jgoldenmba Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 As many of you already know I purchased and placed a Royal Merlin IV 650. First let me say this, I'm a larger than average guy, 6'4" 235 lbs. and holy crap are these things heavy! The appliance dolly with the kick out set of wheels absolutely was a life saver. I'm convinced I would have dropped the machine had I tried to use a regular dolly. I couldn't find anyone to move it for me in the area for anything south of $250. So I did it myself. I rented an appliance dolly as well as a set of piano movers. I purchased from the equipment rental company a heavy duty strap with the crank ($9) on it to tie the machine to the wall of the truck I rented. Appliance dolly and piano movers were $30 combined to rent for the day. The truck ran $160 including taxes, insurance, gasing her back up, and miles. I ran through everything in my mind, measured doors, and planned as much as possible. I did not plan to have my truck given away and for most of the truck rental places being sold out of liftgate trucks. But after about 45 minutes of frantic calling I found one. I rented a Ryder 16 ft. with a liftgate. There were two extremely nerve racking parts to my move. 1. When we had the machine on the liftgate and we we're loading it into the truck I unrolled my strap that I purchased from the rental place and wrapped it around the top half of the machine while the seller raised the gate I held both ends of the strap while I was inside the truck so the machine didn't topple off the back of the liftgate. That was extremely scary because it was so heavy if it did start to go it was going and me holding onto my little strap wasn't going to do anything except burn my hands. But all went well. 2. The 30 mile drive was so nerve racking. One thing I would absolutely change next time is how I secure the machine to the side of the truck. I purchased that strap and it worked but this one tiny strap made me really nervous I think next time I'll use like 3. Every bump I was waiting to hear the crashing sound of the machine in the back of the truck but it all went well. One thing that was a little more difficult than it should have been was negotiating the machine through the narrow doorway with the machine's door open. I rented the piano dolly for this but myself and three of the workers at the machine's location could not for the life of us figure out how to use the straps on this piano dolly that seems like they may be older than me. Luckily they had some rope and knew some crazy boyscout knots and the piano movers worked fine. Here's a picture of her with only three selections that I purchased on sale to test everything out and program my slots. I couldn't have done it without the help of this board so thank you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpvending Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 thats a nice looking piece you have there...... we as a distributor move equipment almost daily.....we maintain a 24 ft. box truck dock level , the lift gate is of elevator rail design, thus lifting the machine level at all times.....the same is true of our pick up for smaller moves, same style gate..... when we contract a move, it is always done with 2 of our employees, 3 if stairs are involved...yes we have a stair climber too... we take responsibilty and liability for the piece...in other words if my personel cause damage to the machine,,,,or to the customer location,floors,walls door jambs etc....we carry liability insurance for that .... of the installers, there is always one that is a technician who puts the machine in service, and thoroughly tests it before leaving.... i see you listed some costs for doing it yourself....and i dont blame you a bit for doing so.......but you wouldn't believe how many customers complain when i charge them for moves........our charges basically cover the overhead to do so.... good job ....glad it worked out for you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Congrats on the location and glad the info helped..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 There is nothing like the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Congrats. 20 years from now when you are a grizzled veteran of the cola wars this will be the first of many "war stories". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinnJinn Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 I am glad everything went well and no one got hurt!... Thank you for posting your experience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 good looking machine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devin1986 Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 Sounds like it went well overall. Moving machines is a terrifying experience for me but i'm sure it gets easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antoniocinisi Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 congrats!!out of couriosity you saved 60 bucks by moveing it yourself,but had to take time to rent a vehicle,gas it up and get a hernia lol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinnJinn Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 If I moved a machine, before gas, I would save over $150 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now