Move 3800-Pound Lathe in Penske Truck?

Chips O'Toole

H-M Supporter - Gold Member
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Messages
525
I have a 3800-pound lathe and a Chaiwan Bridgeporty mill, plus a vertical compressor. I need to move them 300 miles and have them put down in my workshop.

My original quote, for these machines plus a heavy drill press and a vertical band saw, was $4000, which was not great, but acceptable. I moved the band saw and drill press myself and called again. This time: $7700. I called another outfit, and they're talking $7000.

A guy from the second company suggested I rent a Penske truck, have the machines loaded by a rigger, drive the machines here myself, and have another rigger unload them.

Does this sound realistic? I'm amazed to hear that riggers can put a 7-foot-long lathe into an ordinary Penske truck that isn't a flatbed. I'm also surprised that it can be done in such a way that the load will be stable enough for an amateur to handle.
 
I think I would buy or rent a trailer and do the job myself for that price . You could rent a forklift to load the trailer up .
 
I can't do rigging alone. I don't have help, and I don't have the knowledge to fasten the machines down correctly.
 
It is all too easy to have machines tip over in transit or slide off the forks of a forklift; it has never happened to me personally, but there were a few close calls, I have hired riggers to move my larger machines, up to 19,000 lbs, and it was money well spent.
 
You can stuff the machines in there with a reach forklift. But the problem I see is tying the machines down for transport. Most of those trucks do not have any tie down points. A flatbed trailer and a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup would be my choice.
 
I know some people hire tilt-bed tow trucks to move heavy equipment. They have a heavy duty winch to pull it on, though getting it off could be interesting. No idea what it would cost but surely waaaay less than $7000, just pay him well and provide some big-ass straps.

If not that, then rent a drop-bed trailer and move it yourself. It's not hard to tie down stuff, just "be the load" and visualize what it's going to try and do, then add straps to prevent it.
 
Personally I would rent a drop deck trailer (also known as a hydraulic ground level trailer), and pull it with a pickup truck. Several rental companies offer them in a multitude of sizes. Here's a link to one available from United rental.


I used a smaller single axle one to move my Sheldon lathe about 150 miles. I had the trailer 3 days and the total cost was less than $150.00

Here are a couple pictures of the lathe on the trailer. In the first one the trailer is in the up position ready to be towed. In the second one the trailer bed is lowered to unload the machine. The last picture shows how 1" diameter bars were placed under the cabinets to roll in onto and off of the trailer.

This is a single axle model with only a 5,000 lb. capacity. The larger ones are dual axle, up to 14' long, and can handle 10,000 lbs.

DSC01030A.jpgDSC01031A.jpgDSC01036A.jpg
 
Pretty much as stated above - paying the riggers at each end is a good idea, have some doubts about the Penske truck (vs a trailer or flatbed).
Riggers are not cheap, but from a safety standpoint having them deal with the machines is the way to go.
 
If renting a trailer is an option for you, the link below will show you the type of trailer I recommend. The deck lowers essentially to the ground with only slight grade. Search your local rental yards for availability Of a unit with adequate GVWR. Even if you had to rent a truck to tow it and all new tie downs, I suspect you can save 1/2 of the $7K.

Trailer type reference, many brands available.

Edit; Others posted while I was working on mine. Excuse the redundancy.
 
Reminds me of the priceless instagram video seen recently: a major hauling truck rounding a bend with clearly too much weight behind it. Front wheel rose up in the air, the truck rolled to the verge, then slowly, even in full braking mode, rolled backwards until it flipped over. Classic video as long as it's not you...

Tim
 
Back
Top