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Moving a Bridgeport inside a box truck

jccaclimber

Stainless
Joined
Nov 22, 2015
Location
San Francisco
The short version:
How can I safely secure a Series 1 Bridgeport in a Uhaul type box truck (something in the 20' range) for a cross country move? I'm thinking build a 2x6 platform the width of the truck, then blocking it all the way at the front.
Sort of worried about the metal floors, and unsure how good the tie downs are. Maybe another brand has wooden floors I can screw to?
Suggestions on getting it in? I know someone with a roll back tow truck, and this seems safer than cribbing the mill up to deck height or trying to build a ramp.


More details:

Sometime in the next several months I'll be moving across the country, roughly Dallas to San Francisco. I'll have house movers doing most of the moving, but I have a few large objects that they wanted several thousand $ just to put in crates*, even before moving them.:

1) A standard Series 1 Bridgeport.
2) A ~2,000 pound glass aquarium, 126" x 42" x 32".
3) A lighter glass aquarium, 73" x 25" x 18".
4) An acrylic aquarium, 96" x 24" 30".
5) If I'm going to drive a truck out, I'll probably get a trailer and tow my car as well.

In addition to this I have a few thousand pounds of very specific rocks, stands, etc related to these items. All in all the allocated relocation budget being what it is (or isn't), it is worth my trouble to move them myself if I can do so safely. I did get every one of these items to its current location in my home, some myself and the rest with 1-2 other people. No machinery, just a bit of hoisting, a lot of kribbing, and some rollers.

*This place has moved me before. They did a fantastic job overall, but their definition of "crate" is a few 2x4s underneath, some cardboard around the sides, and a few 1x2 strips to keep the cardboard in place.
 
I’ve loaded several Bridgeports into van trailers. You need it on a skid with a good wide base. Bolt it well to the skid, use bolts, not lag screws. Hopefully there will be provisions, preferably in the floor, but at least on the walls, to fasten straps to. Either way, you need to brace it good, side to side and front to back.

If you can’t fasten to a wood floor, make sure bracing runs all the way to all 3 walls and the door.
 
I agree with what most of the others have said but one thing to consider is that if it's you driving the truck
the equipment in the back will get a whole lot better ride than if you just throw it in the back of a trucking
company van....
 
The short version:
How can I safely secure a Series 1 Bridgeport in a Uhaul type box truck (something in the 20' range) for a cross country move? I'm thinking build a 2x6 platform the width of the truck, then blocking it all the way at the front.
Sort of worried about the metal floors, and unsure how good the tie downs are. Maybe another brand has wooden floors I can screw to?
Suggestions on getting it in? I know someone with a roll back tow truck, and this seems safer than cribbing the mill up to deck height or trying to build a ramp.


More details:

Sometime in the next several months I'll be moving across the country, roughly Dallas to San Francisco. I'll have house movers doing most of the moving, but I have a few large objects that they wanted several thousand $ just to put in crates*, even before moving them.:

1) A standard Series 1 Bridgeport.
2) A ~2,000 pound glass aquarium, 126" x 42" x 32".
3) A lighter glass aquarium, 73" x 25" x 18".
4) An acrylic aquarium, 96" x 24" 30".
5) If I'm going to drive a truck out, I'll probably get a trailer and tow my car as well.

In addition to this I have a few thousand pounds of very specific rocks, stands, etc related to these items. All in all the allocated relocation budget being what it is (or isn't), it is worth my trouble to move them myself if I can do so safely. I did get every one of these items to its current location in my home, some myself and the rest with 1-2 other people. No machinery, just a bit of hoisting, a lot of kribbing, and some rollers.

*This place has moved me before. They did a fantastic job overall, but their definition of "crate" is a few 2x4s underneath, some cardboard around the sides, and a few 1x2 strips to keep the cardboard in place.

Personally.. I would skip right-over the U-haul line-up, take the TALL opening Penske 26-foot box Cornbinder Diesel. Great mirrors, airbrakes, cab controllable rear air-ride and all. A delight to drive, and it could do the whole load in one go.

Best of all it's the one Penske push as their "one-way drop", Three days are in the stock package and that's about right. Make the run, unload, turn-in.

Fly back to do a final touch-up to the old premises, then drive the car one-way.

It's just safer and less hassle, and I speak from experience, X3 of the one-way, plus one more with a 24-footer, out-and-back, Penske alone, two more, Rentals Unlimited, 18 foot and shorter box, cornbinders, every one.

NB: The 26-footer's wheelbase is lovely-smooth. The shorter 24 and worse-yet 18 footers and below can beat you to death with "freeway hop".

If yer U-Haul ain't Diesel, ain't air-brakes, ain't on-the-fly adjustable air-ride, and ain't HIGH UP so you can see and be seen? Give it a miss.

That low-deck, half truck, half car BS is for sofa pillows, clothing, and boxes of kid's toys. For any "real" cargo, it is too much like playing a game of marbles with old hand grenades.

THINK of whom you will be sharing the road with and "BIG VISIBLE YELLOW" with the ability to see right OVER a whole line of cars and pickups buys you a nicer margin of safety and waaay less stress.

Those reserves and advantage are WELL worth their modest premium.

2CW
 
Personally...I would skip right-over the U-haul line-up, take the TALL opening Penske 26-foot box Cornbinder Diesel. Great mirrors, airbrakes, cab controllable rear air-ride and all. A delight to drive, and it could do the whole load in one go.

Best of all it's the one Penske push as their "one-way drop", Three days are in the stock package and that's about right. Make the run, unload, turn-in.

Fly back to do a final touch-up to the old premises, then drive the car one-way.

It's just safer and less hassle, and I speak from experience, X3 of the one-way, plus one more with a 24-footer, out-and-back, Penske alone, two more, Rentals Unlimited, 18 foot and shorter box, cornbinders, every one.

NB: The 26-footer's wheelbase is lovely-smooth. The shorter 24 and worse-yet 18 footers and below can beat you to death with "freeway hop".

If yer U-Haul ain't Diesel, ain't air-brakes, ain't on-the-fly adjustable air-ride, and ain't HIGH UP so you can see and be seen? Give it a miss.

That low-deck, half truck, half car BS is for sofa pillows, clothing, and boxes of kid's toys. For any "real" cargo, it is too much like playing a game of marbles with old hand grenades.

THINK of whom you will be sharing the road with and "BIG VISIBLE YELLOW" with the ability to see right OVER a whole line of cars and pickups buys you a nicer margin of safety and waaay less stress.

Those reserves and advantage are WELL worth their modest premium.,,

I agree. I've moved family and friends a few times over the years and, all except for one time, we've rented a truck.
One time we allowed ourselves to talked into going the U-Haul route and the move--only a couple hundred miles--was
not fun. Moves with a truck always went smooth--heck those things are actually fun to drive; I'd do it more if i could...
 
Do you need a special license to drive a truck with air brakes? Check all the states you will travel through. If it is full of machine shop stuff the cops will think you are commercial and not hauling your personal stuff. Driving a truck for pay needs more license then for your home use.
Bill D.
 
Do you need a special license to drive a truck with air brakes? Check all the states you will travel through. If it is full of machine shop stuff the cops will think you are commercial and not hauling your personal stuff. Driving a truck for pay needs more license then for your home use.
Bill D.

There are "details within details", but as best it can be done, the major rental agencies clearly separate those that require a CDL and those that do not, and they do as good a job at that as can be expected. At least in the "lower 48".

ISTR a Canadian-based PM member pointed out that is not as easy with all of Canada's provinces. The Texas => SFO area run doesn't involve Canada, nor even very many US States, so no real mystery.

A person could have greater hassle carrying a box of fresh berries across the California State line. BTDTGTTS. With juice stains! Stopped sort of the checkpoint and GORGED!

:)
 
Interesting points about longer vehicles and air brakes. If I got fenced in to that my father in law is an over the road CDL driver and has offered to help, sadly he works at too large a company to get away with borrowing a flatbed for a few days, but he was kind enough to suggest and look in to it.

Interesting point that if I'm moving my mill I might as well move a bunch of the heavier stuff that goes with it, but in general this is going to look like a truck full of aquarium supplies and one mill, not a shop move. This is not a commercial shop relocation.
Might as well move my boxes of books too, easy enough to pack/unpack, and the moving company charges by weight.

Are there any tricks (other than not being stupid) to avoiding excess transportation scrutiny? For example, when carrying rock climbing gear on airplanes a rock climbing magazine or two in the same bag can really smooth things over passing through the TSA checkpoint.
 
Interesting points about longer vehicles and air brakes. If I got fenced in to that my father in law is an over the road CDL driver and has offered to help, sadly he works at too large a company to get away with borrowing a flatbed for a few days, but he was kind enough to suggest and look in to it.

Interesting point that if I'm moving my mill I might as well move a bunch of the heavier stuff that goes with it, but in general this is going to look like a truck full of aquarium supplies and one mill, not a shop move. This is not a commercial shop relocation.
Might as well move my boxes of books too, easy enough to pack/unpack, and the moving company charges by weight.

Are there any tricks (other than not being stupid) to avoiding excess transportation scrutiny? For example, when carrying rock climbing gear on airplanes a rock climbing magazine or two in the same bag can really smooth things over passing through the TSA checkpoint.

Not really. Save the souls of the fools around you, they are ever-present. Work your mirrors and work them HARD, hold your lane, execute your turns professionally, mind the speed limits. Blend with traffic. Give it up graciously rather than push for "rights" or even THINK about "bullying".

Pull up satellite shots of SEVERAL places for food and lodging along your route. Use the ones with plenty of parking space and easy in/out layouts - always have at least 3 such choices. Same for food and fuel enroute. Proper truck stops, not a Thai food hole-in-the wall. You ARE a truck, and need the space, and a HIGH overhead canopy even for fueling

When I pull into the scales with a Penske 26-footer, mebbe 5,000 to 6,000 lbs aboard - about 60% or less of rated payload, I invariably get an instant green light and now and then an annoyed look for cluttering-up the search as to what they are REALLY looking for.
Marginal vehicles, worse operators, poor tire condition, and over weight, even by a pound or three.

Yah have to keep in mind that a VERY high percentage of truckers ARE fully-compliant, know their shit, are NOT cheating on anything important if at all, just doing their usual damned good job at what they do. Were it otherwise? We'd soon be going barefoot, naked, and hungry without what they wheel towards us every minute of every day.

The vehicles are a delight. I've had Penske's from under 12,000 miles on the clock, to barely over 100,000. Not much for a cornbinder oil-burner with 110 PSIG rubber under it. Penske keep them clean and sell-them off young-enough to keep a fleet in rather good average condition. Their emergency road-service (contracted), JFW 24 X 7 X 365, too. DAMHIKT, but new truck, intermittent wiring harness issue, SIX callouts in 1,000 miles, Pensacola, FL to Sterling/Dulles VA, and at all-hours, day or night.

"Dispatch" was entering the notes off each go into a "system". Last go, they took a bit longer to get the right sort of expert out - wee hours of the morning, and waay back under the cab he went to find and finally sort the fault. Navistar had a recall on it, as it turned out. It got fixed, and fleetwide. I kept on renting the same tribe, never had another problem.
 
I have moved many Bridgeports with Penske trucks over the years . I have aluminum shoring bars that clip into the E track on the side walls of the truck box and span the width of the box. I load the mill with ram cross ways in the truck and put a shoring bar in the upper row of E track which is just about the same height as the ram. Put the shoring bar as close to the ram as possible and put in blocking to fill the gap between the ram and shoring bar then strap to the shoring bar . As well I use 4 straps, 2 per side, to tie the mill from the ram to the lower e track row with the ends about 6' apart on each side. A cheaper alternative would be to use these E track pockets and use a 2 X 6 across the width of the truck to tie the ram to . for even stronger results use a shoring beam on both sides of the ram
 
E-track is a new one to me. Wood floors aside, that's a good enough reason to go with Penske rather than UHaul. Looks like the ramps and lift gates are substantially better on the Penske options as well.
 
A local friend moved from PA to Texas. He bought a used Bridgeport from me to take along. We put it just inside the back door of a Penske truck, he drove 4 lagbolts through the base into the floor. The he loaded all the rest of their household goods, hitched the car to the back and headed for Texas. No issues with the Bridgeport.
 
E-track is a new one to me. Wood floors aside, that's a good enough reason to go with Penske rather than UHaul. Looks like the ramps and lift gates are substantially better on the Penske options as well.

I have used "local" rentals - (Rentals Unlimited) as well - but basically much the same make of vehicles.

Proper cornbinder Diesel trucks, AND NOT not U-haul's gasohol hybrid truck-LIKE substitutes for Mom and Pop moving kid's & pet's toys, books, beds, sofa pillows, clothing, plastic wading pools, appliances, kitchenware, and photo albums.
 
I have used "local" rentals - (Rentals Unlimited) as well - but basically much the same make of vehicles.

Proper cornbinder Diesel trucks, AND NOT not U-haul's gasohol hybrid truck-LIKE substitutes for Mom and Pop moving kid's & pet's toys, books, beds, sofa pillows, clothing, plastic wading pools, appliances, kitchenware, and photo albums.

You've mentioned diesel a lot. Is it really worth the extra $200 it's going to cost in fuel (assuming equal fuel economy, although assuming without basis)? No real experience here.

Also, asking the rental folks it sounds like the car trailer/car does not count towards the 10k vehicle load rating, which keeps me in non-CDL territory.
Right now I'm at 8500 lbs of stuff that I'm planning to put in the truck, but I haven't accounted for any number of things that would fit should I find myself lighter than expected. It looks like Ca requires rental trucks to pass through weigh stations, so I do need to pay attention. Not to mention that I'd like to stay legal.
 
You've mentioned diesel a lot. Is it really worth the extra $200 it's going to cost in fuel (assuming equal fuel economy, although assuming without basis)? No real experience here.

Also, asking the rental folks it sounds like the car trailer/car does not count towards the 10k vehicle load rating, which keeps me in non-CDL territory.
Right now I'm at 8500 lbs of stuff that I'm planning to put in the truck, but I haven't accounted for any number of things that would fit should I find myself lighter than expected. It looks like Ca requires rental trucks to pass through weigh stations, so I do need to pay attention. Not to mention that I'd like to stay legal.

Huh, WHAT?

I go Diesel because of the SAVINGS in fuel and to not have to dog-paddle quite as often through the Appalachians. Not an "extra" cost.

And one "Just Does" go through weigh stations. Why would one not? There's no tool-booth nor fees.

Hauling a car - narrower than my box - is not good in my mirrors, hence it will never be on my Dance Card.

If air fare or rail is not in the budget? Do the Penske one-way and take a motorbus back for the car. Or hire a driver to bring the car out independently or a family member as semi-independent "escort" to scout ahead and sort road and weather conditions, arrange meal stops and lodging. Heard of mobile phones and WiFi, have yah?
 
Diesel is running ~$0.75/gallon higher than gasoline here, but I don't know how fuel economy applies. From an ownership maintenance perspective I see the benefit, but I'll just be a short timer as far as this truck is concerned.
I've had zero issues towing cars in the past. Worst case a fiberglass rod and ribbon makes them visible, but usually I can see the trailer fenders.
No way do I want to drive 1700 miles in a Miata across 1-2 days. Could ship it, but cheaper to tow it. Might end up shipping the second one though.
I wasn't implying that I would be avoiding weigh stations, more trying to preempt people living in states where non commercial rental trucks don't have to weigh and the "nobody will care about slightly over" argument I've seen on this site before.
 
Diesel is running ~$0.75/gallon higher here, but I don't know how fuel economy applies. From an ownership maintenance perspective I see the benefit, but I'll just be a short timer as far as this truck is concerned.
I've had zero issues towing cars in the past. Worst case a fiberglass rod and ribbon makes them visible, but usually I can see the trailer fenders.
No way do I want to drive 1700 miles in a Miata across 1-2 days. Could ship it, but cheaper to tow it. Might end up shipping the second one though.
I wasn't implying that I would be avoiding weigh stations, more trying to preempt people living in states where non commercial rental trucks don't have to weigh and the "nobody will care about slightly over" argument I've seen on this site before.

Vehicles have "sweet spots". Insofar as over-the-road, not "around town" miles-per-dollar go, the cornbinder Diesels are well-optimized Interstate worker-bees. If Penske, Ryder, et al customers didn't find them attractive, their fleets would simply run some other brand of horse.

So, too, Fiat/Lancia and Citroen/PSA minicars for their role in Europe's environment, two souls plus modest luggage only. About 15% to 30% cheaper, net-net, so I do not ordinarily run anything BUT Diesel, anywhere in Europe, even for the lightest of duty.

To home? MOPAR T&C 3.8, regular gas, Jaguar 4.2, high-test gas. Europe, the both of them would also be Diesel. Hong Kong, LNG or electric.

Night and day difference in environment and use.

It is still all about what best suits the tasking.
 
You've mentioned diesel a lot. Is it really worth the extra $200 it's going to cost in fuel (assuming equal fuel economy, although assuming without basis)? No real experience here.
Not knowing the exact models that you would end up with this is only an opinion . I have rented penske trucks dozens of times an I would take the Diesel over what ever gas truck you might find without question both for the increased economy and for the power to maintain Highway speed better than a fully loaded gas truck. At a guess I would expect the diesel truck loaded would get double the Miles per gallon of the gas truck.
 
E-track and shoring bars are the way to configure the space to transport whatever you have. There are, of course, E-track 2x4 pockets (which are not candidates for this job), straps, rings, etc. You can build a transport-safe mezzanine over other cargo to maximize your cubic feet of storage.

I have a trailer outfitted with E-track, so I have some inventory of this stuff. The rental house may have shoring bar rental resources, too. Get more than you think you'll need.

(I got mine off craigslist for a song, but you can't really count on that for deadline-critical needs...)
 








 
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