Machine Machine moving

[Chicken lights]

Waaaaaaaaaay to top heavy to risk moving from the bottom

90% of the machines I move get picked with a forklift

The other 10% are usually specialized machines with centre lifting lugs

I think Janger had an equipment moving thread, and I asked the difference between rigging from above or moving with forks, nobody had a good answer, but I could be wrong it’s been a few minutes

 

[DPittman]

Here is a photo of me lifting with the beams I described above.

View attachment 34544

Did you have to have water in the spray tank? I bet it needed the 3 piont hitch sprayer weight itself as minimum.

 

[Dabbler]

lots of good suggestions above. On this machine, the knee and the head will create a forward imbalance. this will stress the front part of the dovetails far more than the rear. it is much larger than @Susquatch hartford milling machine.

- I'm judging it is somewhere around 4200 lbs?

FWIW

First be sure your telehandler can handle the weight.
When I moved my 3,300 lb First mill, I took the head off to lower the centre of gravity, and even the balance front to back. (175 lbs 6 feet up)
-- it may be easier to take the whole ram assembly off at the pivot. There are only 4 skimpy 10" long bolts holding the pivot to the top of the column..... It will also take about 470 lbs of high mass making it a *lot* less tipsy.

If you do that, your safest move is to lift it onto a pallet and securely strap it to the pallet., and use the pallet forks of the telehandler. This is how they are all shipped - on a pallet, bolted through with 1/2" bolts.

-- this assumes that at home you have the lifting equipment to put the ram assembly back on top of the column!

 

[PaulL]

No, I just remember the ad and your locale.

Will your 9x49 be going on the market? I'm not asking for me but someone else could be interested.

@PaulL - is yours the same machine and do you have a book for it? Did you sling it for the move?

No, mine is the smaller model. The smaller one slings around the top assembly, just at the dovetails, and balances beautifully there - I can lift it with the gantry and it's less than 1/2" off-kilter.

(Edit
It's the LC-1 1/2 that I have. Same as @technico

 

[Dabbler]

@PaulL do you also have a First 9X49?

 

[Susquatch]

Did you have to have water in the spray tank? I bet it needed the 3 piont hitch sprayer weight itself as minimum.

No. It was empty. But the rear wheels are filled with calcium.

The perspective of the photo also makes the tractor look smaller than it is. It's a beast. It has zero problems moving machinery like that.

 

[Susquatch]

it is much larger than @Susquatch hartford milling machine.

Actually, that's a Varidrive Bridgeport I'm lifting. But still, you are right. The subject machine is bigger.

I agree that pallets are optimum. If I have concerns with that it is with the pallet itself. Things are only as strong as their weakest link. A softwood pallet that is assembled with an air nailer really isn't much more than a flimsy spacer. A hardwood pallet assembled with bolts is clearly far superior. If we are moving our own equipment, it is worth the effort to make a good pallet.

 

[Engmaxx]

No threaded hole for lifting eyebolt? I know it is not the same machine and heavier but worth looking into. You can see mine off the floor in the pic: balance wasn't an issue. Whatever you do with yours, you will move it slowly.

 

[PaulL]

A hardwood pallet assembled with bolts is clearly far superior.

My little power hammer was delivered on a welded steel pallet. That thing was *secure* on there.

 

[DPittman]

No. It was empty. But the rear wheels are filled with calcium.

The perspective of the photo also makes the tractor look smaller than it is. It's a beast. It has zero problems moving machinery like that.

It's a beautiful tractor, when I win the lottery I'm buying one just like it. Perfect size, big enough to do something but smaller enough not to be lugubrious.

 

[DPittman]

It's a beautiful tractor, when I win the lottery I'm buying one just like it. Perfect size, big enough to do something but smaller enough not to be lugubrious.

Edit. The new tractor of course would be needed to move the brand new milling machine and lathe.

 

[historicalarms]

My little power hammer was delivered on a welded steel pallet. That thing was *secure* on there.

That was my first thought when I looked at the photo....big beautiful machine that looks valuable enough to warrant a lifting cage be built so it can be lifted from the top of the cage so no stress on those dovetails'

 

[Susquatch]

It's a beautiful tractor, when I win the lottery I'm buying one just like it. Perfect size, big enough to do something but smaller enough not to be lugubrious.

I cannot say enough good things about that tractor. I have beat it up pretty badly and it has never complained. I call it my little tractor that could.

I got it practically new 40 years ago from a landscaping business that went bankrupt.

It pulls like a bulldozer
It lifts like a hydraulic ram
It starts at 30 below
It plows like it has 200hp
It's never given me trouble
It just works

It's a 3 gear stick plus reverse on 4 ranges including a creeper. Plenty for my needs.

At first, the farmers around here laughed when they saw it. But now they all call me when they need some extra oomph. It will lift what much bigger tractors won't. The loader is stronger than the tractor. My limit is keeping the wheels on the ground.

 

[DPittman]

I cannot say enough good things about that tractor. I have beat it up pretty badly and it has never complained. I call it my little tractor that could.

I got it practically new 40 years ago from a landscaping business that went bankrupt.

It pulls like a bulldozer
It lifts like a hydraulic ram
It starts at 30 below
It plows like it has 200hp
It's never given me trouble
It just works

It's a 3 gear stick plus reverse on 4 ranges including a creeper. Plenty for my needs.

At first, the farmers around here laughed when they saw it. But now they all call me when they need some extra oomph. It will lift what much bigger tractors won't. The loader is stronger than the tractor. My limit is keeping the wheels on the ground.

I was shocked to read that you purchased that tractor 40 years ago. According to to Tractor Data they made those tractors from 1998-2001.

TractorData.com John Deere 5210 tractor information

www.tractordata.com

It's a cinch that the old American/Canadian made tractors were fantastically well built.

 

[historicalarms]

I call it my little tractor that could.

that FWA multiply,s a tractors usefulness many time over

 

[Dabbler]

No threaded hole for lifting eyebolt?

Not me. I have now seen 2 rams with the eyebolt section blown out. A real Bridgeport from the 1960s, and and a Chinese clone BP. The one I was told, blew out before the machine left the floor. the other the machine fell about a foot and broke the floor. The clone was for parts, as it was ruined.

Yes, I know that the manual says it can be done. I lift all my machines from their strongest point, and deal with the tipping issues using secondary support straps, or tying to a pallet, etc. On a machine that heavy, even the dovetails are at risk from zippering due to imbalance.

 

[phaxtris]

Imo that lifting eye is more in place to lift the ram section from the mill, and not the entire mill, although people do it an the manual may say you can

That's just a lot of faith to put on the cast iron threads of a single hole, I surely wouldn't trust it myself

 

[Susquatch]

I was shocked to read that you purchased that tractor 40 years ago. According to to Tractor Data they made those tractors from 1998-2001.

Holy Crap! Obviously that guess was wrong by a factor of two! It feels like a lot longer than that to me. But I do confess it was a guess. A very bad one at that! LOL!

 

[Susquatch]

that FWA multiply,s a tractors usefulness many time over

I don't know why they call it assist. It's a full lock. It will rip the snott out of your gravel or grass if you forget to disengage it.

All three of my tractors have it. You are right - it multiplies the usefulness many times over.

 

[DPittman]

I don't know why they call it assist. It's a full lock. It will rip the snott out of your gravel or grass if you forget to disengage it.

All three of my tractors have it. You are right - it multiplies the usefulness many times over.

Ya I've never fully understood that term either. I suspect that meant a tractor that did not have front tires the same size as the rear and could be shifted out of 4wd and were not crab steering (center-articulating). I guess the front wheels were "assisting" the rear which were providing the majority of the traction.