I just bought a Sawstop Cabinet saw. The company will be at a woodworking show (in Grand Rapids, MI) near my house this week and they agreed to sell me one of the demos to save the steep shipping cost.
The saw will be crated on a pallet and they will be able to load it with a fork lift into the bed of my full size pick up. It weighs 650 lbs. I am looking for suggestions as to the best way to get it into my shop and out of the truck. I have a few friends that are willing to help, but I want to be able to lower it out of my truck SAFELY. Once out of my truck I have to go down a 100 ft grassy hill to my shop at the back of the house. I was thinking I could borrow/rent a piano dolly or similar heavy duty hand truck. How about ramps out of truck. How many guys do you think I would need to move this with a dolly??
Once on the dolly , one or two people shold be able to roll it on flat surface. Trick is to get it on and off the dolly. Any reason you can't drive that 100' with the truck?
Ramps will work,but be sure they are secured somehow to the truck and cannot slide out. Can you borrow a small trailer like a snowmobile trailer or tractor trailer? It will be lower and have a ramp in the back.
Getting onto the ground is going to be a bit dangerous. What would renting a forklift in your neighborhood run you?
The idea of a lower trailer is a good one too. you might even be able to raise the front of the trailer to tilt it and assist bringing the saw onto the ground.
Last year, I helped a neighbor unload an 80 gal 220 V air compressor from a pickup. I forget the weight, but there was no way to move it with only two people. Like your saw, it was bolted to a pallet, but unlike your saw, the compressor was much taller and top heavy. The slightest tip and it would roll. So, after much thought, we just decided to solicit the help of two more people, putting one person per corner of the pallet. We slid it off the truck and lowered it straight down, keeping it plumb the whole time.
I know this thing didn't weigh 650 lbs and it still seemed very heavy with four of us. I'm not sure I'd recommend you try to lower the saw off your truck using only manpower. Each person will be responsible for an awkward
165 lbs...and if anyone gives out, you're not gonna be too happy...
Believe it or not, I watched a freight delivery guy unload my 450 lb shaper BY HIMSELF off his truck that had no lift gate. He simply slid the pallet to the edge, then slid it off the truck at a 45 deg angle. When the front edge touched down (softly, I might add), he walked it forward then lowered it flat on the ground. I had two guys ready to help but he refused it. I kept him there while checking for the damage I was SURE would be present, but there was none, luckily.
This situation always seems to be a problem with pickups. I've gotten large items off mine by getting away with sliding them. But I've never unloaded something that heavy that I've really "cared about". So, I guess I'm voting for the sturdy ramp idea already suggested.
Check out this thread about someone who had a 900 lb jointer to unload from his truck:
I would suggest renting an engine hoist or die lift cart and using it to unload. I've used both for unloading, and althought not great, they sure beat lifting by hand.
Regardless of what you decide, I would uncrate as much as possible (fence, extension wings, maybe the motor, etc.) before trying to unload. I think the bare saw is 400-450 pounds. 4 people can handle that.
If at all possible, I would drive the 100', even if I had to lay out a few plywood boards and move them as I drove along.
My wife and I just started setting up to move a 750 pound jointer yesterday. It had to be lifted, and skids installed so it would roll on the pipe rollers I use to get things to the shop door and onto pick-ups. An engine crane did that, though it was a bit dodgy because of the balance. I got the package into the shop with the help of one friend, a come-along and an eyebolt in the opposite wall of the shop--but I was afraid for a bit I was going to pop the wall. Fortunately, this was one tool that could be tested without removing the crate/pallet base.
As someone suggests, you should, if at all possible, drive closer to the shop. If your shop floor is level with the ground, then ramps or
2x12s off the pick-up onto the ground work well. A piano dolly is a good way to move the saw until you get it where it's going to remain. Any furniture dolly I've seen, though, has wheels that are too narrow and too small and too hard to do well on grass. The saw probably won't fit on a hand truck, or if it does, it will take four guys to tip it back and three to keep it from going over backwards.
Remove as much of the packing and peripheral gear as possible. Most cabinet saws come with some heavy bits unattached, but inside the carton or crate. Remove those. You can almost certainly peel about
100-150 pounds that way.
The figures above for people to help are not far off. You'll need at least four friends to keep from injuring anyone. With five healthy, and preferably husky, guys it should be close to a breeze.
Maybe you could rent a low floor Uhaul or perhaps a trailer with a ramp, but take a sheet of plywood if the ramp is one of those wire mesh types. You're probably going to have a great deal of getting it grass. You might consider shaping one side of the skid into sleigh like runners for dragging or possibly putting it on a really heavy disposable blanket or tarp for dragging across the grass. Either that or enough pizza and beer for a number of buddies.
When I had my 650 lb cabinet saw deliverd, (target: my basement through Bilco door), I rented a powered handtruck. There were only two stores in NY who had them to rent, and I lived near one of them. Woo-hoo! So I go to pick it on on the day my saw was to be delivered, and found out they SOLD IT. They owned it for years, and hardly every rented it out. They also put down the wrong date for my rental.
Anyhow - they let me have an unpowered handtruck for free that day. The trucker and I moved the saw 200 feet up my dirt driveway using the pallet truck. We had to get up to speed so small pebbles didn't impeed our brogress.
I was able to lift and move the saw miself with a hand truck. Lowered it down the Bilco door steps was hairy. My son was helping me, and helped slow down the saw as it slid down the stairs. The worst point was when I was on my butt holding the top handles of the hand truck, as the wheels were not quick touching the floor in the basement.
If the powered handtruck had enough movement to lower from the truck to the ground, it might be an option. But if it's 6 inches too short, then I don't know what to tell you.
Just went through this with a new table saw of about 550lbs.
I secured the crated saw to a piece of 3/4" plywood with an upturned lip so as not to dig in the ground. Then I attached that to the riding mower and started dragging it the
150yds or so of ground/grass to my shop. Was not working that great so I thougt about how I could reduce the friction. I got two of those plastic flexible sleds (just flat rectangular plastic with hand holes in front - can't remember if they have a name - been around for years)and attached them to the bottom of the plywood. With those on there I could pull the whole thing myself, on level surfaces, that's how much it helped. So I pull it easily around to the shop with the rider.
When I got near the door (ordinary exterior type door) of my shop, I pulled it myself right up to the threshold. Not wanting to crush the threshold or try to pull the saw and crate over it, I slid the table saw off the pallet onto two more of those sleds right inside the shop. With those sleds underneath it, I could easily push/pull it around the shop.
If I was moving something in the 1000lb range, I would do the same but I was thinking you could get two sheets of OSB or cheap plywood and squirt vegtable oil on them. Then leapfrog each board as you move along the ground. Might be a bit messy and slow but I bet it would slide nicely even at half a ton. And a lot cheaper than hernia surgeons. It would be interesting for sure.
Had lift gate so no actual experience with that problem.
Maybe build a special one time frame that you can back the truck under. Attach a hoist to that frame, attach the saw, drive the pickup out from under and lower the saw.
1 ton hoist in Northern Hydraulics catalogue costs about $50.
rent or borrow a trailer. if it has a ramp fine but you dont need it. take the trailer loose from the truck and put a jack under the tounge. use a comalong and strap to tie off to the front of the trailer. get some short pipes maybe 3 feet long? with a lever and a fulcrum raise the saw and pallat at the rear of the trailer and place the pipes under the pallet. jack up the tounge of the trailer till the rear rests on the ground. lower the saw using the comalong.once the edge is on the ground you can pull the trailer out from under it. simmiler measures will get you down the hill. and you can do this with only a small helper. [ i use the 110 lb. wife!!!!
I just yesterday picked up my new Unisaw. Rented a UHaul to keep it low to the ground. Was going to use neighbors to get it out when two guys came to the door selling firewood. I have gas logs but they made $20 getting it out of the UHaul and delivering it around back. I just used your normal 2 wheel hand truck and strapped it to the handtruck.
Don't use a pallet jack. I did that on frozen ground with my 18" Bandsaw. It just peeled my lawn right up. Can't imagine what it would do to soft ground. I wouldn't use a refrigerator dolly either. The wheels are too small. Use your typical big wheel hand cart and get some tie downs and strap it tight.
Added advantage to the trailer idea, you can also unhitch and have the trailer tilt back to lower the back end even further. Just don't forget to chuck the wheels!
Use the snowmobile/trailer idea mentioned earlier. to go the final distance unkook the trailer from the truck and your collection of help can push the trailer the remaining 100ft, lower the ramp and slide it off. To get it off the pallet, unbolt, and again using your collection of help walk it off.
One thing that hasnt' been mentioned for moving the 100' from the unloading zone to the shop (assuming you can't drive that span) is getting a few fence posts, and rolling the loaded pallet on those. When one comes free on the back end, pick it up and move it under the front. I helped some friends move their garden shed (8x12) last week. Don't know what it weighed, but two people could push it by hand. It was a hard push, but we could do it. We only had to move it 20', as well, but we thought we'd need more people power to do that.
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