Suggestions for hauling Computer Garage from Beaverton, OR to Yates

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Tue Mar 5 07:39:20 2002

At 09:43 PM 3/4/02 -0700, you wrote:
>>
>> > Jim says he probably needs a 24 foot truck. He's currently looking at
>>

   Check with a trucking company and see how much they'd charge just to
haul a load after you pack and load it. A friend of mine recently moved
from Orlando to Northern NY state and took a **complete** machine shop with
him. The moving companies wanted a fortune (~$100,000) to move it and it
would have taken at least half a dozen large U-haul trucks. He talked to a
local trucking company and made deal with them just to haul the stuff after
we packed and loaded it. We had already packed most of the tooling a such
into crates and strapped them onto pallets ahead of time but the really big
stuff, such as the 16" x 5 foot (bed size!) lathe had to be loaded directly
into the turck. The company brought out a ~58 foot trailor and parked it
next to his place on Friday. When loading day came (Saturday) my friend
rented a three wheel forklift with ballon tires (we were working out of a
yard and an open field so there was no pavement). We used the forklift to
load all the pallets and then the machines. We got everything loaded in
about 6 hours. The truckers came back two days later (Monday) and picked up
the trailor and took it straight to NY. It arrived less than 24 hours after
it left his place. In NY they had a garage with a paved driveway to put it
into and a forklift there and waiting when the truck arrived. They had
everything unloaded and the truck was out of there in less than a hour.
IIRC my buddy paid the trucking company $1800 to haul the load. As it
turned out, it was a bargain! Everything arrived intact and he had zero
problems with the move itself. A moving company would have kept the stuff
around while they tried to combine loads and such and invariably something
what have been lost or stolen.

  I know a 58' truck doesn't sound that much bigger than a 24' truck but it
will haul a LOT more! First, it's designed to carry 60,000 pounds or more
and not 6,000 like a U-haul truck. Plus the body is a lot wider, our's was
slightly over 8 feet wide instead of the <6' for a U-Haul. Plus the ceiling
is MUCH higher. I don't know exacly how tall the big trailor was but it was
well over 8'. Finally, the driver is a trained and professional truck
driver so you don't have to try and learn how to drive it as you go! And
that also leaves you free to drive your own automobile to your destination.
My buddy was going to have to ship one auto. I think the charge for that
alone was a much as the truck cost.

   Joe
Received on Tue Mar 05 2002 - 07:39:20 GMT