Help: Riggers in Detroit/Toledo area
Question:
I finally aquired a 13 inch lathe from an auction last week.
The challenge now is to move it from the auction site in
Toledo, OH to my garage in the Metro Detroit area. No, I
don't have a dock at my house so there lies some complication.
I called a few riggers and a few seemed hessitant about doing
such a small and troublesome job in that they have to bring
a lift along. If it's not a big job and big money, they aren't
interested.
I know there are a few of you in the area and would appreciate
some input and recomendations. Possibilities of renting a lift
gate truck and having a rigger simply load the truck has
potential as well.I've used my local wrecker service several times to move
machinery. A rollback is just the ticket when you don't have a dock, or only
have one of the low "city docks" (36 inches). My latest move was a full size
mill that I bought from a place with only a city dock. The rollback operator
extended and lowered the bed to match their dock, winched the pallet
holding the mill onto the truck, then drove to my place and set it down on
my shop floor slick as you please.
Note the move will go easier if the machine is on a pallet. Access to a
pallet jack at each end is also very helpful for moving it around before
and after the truck ride. The only slightly tricky part is getting the machine
on and off the pallet.Any and all moving experience
Answer:
_You might try giving Wixom towing a call at 248 624-8070. They
delivered a forklift for me on a rollback. They move a lot of
machinery. The deadhead down to Toledo is going to cost, though.
Riggers will be expensive. It would probably be cheaper to rent a
flat bed truck from, say Home Depot, and have a towing service to put
the lathe on and pull it off when you get it back. I generally get
charged around $75 to pull something off my truck.
If you do get somebody to load/unload the lathe, a load leveler is a
useful thing to have, but not absolutely necessary.
_The tilt-beds are a nice idea, but you are stuck with the portal to
portal rental. Another suggestion for the on and off loading is a
conventional tow-truck with a Holmes type wrecker that can either
swing or extend a boom arm to pick up the machine. One truck in
Toledo, and one at home. By the way, the best thing is just to sling
it with a choker web strap right in front of the chuck, down through
the ways hole and around a cleated 2 X 4. You have another strap a
two holes further along the bed, but first you'll want to have the
carriage and tail-stock at the extreme end of the bed, and as you
start to lift you bring the carriage towards the head-stock to achieve
a semi-balance.
I'll be in Detroit for the day on November 26. I moved a 15" on a
borrowed (no longer available to me) trailer used to move antique cars
around. Gunners right about the "tippy" bit. I had (maybe still do)
some omega shaped rails that I bolted on to steady the lathe and to
spread the load to the wheel tracks. If I can help, let me know in
advance.
Looks like an English machine, what with the carriage handwheel on the
right. What's that sort of guided roller thingy attached to the
back-splash right behind the tail-stock handle in your photo?
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