"Longtime Lurker" (longtimelurker26)
06/27/2018 at 23:35 • Filed to: Toolbox, Mechanic
1
29|
"Longtime Lurker" (longtimelurker26)
06/27/2018 at 23:35 • Filed to: Toolbox, Mechanic | 1
| 29 |
I was at work today, we had a newly hired mechanic starting today, he was bringing in his tool box on the back of a tilting snowmobile trailer. In the past other mechanics have used trucks to move their toolbox. This got me thinking as to the logistics of moving those big heavy toolboxes and how other mechanics would move thiers around.
So if you’ve had to move your box before, please share how it was done.
If you haven’t moved it before, how would you you get it done?
His Stigness
> Longtime Lurker
06/27/2018 at 23:48 |
|
I’ve always had to use a tow truck to move any of my toolboxes. Once they’re loaded up with tools they’re too heavy to try and load on to any trailer you might get from UHaul or someone. I’m pretty sure my two-bay box was 600 pounds dry, and I figured it weighed 1000-2000 loaded up. And I’m sure my current triple bay and lockers is 1500-2000 dry, and probably 3-4000k loaded.
I’ve never heard of technicians moving their full-size box without a tow truck or tool truck with a lift-gate.
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> Longtime Lurker
06/27/2018 at 23:51 |
|
They are a bitch and a half to move. If you’re lucky you have a ramp or a loading dock that gets you level with the bed easy. If not, you’re looking at a team of four or five people to get a medium size one up into the truck.
|
Longtime Lurker
> His Stigness
06/27/2018 at 23:51 |
|
By tow truck your refering to a rollback?
CodyVella
> Longtime Lurker
06/27/2018 at 23:54 |
|
Buddy of mine has two full sized Snap-On boxes, when he switched shops we moved everything in his Ranger and my Xterra that I had at the time. He took all his tools out, put them in containers and we loaded the boxes empty in his Ranger, and all his tools in my Xtrra. He also used it as an opportunity to clean his boxes out and service them .
|
His Stigness
> Longtime Lurker
06/27/2018 at 23:56 |
|
I’ve never heard that term.
This is a tow truck to us Californians.
|
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> His Stigness
06/27/2018 at 23:59 |
|
This is a tow truck to us normal people.
|
Longtime Lurker
> If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
06/28/2018 at 00:00 |
|
Exactly!
|
Longtime Lurker
> His Stigness
06/28/2018 at 00:02 |
|
This is known as rollback because the platform tilts then rolls backwards to facillitate loading.
LOREM IPSUM
> His Stigness
06/28/2018 at 00:02 |
|
Most other places I’ve been, that is referred to as a flatbed where this would be what one would picture when thinking tow-truck:
Cali doesn't have these?
|
Longtime Lurker
> CodyVella
06/28/2018 at 00:03 |
|
That sounds like a lot of work, how long did that take?
ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> Longtime Lurker
06/28/2018 at 00:09 |
|
I didn’t have a huge set up; a full-size snap on bottom box and a smaller top box. The top box could be lifted into the back of my (at the time) suburban by a couple people. The bottom box was probably around 1500lbs. I moved it by rolling it on to my flatbed racecar trailer (low the ground, and long, low-angle ramps). After taking out some of the heavier individual tools, two (really strong) or three people could roll it up or down the ramps . When there was a forklift available , that was the way to do it. When I moved it across the state, I rented a box truck (for all my stuff, not just tools) with a lift gate on the back.
For a bigger setup like His Stigness’s, a box truck with a lift gate or rollback wrecker are probably the only way to move them unless you have access to an enclosed/flatbed trailer with a winch. Ryder will usually rent you a 16 foot box truck (on an Isuzu cab over chassis) with a liftgate on the back for reasonable money. If you’ve got loading docks at the shops , renting a P ensky or B udget box truck for a few hours can also work. Their biggest trucks have dock- height floors.
|
His Stigness
> Longtime Lurker
06/28/2018 at 00:25 |
|
Hogwash!
We use “tow truck” as a general term here, but to those that know, we refer to the truck I pictured as a “flat bed.”
|
His Stigness
> If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
06/28/2018 at 00:26 |
|
That and the one I showed are both tow trucks.
The one I pictured is also called a flat bed . But your typical AAA member does not know that. They only use the term “tow truck.”
|
His Stigness
> LOREM IPSUM
06/28/2018 at 00:29 |
|
We do. The general public refers to both as a tow truck. Very few people know to call the first one a flat bed .
|
LOREM IPSUM
> His Stigness
06/28/2018 at 00:35 |
|
Fwiw, roll back is a new one for me too.
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Longtime Lurker
06/28/2018 at 00:40 |
|
Box truck with a lift gate. But i don't own one anymore. Any nice dealer these days has built in boxes so we only have to move tools.
|
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> His Stigness
06/28/2018 at 00:50 |
|
Tow = pull along behind on a rope or chain. Flatbeds aren’t tow trucks.
So what you’re saying is Californians are basic?
smobgirl
> Longtime Lurker
06/28/2018 at 01:06 |
|
I grew up calling that a rollback but I don’t know anyone else who’s ever said that. Cheers!
|
CodyVella
> Longtime Lurker
06/28/2018 at 01:18 |
|
He stayed back two hours on his last Friday at his old shop to empty out the boxes and pack it all in Rubbermaid bins, spent less than an hour loading it all into the trucks. He spent the weekend cleaning and servicing his boxes. On Monday we took everything to his new shop, spent less than an hour unloading everything, and he took about four hours to restock his boxes.
|
His Stigness
> If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
06/28/2018 at 01:23 |
|
Technically a flat bed is towing the car behind its cab.
|
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> His Stigness
06/28/2018 at 01:34 |
|
no.
SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
> His Stigness
06/28/2018 at 04:00 |
|
Tilt tray in Oz...the t ruck of Financial Hell.
BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
> If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
06/28/2018 at 06:20 |
|
I haven’t seen one of those in like a decade ;) because so many cars are AWD, most tow trucks are the “flatbed” style, I think.
I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
> BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
06/28/2018 at 08:19 |
|
I rarely see an AWD anything being flatbedded. I’m 90% sure most people here who have AWD don’t realize it, or at least don’t know that towing them that way is terrible for the diff.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> smobgirl
06/28/2018 at 08:58 |
|
I’ve always heard “rollback”, always said “rollback”. Or flatbed. It’s only a “tow truck” insofar as it tows things onto itself...
RacingShark
> CodyVella
06/28/2018 at 09:16 |
|
Makes sense to take the opportunity to clean it out and reorganize it. Probably a big pain in the ass, but I bet the new job will be impressed by how clean and organized your stuff is.
Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW!
> AMGtech - now with more recalls!
06/28/2018 at 12:44 |
|
Yeah, I was amazed seeing that. My buddy worked for a Mercedes dealer and g ave me a tour and I was shocked that they provided that. Pretty awesome. He has since transferred to another Mercedes dealer down in Florida.
Die-Trying
> Longtime Lurker
06/28/2018 at 16:09 |
|
either a tilt bed trailer, if you are set on rolling the boxes, or an auto crane/pole truck , and bridle the boxes with some chains ......
|
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW!
06/29/2018 at 15:59 |
|
Yeah it's pretty cool and it's not just Mercedes