Question about safes

shotgunshooter3

Let's say I bought a rather large safe on Craigslist (for discussion's sake, a Liberty 50 gun safe), how would I go about transporting it?

No, I haven't bought one, but I have found one for sale by individual. I may pull the trigger if I can figure out how to transport it.

agewon

I called several movers in my area when considering a safe. The prices ranged from 500$-800$ with one flight of 10 stairs included.
You could also bribe a few adventurous friends with a trailer, and an appliance dolly to help, but to me it wasn't worth the risk. Even with the door off, you're probably looking at around 700+ pounds.
Just my experience though.

ETA- I've heard of guys using blasting media (used 60 grit) to push the safe around. If its accessible, and don't have to tackle any stairs, three guys should be able to dolly it to a trailer and tip it on.

jbohio

I rented a 1200lb capacity appliance dolly at Sunbelt, and a trailer from work. Laid it on its back, on a pallet. It went pretty well, wasn't really all that difficult.

Make sure the dolly has a kickstand thing, makes it much easier.

CHIRO1989

A sturdy dolly, a ratchet strap, and three friends you can trust to hold it when it needs to be held, whatever your friends think is appropriate in exchange for their help is worth it.

SirGeorgeKillian

Beer and gas is all I charge :tooth:

Seriously, me and my buddy got mine home and installed with nothing more than a borrowed hand truck and his Explorer. It wasn't that hard if you have a basic understanding of weight and leverage.

Jayhawker

A bucket of old golf balls makes moving the thing around in the house a lot easier...

5280 shooter II

shotgunshooter3 wrote: »

Let's say I bought a rather large safe on Craigslist (for discussion's sake, a Liberty 50 gun safe), how would I go about transporting it?

No, I haven't bought one, but I have found one for sale by individual. I may pull the trigger if I can figure out how to transport it.

Question is.....how far do you have to transport it, and details on getting it in and out of housing? If it's a local move, rent a U-haul van and an appliance dolly, bribe a few friends for the EP and LZ. Weight is listed as 1125 lbs........that's like moving the top half of a 12' pool table......might need a couple more friends ifn' you have to negotiate stairs.

Jermanator

Jayhawker wrote: »

A bucket of old golf balls makes moving the thing around in the house a lot easier...

That will work. I have also moved garages and sheds by rolling them on pieces of PVC drain pipe. Over grass, we laid down plywood first.

orchidman

Here is a trick to use you may not know about................

Get as many newspapers as you can.......Lots and lots of them. Open them up and lay them down up to about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Put the safe on the newspaper and it will slide very easily.

Back when I was an LEO I was in charge of a traffic detail that was responsible for closing a road to allow a 100(approx.) year old wooden Church to be moved from its location on one side of a road to its new location on the other side. Because the building was back to front for its new site they needed to turn it 90deg before it could be positioned across the road. (This was before hydraulic trailers etc were invented.)

The removal guys jacked the building up, placed standard truck trailers underneath it ( from memory it was 4 each side hitched together) then lowered it. After dragging the building onto the footpath they laid truckloads of newspaper on the roadway, then dragged the building onto the newspapers. A tractor unit on opposite corners was hitched to the building and they then pulled on each corner and turned the Cathedral 90 deg in its own length. Whole operation to turn this building took about 5 minutes as the trailer units slid sideways easily on the newspaper. After it was lined up with its site, it was a simple matter to jack it up, reposition the trailers, pick up the newspapers, hitch the 6 tractor units up and pull it into its new resting place.

The building was over 150' long and 3 stories high............I don't know how much it weighed but it took 3 large tractor units each side to pull it onto the road but only two small units to turn it.

Ever walked on sheets of newspaper and slipped over?.........they are almost frictionless!

Here is a link to Wiki which describes the Church and the date of moving it........ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mary's_Cathedral_Church

bullsi1911

CHIRO1989 wrote: »

A sturdy dolly, a ratchet strap, and three friends you can trust to hold it when it needs to be held, whatever your friends think is appropriate in exchange for their help is worth it.

I have moved or helped move 3 gunsafes. If there are no stairs involved, this will work. If there are stairs, call the local Academy and find out what company they use for local gunsafe moves. See what they charge

bisley

Jermanator wrote: »

That will work. I have also moved garages and sheds by rolling them on pieces of PVC drain pipe. Over grass, we laid down plywood first.

I moved my 450 lb. safe this way on 3/4" schedule 40 PVC. This included unloading from a pickup via 2x4 ramp boards to span a 3' gap between tailgate and porch. I did this completely by myself, with a small two wheel dolly. The only bad part was lifting it into the upright position when I was ready to use the dolly...I think I'm still sore from that.

jbp-ohio

It's all in the hand truck. Rent a good one with forks, and you don't have to lift anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlEDs1Eyl0Y

A friend of mine bought a 50 gun safe years ago. We took the door off and pulled out the drywall, which cut the weight by 1/2. He rented a good dolly. Then I got my nephews to help move it. Mike used to squat 700# back in his wrestling days, so we didn't have any problems.

Fisheadgib

As other's have mentioned, a good dolly makes all the difference in the world. My safe is around 1000lbs empty and I've moved it from Texas to Florida with just one other person helping. They make furniture dollies that can even mechanically climb stairs and once you get it on a flat hard surface, a square furniture dolly under it will allow you to push it anywhere you want to.

rberglof

Wife and I just moved my 2 700 pound safes on a trailer not to hard to do with good ratchet straps 4 ft pipe a couple 2x6s and a dolly.