Posted: 4/16/2003 12:16:18 PM EDT
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I'm in Huntington Beach and want to know if anyone has any recommendations on a safe mover. I bought it from Turner's and the charge to move it initially was $50 thru them. That, I realize is very cheap but the quotes so far are $310 from a local outfit and $232 from a mover that was referred by another safe retailer. Any help? It's a 675# AMSEC. Only a threshhold to go over at the pickup house and a 4 in rise into the destination. Flat otherwise. |
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I moved my Sun Welding safe with an appliance hand truck (the kind used to move a refridgerator, with the strap that goes around the appliance and then cranks down on the handtruck). My 60x24x30 safe weighs 500lbs plus. If you can get it up on the handtruck, you and some friends should be able to leverage around or over the obstacles you describe. If you need to load it into a pick-up or SUV, you can tip it on its back, on to a tailgate. Then you and said friends can pick up the other end and manuever it into the truck. Put some cardboard down for it to slide on, and protect finishes of safe and vehicle. Unloading is even easier, as you have gravity to help you. Just let the safe gently slide down the tailgate. I brought mine home from the factory in a 1991 Suburban 4x4 that is slightly lifted and semi-big tires. My father and I easily unloaded that thing, just the two of us. I had to move the safe when we bought a different house last June. Just be careful when lifting to keep your back straight, and use your legs to lift wherever possible. |
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The handtruck is great up until you have to make a tight corner inside your house. Cut five or six pieces of 3/4 steel pipe just a few inches shorter than the width of your safe. Get these underneath it and you can roll it around with ease. As the safe rolls over the last pipe, swap it up front to continue. Even a girly-man can easily manage to move six or seven hundred pounds around this way. It'll really impress the chicks too. |
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all good ideas. if you can take the door off, this takes off a lot of weight and gives hand holds. get a couple friends over, lay some plywood planks on the ground/carpet and use Basuras idea of pipes or some type of dowels to roll the safe out the house. then use the industrial hand truck to move it around outside. this is what the moving company is going to do, nothing that you, some friends and some beer cant accomplish in a couple hours work, and for cheaper. besides its not good letting strangers into the house and letting them know about your guns. oh yeah, be sure to take the guns out of the safe first before moving it  
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I bought an appliance hand-truck when I bought my vault, which was right after a "friend" that I used to work with burglarized my rented house. I have moved 3 times since then, the hand-truck has long since paid for itself ($110.00). It also makes me very popular when a friend has to move. |
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The hand-truck idea is a great way to get a safe sized hole bashed in your wall. Or worse yet a safe sized imprint on you. I HIGHLY recommend Dean Security Safe in North Hollywood. Charged me $150.00, super professional, courteous and they have the correct equipment and experience to do the job safely (nevermind the pun). I don't know how much it would be to go to HB, but these guys are awesome! |
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Using the pipes should get it over the threshold. The handtruck just to help it over the 4" rise, and then just the pipes to move it around, once it is on the handtruck and tipped it is very awkward. You can also build up cribbing with 2x4s to raise it by walking it up. Push it over stick a 2x4 under push it the other way and stick one or two under. Take it slow and easy, once they start moving they can be real bears to stop. Your back and hands are worth more than the safe. BTW Sportsman Safes down in Long Beach delivered free (to Orange County) when I got mine 10 years ago. |
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Only 675LB & no stairs?? Hell, that is almost one man size! The appliance cart will handle that easily. I move boilers heavier than that on a $19 two wheeler from Odd Lots using a $2.00 ratchet strap. (Local Chinese Junk emporium.) It is amazing what you can move on cardboard or pipes. I moved my 5000++ LB safe into my garage on pipes. Just put one in the gun store that goes about 4000 LB and we never broke a sweat - either one of us. (We cheated; used some equipment.) When moving something a bit heavy, THINK about what you are doing. Move VERY slowly. PLAN every move. ONE person is in charge. STOP means just that!!!!! NEVER put a body part under a heavy object. NEVER. Do NOT allow fingers etc to get in "pinch points". ASSUME the object weighs much more than it does. MEASURE TWICE, move once. NO BEER until AFTER the move!! If it tests your strength, you ain't doin it right! Use your BRAIN, not your BACK. I move boilers for a living. They start at 450 LB and go WAY up from there. Most are installed in basements. Old ones come OUT of those basements. So far (21 years) I have done $50 damage to one house and still zero to my body and my helper. Yea, just two of us do it. I sometimes move grocery store equipment like display cases. Run about a ton or so. You can't believe how easy it is with a "mule" dolly and some bread carts. When available, case jacks are the shit. They work on safes too. Piano dollies are similar. Would work well on your little safe; they rent for a small sum. MAY be easier for an amateur than appliance cart. ABOVE ALL REMEMBER THAT - SAFETY IS #1!!!!!!!!!! |