11/60 Rescued!

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Mon Nov 22 01:49:36 1999

Kevin McQuiggin <mcquiggi_at_sfu.ca> wrote:
> The only rental truck available on 1 day notice was a 5 ton monster from
> Ryder. The gear fit easily in the back. We roped it in as best as
> possible, but alas during the 7 mile drive between Dallas' and the storage
> locker place, the CPU unit broke its ropes, and despite being restrained
> by boxes of docs and the terminals, rolled around and dented the back of
> the tape drive unit.

Lessons learned from this experience:

1) Don't rent big trucks from Ryder. They have terrible transmissions.
I couldn't always get this thing from 1st into 2nd. Sometimes it wanted
to go into 4th. When it would go into 2nd, it made horrible grinding
sounds. I don't know much about the workings of transmissions, but at
the very least it seems like the shift plate needed replacement. Since
I've had this experience with Ryder trucks before, I conclude that
either they're badly designed or badly maintained. I've had much better
luck with Budget (now owned by Sears).

2) Use ratcheting nylon tie-downs to secure everything in place. I
normally always do this. However, due to the scheduling constraints, I
was unable to bring any to Vancouver with me. I wanted to buy some in
Vancouver, but I let Kevin and Dallas talk me into just using rope
purchased at the lumber yard across the street. I got some 900
lb. rated stuff that looked reasonably sturdy. During transit, I heard
a lot of noise from the cargo area. However, that's not too unusual
even if things are tied down. But when we arrived, we discovered that
the ropes had broken, and the 11/60, disk, and tape cabinets had all
been rolling around banging into each other and the sides of the truck.

By comparison, when I moved six PDP-11/70 systems recently (a total of
about 35 racks), the ratcheting nylon tie-downs held everything in place
quite well. A few of the ratchet mechanisms failed, presumably due to
loading them beyond their intended weight limit, but the failure mode
was that they refused to release, and the straps stayed secure.

> A liftgate
> equipped truck will be mandatory - we'd never be able to get the machine
> back up the ramp by pushing/pulling. Hmmm a block and tackle or winch
> might work too...

My research indicates that truck rental companies have trucks that they
will rent out for one-way use, and that they have trucks with liftgates,
but that the intersection of the two sets is null. :-( Apparently they
don't think people want to move heavy items over long distances.
Received on Mon Nov 22 1999 - 01:49:36 GMT

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