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Moving machine with Roll-A-Lifts on inclined ramp

Cannonmn

Stainless
Joined
Jun 25, 2016
I had to move a 2100 lb. box & pan brake about 6 miles. I saw this as a chance to use the pair of Roll-a-Lift hydraulic machinery-moving handtrucks. An alternative was to hire a rollback wrecker and winch the cargo up the bed when extended to the ground. I chose to use the Roll-a-Lifts and rented a liftgate truck. I repaired one defective Roll-a-Lift by replacing the jack. Then the only issue was the missing lower E-track securing strap on both, which I chose to replace with one ratchet strap around the pair. I had picked up this pair of Roll-a-Lifts (RAL) cheap at a Sculpture Studio moving sale. I made the brake a bit more manageable by removing the two counterweights (look like giant corn dogs.). Getting the RAL on the cargo was no problem but I noticed that unfortunately my lower securing strap, put on last, changed the position of the RAL enough that taking all pressure off both jacks didn’t ground the cargo, the whole 2500-lb. rig still rolled “freely,” which would be an issue inside a moving truck. I had to lower it on planks under the machine’s feet to get contact with truck bed. I also noticed that the worn RAL casters had minds of their own regarding which direction the rig would roll when pushed. First idea was to simply pry or chainhoist the rig onto the truck’s power lift gate. When I got the rig behind to the lowered tailgate, measurements showed it was an inch too wide to roll into the truck, and I wasn’t about to try tweaking the 2500-lb. load to an angle while on a raised lift gate, all by myself. Also the worn RAL casters would be very close to the edge of the tailgate-all a bit too risky-looking for me. Plan “ A” was scrapped right there.

Returned to the scene next day with 8’ ramp, 1 ton capacity, more than wide enough for the RAL wheels. Got all to loading dock, 6” above truck bed height, braced ramp underneath and pushed rig down ramp into truck, restraining with a 6’ strap “leash.” Had calculated that effective tension on leash with the 6% ramp grade would be maybe 150 lbs. minus unknown rolling friction. Friction was more than I had guessed so short roll down ramp was slow and easily controlled with leash. Bled pressure off jacks to lower machine’s 4 feet onto planks, and strapped rig to truck with an E-track ratchet strap (wouldn’t help much in case of a very sudden stop but at least I “went through the motions.”). Drove to destination without incident nor any movement of rig in truck. Destination dock was also 6 inches or more above truck bed so same 8’ ramp was put in place and braced underneath since load would exceed its rating somewhat.

I had a brainstorm about using an electric 1000-lb. capacity die lifter as a winch so proceeded to hook a long towing strap around one of the lifter’s forks (lifter facing away from rental truck) and running strap under lifter out to the cargo. I strapped the lifter to a 3-ton machine as an anchor since the lifter’s own brake isn’t adequate for more than about 50 lbs. horizontal load. That worked ok but required resetting things a few times since horizontal travel distance required for cargo was about 16’ and vertical travel available at die lifter forks was more like 5’-6’. When resetting rig was needed, 1/2” plywood strips were used as RAL wheel chocks on the ramp. I got tired of fooling with this complex rig and used a chain hoist after the cargo was 2/3 up the ramp, then pulled it up manually using leash after the rear RAL wheels were almost at top of ramp, instead of resetting the now “two- blocked” chain hoist. In the future I’d use a chain hoist or two from the beginning, or if pulling a long distance, plan ahead enough to bring a powered winch, forklift, etc. Overall, should have given K.I.S.S. higher precedence, and would probably do it when I could get a helper next time, I did this over a weekend and none were handy. Some bad one-handed phone photos, including fuzzy video screensaves, follow.
 

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A guy who bought one of our old Bridgeports brought a couple of those roll-a-lifts to get it up on his trailer (he opted against our forklift as he wanted to confirm they would work for the job). They're pretty slick if you keep the weight low and keep it all strapped tight together.
 








 
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