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Supermax Taiwan Bridgport mill on a 3/4 ton truck.

Overland

Stainless
Joined
Nov 19, 2017
Location
Greenville, SC
Bridgeport style mill.
I need to pick up this mill and bring it home; about a 5 hour trip.
I could use a trailer, but I'm tempted to put it on the back of my Ram 2500 truck. It weighs about 2,500 lb.
I cold wind the knee all the way down, and spin the head down 180 degrees to reduce the center of gravity.
I could then block the base in my truck with a bunch of 2x4's to stop it moving, and strap it down to all 4 corners.
It's kinda the same as on a trailer, but a bit higher.
The truck should be fine with the weight.
What do y'all think please ?
Bob
 
Most pickup tyres have a load rating of 1 ton (2240lbs) at max inflation ......I carry 1.25 ton regular on my small pickup,blow the tyres to 65psi rear,50 front...and be sure to have the load a bit forward of the rear axle so the truck is stable.....Unless you have the load on a palletjack or similar silliness,it will not move on the deck......provided you drive sensibly....means no tailgating!
 
Use the trailer. What are you going to tie it down to? The tin foil they make those shit boxes out of? I've seen a lathe tied to the flange and the top of the stake pickets, it shifted a bit and bent the crap out of the flange and the top of the stake pocket.
 
If you have a decent way of getting it onto and off the bed, your bed is rated for it, so why not?

What I would do is find/make a decent pallet, bolt the machine to that and then just plunk that into your bed, strap it down and block the pallet if you want to feel extra secure. The pallet will cut down on the tipping, spread the load out so you don't dent your bed with a cast iron corner loading bad unloading and make it a lot easier to load. You'll probably have to take the tailgate off to load it unless you have super long forks or a super short bed.
 
Well I did a bit more checking. It's a YC-2VAS.
Seems like it weighs 4,650 lbs !
"Going to need a bigger truck".
I think I'll take my trailer.......
Thanks
Bob.
 
This looks really interesting. I can say it drew me in. I have never encountered such an authentic tool before. It's really beautiful.
 
My ram 3500 might be able to handle 4500+ lb pin weight on the gooseneck hitch, but the bed sure would get smushed by a mill like that unless maybe there was 2 sheets of plywood in there. Of course there would be nothing sufficient to tie it to other than the bumper hitch, and even the dually would be tippy. I've done it with a generic bridgeport though and that was not a problem
 
Thanks Thermite.
It's interesting, I noticed the auction the day before, and started checking things out, online.
There was very little interest in the Supermax, so I threw a bid in there, thinking I couldn't go wrong. There was an authentic BP that went over $4,000 !
I didn't really know what I was getting into. Reading about it online, I could see it was "more machine" than a BP.
There was no rigger at the auction, so I figured I'd get the nearby Sunbelt to drop a fork lift off for me. No chance, nothing available anywhere.
The auctioneer said there was a scrap guy there with a 5,000 lb lift, so I thought fine.
Looking at the lift alongside the Supermax, I thought "I'm not sure about this". Maybe 5k at 24", but I really doubted it!
Another guy there with a big Takeuchi rubber track loader; this looked better. The guy said over 5k rating; OK let's go.
The Supermax is a very heavy machine, and the Tak really struggled to lift it 18" to get it on the trailer ! The strap broke, rated at 10k, because of a fairly sharp corner; luckily no-one hurt and no damage when it dropped about 4".
So on the trailer, up against one side because we couldn't move it to the middle. All good, well OK at least.

Got it home, and a buddy, Casey, with a big New Holland rubber track loader "was invited to try to unload it." He said no problem as his machine rated over 5k; I've heard this before!
Well, we pulled it to the end of the trailer and got his forks under the arm, on wooden blocks, of course. Well, at 6 feet high, he doesn't have over 5k of lift. The back of the machine was starting to come off the ground, and he was running out of hydraulic power. Not good, and not safe !

A neighbor, Wade, is an old time forestry guy with an old Ford tractor with a front end loader. We thought maybe the 2 machines could share the lift. Well Wade figured I can get this it we chain it to one of the cross-members on the loader to get it as close as possible. Then of course no traction on the 2WD tractor. So Casey said I'll put a bit more load on the concrete counterbalance with my machine; not a pretty sight.
Wade "did get it."
Rob pulled the trailer clear and Wade lowered it closer to the ground, and the dog started barking with excitement !
Wade turned to the left a little to move towards the barn. Well these old Ford tractors, like most tractors, have a pivoting front axle. So when he turned the weight shifted a little, due to the slight side slope, and the axle started to pivot, and Wade, being a little deaf, didn't hear Casey yelling as his forks slipped on the concrete ballast weight - not good. So luckily Wade saw the frantic signals from me and Rob, and put the load down. Tractor could easily have turned over with the load high.

Wade's response was it would be better if a couple guys sat on the concrete weight, "that'll keep the back down so I can get some traction". NO VOLUNTEERS !

Maybe it would have been a good idea to put some shims on the front axle to stop it pivoting. But a better idea was to stop this nonsense.
At least we got it off the trailer.

So once again, no equipment available to rent. Had to wait until yesterday to get a Genie Telehandler, with a 5,500 lb rating at 24", all I could find.
Picked it up easily as we could get it really close to the machine, and got it in the shop just fine. Only cost $325 for the day. A great deal !

This is all true ! No photos, but it really did happen, just like this.

I don't like moving tall machines, I'd rather skid and jack more stable machines like lathes. And machine ratings can be deceiving.

I was planning to put a gantry up outside my shop doors to be more convenient, and independent. The shop ceiling is only 10 ft, So I'll make the gantry 13 ft clearance. I found a 10k chain hoist which is about 3 ft "high" at full height. Should be installing next week.

Please don't give me too much grief, as we thought we were within the machine ratings.

Bob
 
It seems we should have had a photographer on hand for this one

I made some things I call skis for moving machines, 5x7 x 3/8 tube seven feet long with a roller on one end, I bolt them to the machine and drag the machines around with whatever is handy, on the trailer, off the trailer, out in the dirt, across the shop. Very stable

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If you have a trailer, just use it. I suspect 2500 lbs will have your truck squatting pretty well, might be fine for 5 miles, I'm thinking 5 hours is a bit too much. Hope you don't have to swerve:eek:


Had a 2400 lb Cincinnati T&C grinder in my Silverado 2500HD, truck barely if at all lowered in ride height. Moved it from Ohio to Wi, about 480 miles. Had no issues. Fuel economy was the same as empty truck.
 








 
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