Techniques for moving a Fadal VMC 40 / VMC 2216

[NismoGT]

Hello party peoples,
I’m about to purchase a VMC 40 (VMC 2216) and wanted other opinions as to how to go about transporting it. I am trying to get it done without breaking the bank so I have though of a few options:

1) Rent a drop deck trailer (https://www.jlg.com/en/equipment/drop-deck-trailers/flatbed/1014) and pull the machine on to it with a winch.
Issue: the deck is only 70 inches wide while the machine is larger both in the X and Y. I would have to remove sheet metal to get it to fit. Or possibly remove anything pertruding passed the Z column to fit it sideways on the trailer.

2) Rent a 12ft tilt bed equipment trailer (https://www.felling.com/trailers/construction/drop-deck-lines/tilt-lines-drop-deck/it-i-tilt-drop-deck/) and pull the machine up using a winch.
Issue: A bit wider at 82” between the wheels but may work if the fenders don’t interfere with bottom of the sheet metal on the sides of the machine.

3) Suck it up and rent a forklift at the pickup location AND at home.
Issue: Too much money but I can pay. Don’t want to though.

4) Get a rigger. Probably not going to do this but it’s still an option. They are going to be $1k+ for all of 15 min of work.

For the first two options m, I was considering getting a couple pieces of 1” x 4’ or 5’ bar stock to roll the machine on. Question: is the bottom of this machine flat enough for this? There are also machine skates but Sunbelt charges way too much per day for them. Ridiculous.

Lastly, does anyone have any good pictures of the bottom of this machine and the fork holes? Kind of hard to plan this move without knowing what I can or can’t use/do.

I really would like to save a little money here to buy more tooling and stuff from the seller.

Thanks everybody

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[rodney247]

This may help http://itscnc.com/images/Specification_Pages.pdf

[NismoGT]

Was pretty successful with moving the machine with 1.5" steel round stock and 4x4s as "tracks". 2" round stock probably would have been the golden ticket but not entirely necessary.

[Jim Dawson]

I would use a deckover trailer, that way you can side load the trailer and have a full 8'6'' deck width, and rent a forklift at each end. Forklift needs to be at least 10,000 lb with 60 inch forks at a minimum based on the spec sheet. A top lift is the best if you have the overhead height. The machine is setup for a top lift.

If you are not well equipped, then hiring a rigger might be the best option, that's a lot of machine.

[warrenb]

Before a lying thief disappeared with (stole) my 22k forklift it was easy to pick it up and as is (properly stowed per Fadal's instructions) and place it on a trailer of capable size. I was spoiled with long forks. I would remove the control box and place it on the bed.

[NismoGT]

I would use a deckover trailer, that way you can side load the trailer and have a full 8'6'' deck width, and rent a forklift at each end. Forklift needs to be at least 10,000 lb with 60 inch forks at a minimum based on the spec sheet. A top lift is the best if you have the overhead height. The machine is setup for a top lift.

If you are not well equipped, then hiring a rigger might be the best option, that's a lot of machine.

Unfortunately, deckover trailers in the 10k-12k pound range around Maryland are the black sheep of rental trailers. I had to use a regular equipment trailer with a 82" deck width. Then I had to use 4x4s to sit the machine on top of to clear the fender wells. Ultimately, it was a tight fit but it worked out stupendously. I rented a 10k forklift from Sunbelt on both sides (one with 6ft forks, one with 7ft forks). 6ft forks are the BARE minimum to move this machine (when lifting from the front). The solid steel round stock was ESSENTIAL to move the machine in my case. It took us a good 3-4 hours to get it slid into position but it worked. And this 2018 F250 Powerstroke pulled that 13k pounds with ease.

[NismoGT]

Before a lying thief disappeared with (stole) my 22k forklift it was easy to pick it up and as is (properly stowed per Fadal's instructions) and place it on a trailer of capable size. I was spoiled with long forks. I would remove the control box and place it on the bed.

That would have been hella nice. Maybe one day I will have a shop big enough to warrant something like that. Or I can afford a rigger to do it for me.

[Jim Dawson]

Unfortunately, deckover trailers in the 10k-12k pound range around Maryland are the black sheep of rental trailers. I had to use a regular equipment trailer with a 82" deck width. Then I had to use 4x4s to sit the machine on top of to clear the fender wells. Ultimately, it was a tight fit but it worked out stupendously. I rented a 10k forklift from Sunbelt on both sides (one with 6ft forks, one with 7ft forks). 6ft forks are the BARE minimum to move this machine (when lifting from the front). The solid steel round stock was ESSENTIAL to move the machine in my case. It took us a good 3-4 hours to get it slid into position but it worked. And this 2018 F250 Powerstroke pulled that 13k pounds with ease.

Congratulations on your purchase Happy to hear you made it home safe & sound.

I guess I'm lucky around here, there is one rental shop in town that has a couple 22', 14K deckover trailers, and a couple of 10K drop deck trailers also. They're my go to guys when I want to move machines, reasonable prices also. I put 3400 miles on one of their deckovers one week when I went to Oklahoma to pick up my CNC lathe. At about 22,400 lb across the scales was about a 2200 lb overload for my poor old 2004 Dodge Diesel. Did just fine. The good news is that I have a 10K telehandler forklift and a 5K warehouse forklift on this end so moving machines in is not too bad.