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Old 12-14-2016, 12:41 PM
 
Location: Texas Hill Country
23,473 posts, read 13,705,229 times
Reputation: 18684

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Here's the immediate thing: my incoming just under 300 lbs generator is coming without its wheel kit. That part has been delayed for a month. Not too much of a worry since the generator is not to be immediately part of the set up.

The delivery people are going to, (said, hopefully), unload it into the bed of my pick up. A trick I've learned (but have never tried) is to put piping in the bed of the pick up so it is loaded on top of that and can be pushed moved inside the bed. Then, I figure, have a real strong ramp to get it from the truck to the garage. Having additional piping and a hand truck available may be a way to move it around as needed.

The question is, are there other ways to move heavy stuff from/to the truck bed when one doesn't have a crane, block and tackle framework, or a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends?
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Old 12-14-2016, 01:02 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,267,254 times
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For a only a 300 lb generator, I'd call two guys (or one Really strong guy ) to come help. If that's not possible could you dolly it down off the truck on a ramp? Could you back the truck up to a ditch or small hill and just shimmy it out on level ground and then dolly it around. The piping thing sounds like a lot. My friend just ordered a big generator from Home Depot with free crate shipping to his door in Alaska. Could you pay the delivery guys a few extra bucks to deliver it all the way out?

Good luck.
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Old 12-14-2016, 01:48 PM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
6,744 posts, read 8,511,175 times
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You can also use a tripod using at least 4 inch poles, tied together at the top.
The legs are set so one to each side of the truck, and one to the rear. Then you can attach a come-along to the joint, lift your load, drive the truck out from underneath, and set the load down on the ground or on a wheeled dolly base, then you can move it wherever you want easily.

Cheap, portable, pretty stable. If you want added stability, you can run a rope from the bottom of the legs to each other so they don't kick out, but you can still drive over them.

If you just have a couple of boards at least 2 inches thick, you can use them as slide ramps. put them under the load sticking straight out, then as you move the load to the rear, the ends of the boards will drop to the ground, and the load slides out.
If you try to just use the boards as ramps, it can be tough to get the edge of the load over the ends without pushing the boards away, so I prefer to put them under the load first.

If you have the trucking company load it on a dolly for you, you'll need to secure it pretty good in the truck for moving, but once you're home, you can run it down ramps and around the garage easily.

Hand trucks aren't really good for awkward loads unless you have help. They can overbalance and injure you are break your load.

Use imagination, and you can move mountains
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Old 12-14-2016, 03:13 PM
 
Location: Texas Hill Country
23,473 posts, read 13,705,229 times
Reputation: 18684
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip View Post
You can also use a tripod using at least 4 inch poles, tied together at the top.
The legs are set so one to each side of the truck, and one to the rear. Then you can attach a come-along to the joint, lift your load, drive the truck out from underneath, and set the load down on the ground or on a wheeled dolly base, then you can move it wherever you want easily.

Cheap, portable, pretty stable. If you want added stability, you can run a rope from the bottom of the legs to each other so they don't kick out, but you can still drive over them.

If you just have a couple of boards at least 2 inches thick, you can use them as slide ramps. put them under the load sticking straight out, then as you move the load to the rear, the ends of the boards will drop to the ground, and the load slides out.
If you try to just use the boards as ramps, it can be tough to get the edge of the load over the ends without pushing the boards away, so I prefer to put them under the load first.

If you have the trucking company load it on a dolly for you, you'll need to secure it pretty good in the truck for moving, but once you're home, you can run it down ramps and around the garage easily.

Hand trucks aren't really good for awkward loads unless you have help. They can overbalance and injure you are break your load.

Use imagination, and you can move mountains
Thank you!

This is the type of answer to keep this thread on track. Now, it is a pickup truck; another time it may be a horse drawn carriage. The point of this thread is how to move things into "transport" on one's own.

As it is, a friend has offered to help me on the generator, so the immediate problem is not such a load......but there will be others, no doubt.
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Old 12-14-2016, 04:08 PM
 
136 posts, read 134,605 times
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Borrow a dolly or two and a ramp from a local piano mover. My dads been moving all sorts of pianos for 40 years, and they all weigh more than 300 lbs. Amazing how much weight one or two people can move with the right stuff and technique
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Old 12-14-2016, 04:09 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,267,254 times
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I still think a small hill/ramp/ledge at truck bed level that you back up to is the easiest fastest way to safely move heavy items in and out of a truck, short of a fork lift, lift gate or a truck mounted crane. Like a loading dock. Flat on one side so you can back right up to it with a gradual slope down to ground level. Maybe built out of some railroad ties and some packed down gravel. If you have a steep ditch or a natural hill, even better. Safe and reliable and requires no rigging. They've used sloped ramps for millennia to get stuff done. Wooden board ramps scare me unless properly tied down tight to the bumper so they don't slide out. I have a couple of hand carts and a multiuse flat dolly/cart with big knobby tires that you can pull like a wagon weighted through bumpy terrain and won't tip over.
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Old 12-14-2016, 04:48 PM
 
Location: Backwoods of Maine
7,485 posts, read 10,435,834 times
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I agree that wheels are the way to go. Setting up rigging or a come-along can be a PITA. If you can get that genny on wheels in the pickup bed, you can ratchet strap it in there so it won't budge. Once home, it'll be easier to roll it off a ramp of some sort, than to get 2 guys to wrestle it off.

Congrats on a nice new toy!
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Old 12-17-2016, 03:25 PM
 
Location: Log "cabin" west of Bangor
7,058 posts, read 9,020,035 times
Reputation: 15622
Some years ago, I bought a pellet stove at Lowes, it weighed a little less than 300lbs. I got a guy to help me lift it into the back of the pick-up, but I had to get it out myself when I got home. I backed the truck up to the deck which gave me about a 6" height advantage. I had a round-seat stool that had a height adjustment by rotating the seat, I set it at the tailgate and raised the height as far up as it would go. I took off the door of the stove to save a little weight, slid it to the end of the truck and then lifted it to the stool.

After pulling the truck away I rotated the stool until it was as low as it would go, then lifted it off to the deck. Strapped it to a 2-wheel dolly and in the house it went. Necessity is the mother of invention and a little ingenuity helps.
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Old 12-21-2016, 09:50 AM
 
Location: Texas Hill Country
23,473 posts, read 13,705,229 times
Reputation: 18684
Quote:
Originally Posted by tc556guy View Post
Borrow a dolly or two and a ramp from a local piano mover. My dads been moving all sorts of pianos for 40 years, and they all weigh more than 300 lbs. Amazing how much weight one or two people can move with the right stuff and technique
It went something like that.

My builder helped me. We met the delivery truck at the entrance to the ranch, I was guided in as I backed the pickup to the rear of the delivery truck. The delivery man used pallet jack to back the generator out of his truck and it was pushed into the bed of mine.

Inside the ranch, my builder brought a furniture dolly and lent it to me for a while. The two of us pulled and lifted the generator down to the dolly and that was it. The generator was pushed to the back of the garage for now.

I did open it up, it looks beautiful and now I await on it's wheel kit......and the battery that apparently didn't come with it. Got to track that one down.

I did get the hard wood poles to use as rollers inside the bed, but my builder just threw those to the back as not needed. Perhaps some other job.
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