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Easiest way to move a forklift 40 miles?

snowman

Diamond
Joined
Jul 31, 2004
Location
Southeast Michigan
Weight is 8500 lbs.

I was going to rent a trailer and pull it behind a 4x4 F150...but lift deck trailer rating is only 7000 lbs and I'm not sure it will lift up with 8500 lbs on it.

Roads are all country roads so it's not like I'd be doing 65 on the interstate, but it's still about 2,000 lbs over max haul weight.

Should I be able to call the average wrecker?
 
I would probably tow it with an F150 but thats not exactly the best idea... a wrecker will do the job and you can wipe your hands of all liability.
 
Weight is 8500 lbs.

I was going to rent a trailer and pull it behind a 4x4 F150...but lift deck trailer rating is only 7000 lbs and I'm not sure it will lift up with 8500 lbs on it.

Roads are all country roads so it's not like I'd be doing 65 on the interstate, but it's still about 2,000 lbs over max haul weight.

Should I be able to call the average wrecker?

A small single axle car hauler roll back didn't have any trouble with the small forklift I moved last year. Tag said it weighs about 8500lbs or so. $300 bucks for about 50 miles.

0403171440.jpg
 
I've considered it when it was just a few miles...but 40 may be a bit much! Plus there's a stretch of dirt road that would really suck! lol

I figured a tow truck would be about $300, since the trailer would be $100...I think that's a pretty reasonable price.
 
Roll back wrecker, $75.

Out here, that's a minimum hundred bucks call-out and ten bucks a mile for one that safely manages 8500 lbs. with decent reserve for the awkward goods.

Local rental agency, it's but $80 drop, $80 recover, but I'm renting THEIR FL, too, that's their own rollback, and I'm a long-term repeat customer within 5 miles.

If "tow truck" really is only $300, your environment? I would do that and move on to the next priority.

"Planning" to save that other two hundred seems to always involve several times that figure worth of shredded wallet, if not also the arse meat UNDER it.
 
I've been able to hire a boom wrecker for 75 to lift a bridgeport or something before, but I want to say a rollback was 90 to start then 4 a mile port to port last I checked. But that was for a car.

I'll call around in the morning. If it's too much, I'll use the trailer...I'd really rather have someone else do it though. Once the trailer gets over about 6,000 lbs I start to wimp out...I'm not a good enough driver and am more than willing to admit it.
 
If it's due any service, see what a forklift repair shop/dealer would charge for pickup/delivery and maintenance. Could be attractive alternative. Pickup and dropoff don't have to be at the same address.
 
Other options drop the forks and counterweight and move it as a 2 separate loads and you should be well within that trailers rating.
 
Years ago I roaded an old Bay City truck crane from Vernonia Or. to Nyssa Or. As far west and east as you could get in the state.
Top speed with a tailwind was 26 mph. Many mountains and skinny roads. 6 days later the boss was happy to have saved the money on
the low-boy. Never could figure that one out.
 
When I moved a 6,500# cnc a few years ago I was surprised at how much difference there was in the price between many quotes. I had a couple that were over $1,000, one that was about $600 and I finally found a flat bed roll off wrecker that quoted me "around $300". They ended up charging me $265 and also were able to use the hydraulic bed to rotate the machine and push it into place. They also moved it 50 miles and had over 100 miles on their wrecker when they were done. I will definitely use them again if the need arises. It was Buds Wrecker service from Grand Rapids, Mi.
 
Towing is like the ultimate race to the bottom. I don't know why there are so many towing companies. And they charge peanuts.

I had a 5,000ish lb mill lifted and set in my shop with a large tow truck, like the kind used to tow semis. He drove 15 miles, moved the machine, and drove back and only charged $90.

I hire a Landoll truck and trailer from a local towing outfit for $100/hr. One time I thought about buying one until I figured out how cheap it was to hire them.
 
I know this thread is over the hill and all the war stories have been told but..not my war story. Almost 40 years ago I was a Millwright at a small mill near Blue Lake, CA and there was machinery to be removed from another mill 30 miles away..right down U.S. 101. Can you believe the mill superintendent had the forklift driver drive his Caterpillar V120 machine all the way to that location..backwards yet, and we're talking a 2 lane freeway and through downtown Eureka...sheesh!

Stuart
 
I've moved one with a car trailer and one with a dump trailer. The car trailer worked okayish but I really would not recommend either, especially the dump trailer.
 
For forty miles?

Quick...you still buying a coke and a hersheys bar for a quarter?

Heck when I was a kid candy bars were 3 for 25 cents in the supermarket and I am still a little shy of 60. Rates for machinery or vehicle movers can vary quite a bit depending on the competition. Get an area where there is little competition the price can be triple of an area where multiple companies compete.
 
I know this thread is over the hill and all the war stories have been told but..not my war story. Almost 40 years ago I was a Millwright at a small mill near Blue Lake, CA and there was machinery to be removed from another mill 30 miles away..right down U.S. 101. Can you believe the mill superintendent had the forklift driver drive his Caterpillar V120 machine all the way to that location..backwards yet, and we're talking a 2 lane freeway and through downtown Eureka...sheesh!

Stuart

When I was a kid, I watched the remaining XB-70 towed from the old Air Force Museum to the new one, down Route 4 the wrong way on the wrong side of the highway.

Now back to your regularly scheduled metalworking content.
 








 
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