Shifting filing cabinets

[joe]

I bought two steel four drawer filing cabinets at auction. Now I have to get them home. What weight is in an empty filing cabinet. Would I be able to lift them into the back of a hatch-back myself?

joe

[adder1969]

PS I forgot to add that I'm a 89 year old with no legs and only one arm.

[Paul Andrews]

Yes, I've done this too, but I suspect getting two cabinets in at once will be difficullt. Sounds like a two trip job..

[tinnews]

I doubt it, they're awkward rather than heavy. I have moved some around single-handed by removing the drawers though, they usually come out quite easily and a four-drawer cabinet with no drawers in it is not too difficult to manage.

[nightjar]

The weight shouldn't be a problem for you moving them yourself, but they are cumbersome and two people would make the job a lot easier. Generally, I shift filing cabinets about on a sack truck, which can be done by one person, even when they are full, but I've never tried fitting one in a hatch back. Will two of them actually fit inside it?

Colin Bignell

[Roger]

The message from "joe" contains these words:

Not easily but (as already suggested) with the drawers out you should manage easily. With the drawers in you should be able to do it tipping one end onto the sill, lifting the other end and pushing. That way you don't have to find space for the drawers.

Standard 4 drawer filing cabinets are (or at least were) 52" high,

18.25" wide and 24.5" deep. Are you sure you have enough space to get even one inside and the hatch closed?

I have just been out to my barn to test lift an empty one. I can just about lift it off the ground in a bear hug but wouldn't want to move it far like that.

[Andy Dingley]

Lifting is easy, but a sack truck is useful to move them. "Walking" them has been known to jam the runners and make them stiff to use forever afterwards.

Don't move them with the keys in (you _will_ break the key) and ideally lock them closed. If you can't lock them, tape the drawers shut.

Basically they're dead easy, easier than they look. The rest is up to you and your hatchback. I can get two in my Volvo estate, but it would be arare hatchback that could carry a pair.

[Dave]

Get a piece of hard board or thin plywood that will fit in your boot to act a a slide surface. Now get an old blanket or quilt and place it over the ledge of the boot. Most of it should hang outside the car.

Manoeuvre the car or the cabinet so that the back of the cabinet is close, but not touching the car, about 2 foot or 600 mm will be about right. now push the filing cabinet back towards the car until it is over balanced and then take hold of the base of it and being careful not to cut your hands (they can be razor sharp) lift it up at the same time as pushing forwards until the top touches the car boot floor. Now just push it in until either it fits into the boot completely or rests against the back of the front seats.

If it does not go completely into the boot, wrap the blanket/quilt over the top edge of the base and pull down the hatchback and secure it with string, quite tightly to the cabinet. This will prevent the hatchback from getting a broken window from vibration.

If it does go into the boot completely, then make sure that the hatchback will close without the cabinet smashing the rear window. I have seen this done a few times now, never to me, I hasten to add.

I have done this lots of times when I couldn't get the object onto the ladder bars I sometime use.

Dave

[Paul Andrews]

I do hope you let us know how you get on after all this advice!