it enough to put a pallet under it and slide the pallet into the trailer and strap it down like there is no shortage of rope or straps anywhere. Make sure you collapse it as much as possible and rotate the head so that the motor is down and that will lower the center of gravity and make it a little more stable on the trailer. If you have a smaller trailer I would make sure I reinforced the floor with a couple of sheets of ply to insure it wont push through when you hit a bump on the road. Tie it down well, lower it and take your time and it will work out just fine. If you have a friend with a real wrecker he can load it for you in about 5 minutes and take it off at the house in about the same amount of time too. Definitely worth a couple of adult beveridges for the help.

Bob
 
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