Can Vidmar cabinets be safely moved full of stuff?

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Borealis

Aluminum

Joined

Jul 22, 2021

• Jul 28, 2021

• #1

Some years back I bought several Vidmar cabinets made to be mounted in a vehicle. They're similar to the normal Vidmar offerings--60" tall, roughly 30" wide and 30" deep, but they have drawer locks that keep them from rolling open when you go around a curve. None of the drawers have more than 100 lb of stuff. Most have maybe 50 pounds and I recall they're rated for 400 lb per drawer. These are 9-drawer cabinets, btw, so let's guess the total weight of stuff in each cabinet is 500#.

Question for someone with experience in these matters: Can these Vidmar cabinet frames be pallet jacked/forklifted without damage while leaving the drawers in?

 

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JasonPAtkins

Hot Rolled

Joined

Sep 30, 2010

Location

Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

• Jul 28, 2021

• #2

Borealis said:

Some years back I bought several Vidmar cabinets made to be mounted in a vehicle. They're similar to the normal Vidmar offerings--60" tall, roughly 30" wide and 30" deep, but they have drawer locks that keep them from rolling open when you go around a curve. None of the drawers have more than 100 lb of stuff. Most have maybe 50 pounds and I recall they're rated for 400 lb per drawer. These are 9-drawer cabinets, btw, so let's guess the total weight of stuff in each cabinet is 500#.

Question for someone with experience in these matters: Can these Vidmar cabinet frames be pallet jacked/forklifted without damage while leaving the drawers in?

Click to expand...

I've done it, but used pinch bars to lift them so that the forks are going under the legs of the cabinet that are normally in contact with the floor (because that point is obviously designed to support the load). Never wanted to try by lifting in between the legs when loaded. The way I do it, it doesn't bend any sheet metal.

 

crossthread

Titanium

Joined

Aug 5, 2004

Location

Richmond,VA,USA

• Jul 28, 2021

• #3

I picked mine up with a skid steer and moved it across the shop full. No problem if you go really slow and don't hit any bumps. Like Mr. Atkins said, make darn sure you pick it up from under the rails.

 

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Dan from Oakland

Titanium

Joined

Sep 15, 2005

Location

Oakland, CA

• Jul 28, 2021

• #4

Ours are up on blocks so we can get under them with a pallet jack and we pick them up under the rails, but we have moved them with a forklift between the rails with no issues. If your drawers are heavily loaded, the shell can and does rock and twist a bit regardless of how they are picked up, but just be aware and go slow.

 

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Borealis

Aluminum

Joined

Jul 22, 2021

• Jul 28, 2021

• #5

Roger. Thanks for all the replies. We'll pick 'em from under the rails and go slow.

 

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Cyclotronguy

Stainless

Joined

Sep 21, 2005

Location

Northern California

• Jul 29, 2021

• #6

I have lista, Kennedy and a canadian equiv (rosseau) all with fork lift bases And have moved all full several times. But that said theyve alwas gone in the truck with the drawrers up againt the trailer box. The latchwork for the drawres is a bit sketchy when a 30" drawrere is full of Cat40's

When lifting they're on wood stickers with the top tied off to the mast of the lift truck,

 

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Dan from Oakland

Titanium

Joined

Sep 15, 2005

Location

Oakland, CA

• Jul 30, 2021

• #7

Stretch wrap on the drawers works too. If you are going to truck them full, stretch wrap them to each other or strap them to keep them from twisting/racking.

 

PWP

Hot Rolled

Joined

Apr 1, 2005

Location

Bourbon, Missouri

• Sep 24, 2021

• #8

All my Vidmar's and Lista's sit on steel frames I fabricated from 4 inch channel and heavy angle Iron. In fact all my cabinets are on these skids I made, It makes it easy to move cabinets around with a standard pallet jack. When I moved, I placed 2x12's in front of the drawers and strapped around them in 3 places. Unloaded with a Bobcat T250 skid steer.

 

PWP

Hot Rolled

Joined

Apr 1, 2005

Location

Bourbon, Missouri

• Sep 24, 2021

• #9

All my Vidmar's and Lista's sit on steel frames I fabricated from 4 inch channel and heavy angle Iron. In fact all my cabinets are on these skids I made, It makes it easy to move cabinets around with a standard pallet jack. When I moved, I placed 2x12's in front of the drawers and strapped around them in 3 places. Unloaded with a Bobcat T250 skid steer.

View attachment 330083

 

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swarfmeister

Aluminum

Joined

Aug 29, 2017

• Sep 24, 2021

• #10

Shrink wrap them so the drawers stay shut, and if you're putting them on a truck put them face to face just in case. I've moved literally hundreds of them that way with contents without incident.

 

matt_isserstedt

Diamond

Joined

Dec 15, 2003

Location

suburbs of Ann Arbor, MI, USA

• Sep 25, 2021

• #11

I moved all of mine loaded. It takes a smaller fork cross-section to get underneath it, the big 2" thick hogs won't go under freely.

I just spaced the forks as wide as I possibly could mainly to improve stability (high CG and narrow grip and high potential for it to go bad).

Its easy to overload a trailer if you don't think carefully about the actual loaded weight. A single cabinet can easily hold >1000 lbs if you have a lot of steel.