Load rollers

[Frank S]

When you have a shipping container a trailer with a hydraulic flip tail ramp a 10 ton winch and a pair of these the task of loading a full container goes easy peeze.
I knew the winch would not be able to pull the container on to the trailer because we had used it while the container was empty and it barely got the job done. I have no idea how much weight we managed to stuff into the container but judging by my other loads i would say considerable
So I decided to fabricate a pair of rollers to assist in the task after all rollers to move heavy objects have been around for 1000's of years.

[LMMasterMariner]

Egyptian style. Nice implementation.

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Load Rollers to our Miscellaneous category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Load Rollers by Frank S

tags: roller

[Al8236]

One question, do you remove them prior to transport? I can see a lot of strain on the securing method if you have to make a sudden stop, pulling a grade etc.
I would hate to see it come loose on those rollers somewhere in your travels.

[Frank S]

One question, do you remove them prior to transport? I can see a lot of strain on the securing method if you have to make a sudden stop, pulling a grade etc.
I would hate to see it come loose on those rollers somewhere in your travels.

A good observation
In this case probably not going to remove the rollers it would be impossible to get them back underneath. What we have though that we plan on using is 2 hydraulic rail jacks some would call them house jacks the toe of the jacks will be placed under the corner of the container and some thinned down dunnage will be placed under the container that way the load is sitting on oak. 2 reasons for doing it this way 1 like you said to prevent the possibility of movement in transport and 2 to prevent the possibility of crushing the pipe rollers.
I have a set of standard container load locks that the railroad uses to lock containers together when stacking them but I never did mount the pockets in the floor of my trailer since we do not transport containers on a regular basis to add them would mean another 200+ lbs added to the empty weight which would hardly ever be used. That and the fact that you almost have to use a crane to load containers in order to align the container sockets up with those pop up load locks. load locks.
Bob and I have half a dozen trailers each with their own specific specialty's We just bought an all aluminum flat bed spread axle 48/102 that I will be rebuilding as soon as funds can be allocated

[Al8236]

Good to know you have a sound plan for securing the load.
Looks like that aluminum trailer has had a rough life up to this point!

[Frank S]

Yep it's had at least 1 OH S**t moment but that is the way we buy our trailers
the Trail eaze flip tail that has the container on it at one time was nearly so bad that it couldn't even haul it's own weight safely but after some surgery and several 100 lbs of ASTM 514 it now has 140,000 loaded miles logged, we have been offered 14k for it

[Toolmaker51]

One question, do you remove them prior to transport? I can see a lot of strain on the securing method if you have to make a sudden stop, pulling a grade etc.
I would hate to see it come loose on those rollers somewhere in your travels.

Not to the degree a guy behind in a Smart car would...

I've done no moves like Frank S does with regularity. I do however manipulate items far beyond my own strength, single handed utilizing mechanical advantage. Rollers solve many load handling issues.
I acquired a Doall 3 Wheel Bandsaw. Throat is 36" deep x 16" or so, about 6' in height and overall length. I'd estimate weight at 1600 pounds; cast tables and most of the structure is 10 gauge sheet metal. After blocking it up to insert & secure to a solid pallet, a pallet jack transported it across sidewalk to my 3500 pound tilt bed trailer. The pickup's wheels were blocked, trailer detached/ blocked/ tilted, then boat winch mounted to receiver. Raised front of pallet 4" and inserted first of 6 wooden peeler cores, and connected winch to machine. Each couple of winch turns allowed another peeler underneath, then from back end as they were freed from weight. It reached the center of gravity and set the tilt back to horizontal as if it was powered. Pried up pallet for solid blocks and used ratchet straps to secure load fully. Mindful most machinery has a high center of gravity, a small lateral shift would be less hazardous than toppling over. Strapping works well when 2 cross each other at hypotenuse which won't ride up or slip down and loose tension. That tension should be checked after a few miles...ALL loads settle. As it turns out once I hit the freeway, load needed to be moved forward to get additional tongue weight to maintain steering control.
A month later it was duplicated when a 36" Moak Vertical Bandsaw became mine.

[Frank S]

Load placement and securing is paramount to transport safety all of the insurance premiums paid in the world can not take the place of a few extra steps taken to insure a load is safe to be transported. My driver / partner has logged 30 years over the road and has never lost a single article off his trailers due to lack of proper tie downs. I never considered myself as a professional driver but back in the day when I was doing part time over the road I managed to log a couple million miles, a lot of times those were over dimensional requiring 2 to 3 civilian escorts and as many as 5 police and highway patrol officers in the convoy.
One such load took me a couple of months to fabricate the specialized equipment for a friend then I had to use my 1 ton as a chase vehicle every time we encountered an on ramp or exit ramp I would have to have someone drive my vehicle while I rode on the tail of the load while steering the rear so as to avoid obstacles and remain on the roadway itself sometimes raising or lowering the load which was perched on the special hydraulic towers and saddles I had constructed the steering ability along with the towers and saddles, since we hadn't had the time to prepare a cab mounted remote system that left me as the only person who knew how the complete system functioned. Some states required me to ride back there across the entire state We started out in northern Ohio, by the time we had reached New Mexico Shawn felt that he had watched me enough to have a go at being a rear driver which was a good thing as Steve was feeling a bit ill so I wound up having to drive the rig from there to Barstow Ca