LettersFromFlyoverCountry

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

Well Known Member
If there's anyone in the East metro St. Paul (MN) area with nothing to do on Thursday (6/8 -- tomorrow) "some time between 12 and 4," I need some help getting the finishing kit off the ABF truck (310 lbs). My oldest son says he'll help and between the two of us we can bench press, maybe, the dog.

Free tours of the 7A project while waiting for the truck. Please contact me at [email protected].
 
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I'm in Florida, but

Bob: I hope someone shows up to help you, but if not maybe the truck driver will wait for you to open up the crate and take the parts out a piece at a time. Wouldn't take more than 10-15 mins. I had a similar situation with the QB fuselage. Shipper was 30 mins away; I had to rent a truck. ABF loaded it on my rental and then my son and I just uncrated it on the truck and took it off part by part. take care. Jack
 
Another thought

Bob,

The crate will fit in the back of a pickup. Easy to slide from the shipper's truck to yours, then into the shop. Or unpack out of the pickup. Now, I'm assuming the same size as a -8 finish kit.....
 
I drive a Chevy Cavalier. I'm having a hard enough time trying to find a human... don't complicate my search by having me try to find a human with a pick-up truck. :D

If I had one of those, I'd drive up to the ABF terminal and save the $75 charge.

BTW, shipping from Oregon to Minn... $476. I think I paid $288 for the fuse, which was about 100 pounds lighter.
 
Unloading

I'm no weight lifter either. The driver and I (150# 68 yrs) snaked and tipped and slid it out on the ground (one end) and lowered it onto a Sears creeper, then wheeled it into the garage and fished out the creeper in reverse process. The same worked with the 880# big box for QB fuselage etc but took three people. That Sears creeper is amazing! Hope it goes well for you and your son. Bill Dicus
 
If the truck doesn't have a lift gate, what about just propping up a couple of lengths of metal pipe on the bumper and just sliding the crate down them? Or I suppose 2x4's on edge would work just as well. Just make sure the ramp stays put and doesn't slide off the truck with your precious cargo!
 
casters

Bob, hope someone is available to help but if not... a suggestion that worked for me....

Slide one end of the box out of the truck a few inches... take some wood screws and attach a couple casters to the box (yep, need to attach to the frame of the box so as not to run the screws into any aluminum parts) , slide the box out and rest the end with the casters on the ground which will raise the end still in the truck where you can attach a couple more casters. Lower to the ground and you can then move the box by yourself as many times as you want/need to.

Apologize ahead of time for answering a question you didn't ask :)

Doug
 
You can do it!

My wife and 20 year old son helped the driver lower it from the truck in our driveway and I asked her how they did it just now and she said it wasn't the weight of the crate it was just an awkward size.She says the driver used a pallet jack to position the crate at the edge of the truck and the three of them were able to ease it to the ground. Maybe you'll get lucky and they will deliver it in a lift gate truck. I would think that if you are present and have any doubt at all about the drivers and your ability to off load the crate without crunching it you can request a lift gate truck. My Dad did this once when he ordered a gun safe and the driver was just going to push it off the truck. You're going to love all the cool stuff in that big beautiful crate! Enjoy. Jim. PS. my shipping was $460 to Chicago burbs last summer on abf FWIW. And that represents 50 per cent discount negotiated by Vans.
 
It's almost 6/9 so how did you get it off?

Bob, I am wondering how you got it off of the truck. I hope it went smoothly. George
 
It went pretty well. My son came over and brought a friend. There was a lift gate on this truck (which I didn't have with the wings or fuse), but the guy's dolly wouldn't fit under the pallet. So we jumped into the truck and pushed it about halfway over the lift gate. Then we SLOWLY lowered the lift gate and slid the crate to the pavement...then swung it around to get it all the way off the truck. That was enough to get the ABF guy on his way.

Then we had to push it up the driveway and into the garage. I had an old handcart. I slipped that under the front and lifted it off the ground and the boys (well, they're men now, but they'll always be boys to me.) pushed from the end and it went up the driveway and into the garage easily.

I got it all unpacked this evening and got the crate broken down and removed to the back fire pit, cleaned up the garage,and was able to ut my wife's car back in -- which is, of course, the most important part of the project -- keep the wife happy.

Then we got goofy and I think everyone does:

threegoofs.jpg



My son, Sean (that's him in the middle), insists this wasn't the biggest crate in the series. But he's wrong. HE was a little feller with some of the other crates so I'm sure they seemed bigger. Not much stuff in the finishing kit but, man, it's heavy. It's a bear.

Shortly thereafter, RV-10 builder (well, soon, he's about to take delivery on a QB), David Maib stopped by. It was good to meet him and get a chance to chat about RV building. I believe he flies the big iron -- Citations and such - for Target Corp.

But this is more fun, I'll bet.
 
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