Hauling pallet Racks on flatbed, any tips?

Cannonmn · Mar 20, 2017

I'm going to haul a set of pallet Racks on a 17' Sunbelt rental trailer, only trailer I can rent that should have enough room if Racks are arranged well. The Racks have 5 ea. 18' x 42" uprights, about 60 ea. 8' x 4" beams, and hundreds of 4' x 42" wire support platforms that go between two parallel beams front to back. I don't think weight is an issue, the trailer is good for 7500 lbs or so. I'm looking for advice from someone who has moved a lot of pallet rack pieces like this load. First instinct is to lay beams flat on sides touching each other and use ratchet-strap and/or chain and tensioner on both stacks of beams (one in front 8' of trailer and one in rear 8'.). Then stack the 5 uprights on top of the beams. Then stand the screens vertically in the "compartments" made by the uprights, and put those that won't fit horizontal in whatever space is left. Strap all down. We'll have 3/4" steel strapping and clips etc. on hand in case it looks like that would help somehow.

A variation that might work better would be to make square x-sec bundles of beams and strap each bundle at each end. This would ride better and ease loading and unloading (forklifts at both ends of trip) but load prep time would increase by hour or two.

Better ideas?

Chip Chester · Mar 20, 2017

Go to columbus.craigslist.org and search "pallet rack". There are a couple of listings with factory-packed wire supports, packaged beams, and uprights. Some ideas there about how the mfg's do it.

I would be tempted to to build a two-upright assembly with about 6 pair of crossbeams. Put bolts in the beams once assembled, and then turn it on its side on the trailer. You'll end up with a 8' high cage, 42" wide, and 18' long. Palletize your wire racks and put them at the front, in the 'cage'. Fill the back of the cage with the rest of the crossbeams, in bundles that you can secure once loaded. (Leave some beams off one side of the cage until loaded, then put them on and bolt them. Block up 1/2" to allow access.) Slide the other 3 uprights along the outside of the cage, and commence to strappin'.

I wouldn't rely on metal-to-metal friction to keep things stacked up straight. I think the factory uses wood between items to help prevent shifting. With your cage, shifting shouldn't get out of control, as it'll be contained.

Load balancing for tongue weight should be OK with uprights and beams basically centered, and the bias for tongue weight coming from the wire platforms. Depending on the forklift, it's possible you could build it all on the ground, and lift on/off trailer day-of-move.

Box or stake-bed would have other, quicker opportunities, for more bucks.

On edit: With 60 beams, you have 30 platforms, and with 4' wire supports you have 60 of 'em. Unless you've got lots of extras, you'll have two pallets of 30 wire supports each. Leave enough space at the "front" of the built-up cage to have the two pallets straddle the upright that's on the trailer floor, maybe by using pallets (or half-pallets) as spacers so they'll sit level and secure for strap-down. I would think 2" straps would be the minimum width -- no 1".

How are you on total weight, vs. trailer capacity and tow vehicle combined capacity?

Chip

sfriedberg · Mar 20, 2017

Chip Chester said:
I wouldn't rely on metal-to-metal friction to keep things stacked up straight. I think the factory uses wood between items to help prevent shifting.

This is a very good tip! Things will hold together so much better if you use a bit of wood/fiber blocking between the frame pieces. Ratchet straps alone are not nearly so good.

Cannonmn · Mar 21, 2017

Chip Chester said:
Go to columbus.craigslist.org and search "pallet rack". There are a couple of listings with factory-packed wire supports, packaged beams, and uprights. Some ideas there about how the mfg's do it.

I would be tempted to to build a two-upright assembly with about 6 pair of crossbeams. Put bolts in the beams once assembled, and then turn it on its side on the trailer. You'll end up with a 8' high cage, 42" wide, and 18' long. Palletize your wire racks and put them at the front, in the 'cage'. Fill the back of the cage with the rest of the crossbeams, in bundles that you can secure once loaded. (Leave some beams off one side of the cage until loaded, then put them on and bolt them. Block up 1/2" to allow access.) Slide the other 3 uprights along the outside of the cage, and commence to strappin'.

I wouldn't rely on metal-to-metal friction to keep things stacked up straight. I think the factory uses wood between items to help prevent shifting. With your cage, shifting shouldn't get out of control, as it'll be contained.

Load balancing for tongue weight should be OK with uprights and beams basically centered, and the bias for tongue weight coming from the wire platforms. Depending on the forklift, it's possible you could build it all on the ground, and lift on/off trailer day-of-move.

Box or stake-bed would have other, quicker opportunities, for more bucks.

On edit: With 60 beams, you have 30 platforms, and with 4' wire supports you have 60 of 'em. Unless you've got lots of extras, you'll have two pallets of 30 wire supports each. Leave enough space at the "front" of the built-up cage to have the two pallets straddle the upright that's on the trailer floor, maybe by using pallets (or half-pallets) as spacers so they'll sit level and secure for strap-down. I would think 2" straps would be the minimum width -- no 1".

How are you on total weight, vs. trailer capacity and tow vehicle combined capacity?

Chip

Thanks, sounds possible if the Racks have bolt-holes in addition to their teardrop-style beam-to-upright interface. Not sure they do, they are a few hours away, I'll ask seller to check but don't recall such holes. Think the uprights have square holes on face 90-degrees around from the mating surface with the teardrop holes, but there's no corresponding hole in the beam that could be used for bolting. Sorry I didn't mention the mating style in orig post.

Chip Chester · Mar 21, 2017

Two dozen holes... bring a drill. Or, use self-drill/self-tap hex head screws. This is just to keep the thing from falling apart when you tilt it. They'll have a very light load, as long as you don't strap things to the (now vertical) cross beams. If all they do is act like a fence, you're good. In a crash, you would have 12 bolts retaining the 'upright' piece that would be horizontal, 8' over trailer bed. That would be in addition to the normal attachments, which would slide forward 1" then be stopped by the normal structure. But I'd usually end up cross-strapping the top also, probably in a front/back/left/right X arrangement, all crossing in the very center. That point would be 4', and likely below the stack of beams in the cage.

Any chance they offer delivery?

Chip

Cannonmn · Mar 21, 2017

Chip Chester said:
Two dozen holes... bring a drill. Or, use self-drill/self-tap hex head screws. This is just to keep the thing from falling apart when you tilt it. They'll have a very light load, as long as you don't strap things to the (now vertical) cross beams. If all they do is act like a fence, you're good. In a crash, you would have 12 bolts retaining the 'upright' piece that would be horizontal, 8' over trailer bed. That would be in addition to the normal attachments, which would slide forward 1" then be stopped by the normal structure. But I'd usually end up cross-strapping the top also, probably in a front/back/left/right X arrangement, all crossing in the very center. That point would be 4', and likely below the stack of beams in the cage.

Any chance they offer delivery?

Chip

Thx, no delivery. Will not be making holes, but thanks for the ideas.

Milland · Mar 21, 2017

Check straps and cargo after the first mile (drive locally at low speeds to start), then after ten miles at highway speeds.

I had a near catastrophe when using cargo straps to bring a steel cart to my shop, I hadn't adequately "softened" a leg and the nylon (or polyester) strap was almost cut through by movement of the cart rubbing through the webbing. So bring some carpet or heavy cardboard to put over sharp areas. If you're using metal banding you'll just want to save the paint on the racks.

Cannonmn · Mar 21, 2017

Thanks, agreed folks have to be careful using ratchet straps. Don't buy the thin 1" wide ones unless all you are strapping is grandma's rocking chair. Advertised for 1500 lbs tension, they break at much less in my experience and are useless in a machinist biz. Get 2.5" + with a heavy ratchet mechanism that will hold up, and Lith. grease it now and then.

Milland · Mar 21, 2017

Cannonmn said:
Get 2.5" + with a heavy ratchet mechanism that will hold up, and Lith. grease it now and then.

And don't let the grease migrate to the webbing...

surplusjohn · Mar 21, 2017

Certainly strap them to themselves. Plan on the unit shifting enough to cause tension loss between themselves and the trailer.

Cannonmn · Mar 21, 2017

Correction: I meant 2.0 inch ratchet straps, and look for at least 12k lbs. breaking strength. Chinese import ones I saw for sale at Sunbelt felt like strap was only about half as thick as on my American-made 2" wide strap, and Chinese one advertises 10k breaking strength, but I doubt it.

Dan from Oakland · Mar 21, 2017

stand the uprights on edge and use heavy duty ratchet straps(not the home depot cheap ones). Run the straps over the uprights, and loop the strap thru the upright and back over the top to the other side of the trailer and secure. If you have the ability- use steel strapping to strap the uprights into bundles. If you need to stack the uprights, place 1x stickers across the 1st row and then strap over the next layer in the same manner as the 1st layer. Again, steel strapping the uprights into bundles, makes them easy to load and unload.
If you can steel strap the load beams together in neatly stacked bundles and then load on top of the uprights that whould work well. As far as the wire shelves- stack on a pallet and steel strap the shelves to the pallet. An alternative would be to stack them and stretch the crap out of them

sable · Mar 21, 2017

Another thought is ,could you hire a trailer with sides? I saw a lad load a pile of pallet racking at an auction ,that stuff was alive and just skated over itself as I am sure you are expecting hence this thread. Luckily for him he had a trailer with sides which made life a lot easier.

Milacron · Mar 21, 2017

Tie down techniques depend on if they are rusty and ugly or pristine with good paint.....rusty and ugly is easy.....otherwise it gets more complicated....I usually used 1" steel banding to hold "bundles" of stringers, in addition to straps, the uprights and wire supports are easy enough to secure.

Cannonmn · Mar 21, 2017

Dan from Oakland said:
stand the uprights on edge and use heavy duty ratchet straps(not the home depot cheap ones). Run the straps over the uprights, and loop the strap thru the upright and back over the top to the other side of the trailer and secure. If you have the ability- use steel strapping to strap the uprights into bundles. If you need to stack the uprights, place 1x stickers across the 1st row and then strap over the next layer in the same manner as the 1st layer. Again, steel strapping the uprights into bundles, makes them easy to load and unload.
If you can steel strap the load beams together in neatly stacked bundles and then load on top of the uprights that whould work well. As far as the wire shelves- stack on a pallet and steel strap the shelves to the pallet. An alternative would be to stack them and stretch the crap out of them

Thanks but what are 1x stickers?

Dan from Oakland · Mar 22, 2017

just some 1" thick lumber to keep the stack from slipping- You could use a 2 x 4 or strips of plywood etc

Chip Chester · Mar 22, 2017

"Stickers" comes from spacers used when stacking saw-cut lumber, mostly. Either that, or it's something you 'stick' in-between parts.

Steel-on-steel is very slick. Steel-on-wood, not so much. Gives your strapping a fighting chance to work, and saves paint as mentioned above. Still has its limits, though.

Chip

Cannonmn · Mar 22, 2017

Thanks all for the tips, tomorrow is it, have truck packed with whatever I might need, if I can remember to do so, I'll take a pic or two of the loaded trailer.

Cannonmn · Mar 24, 2017

Got the Racks home safely, here are some pix. We steel-strapped the parts into packages. All uprights together, 13 beams in each beam package which had 24" long steel channels under each end, and maybe 25 wire screens on each of four skids. Stopping to check straps soon after starting out is important because items had settled and most straps/chains were slack.

Milland · Mar 24, 2017

Good job, looks like an efficient load. That racking looks pretty good for used, so I bet you made out well overall.

Hauling pallet Racks on flatbed, any tips?

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