20 Mar
1999
20 Mar
'99
5:11 a.m.
This might get to you too late tobe of use, but some advice from someone
who rolled a PDP-12 down a ramp of a similar truck.
Up will probably be no problem, assuming you separate the -8 into it's
individual racks. (Otherwise, when part of it starts up, the part in back
will drag the bottom of the rack on the ground). You just push.
Coming down can be tricky, because you want to be in control at all times.
What we did (thanks to my friend Hannes, who being an experience sailor, is
quite good with lines) was make a control line. What we did was basically
this:
1. Move the machine to the edge of the ramp.
2. Tie a line *across* the back of the door of the truck about mid-rack
height, with a loop made at the midpoint
in the line, by tying a knot with a loop sticking thru. This line
should be reasonably slack-free and tied very securly.
3. Tie a line to the rack, run it back up to the loop and back down.
You want to tie the line to the rack high
enough so that the rack cannot tip over and low enough so that the
rack won't tip over.
4. If you have some block & tackle, better yet. Secure that to the line
across the truck.
BE CAREFUL OF THE RACK BEING TOP HEAVY.
That way, we could have one person easing the rack down without having to
be on the ramp, while another could *pull* the rack down (against the
tension on the line). It made things a lot safer then they would otherwise
have been.
Another thing we have done from time to time is labeled and disconnected
cables at the originating site, loaded the truck with the racks full, but
then pulled the units out of the racks before wheeling the racks down the
ramp.
SAFETY FIRST!
Jay
At 10:19 PM 3/19/99 -0500, you wrote:
Thanks to all those who made suggestions on how to do the move.
It turns out that the problem with lift gates has more to do with
the fact that both Ryder and Budget (and I'm sure other places
which rent vehicles) have separated their 'consumer' and 'commercial'
truck rental groups. I found that although it is possible to find
a truck with a lift-gate in the consumer division, they aren't
generally where you want them to be (I'm in framingham, MA, and
the closest one they could find was south boston... and at $.39
a mile for Ryder, that would add up quickly). The commercial
division is where you would find the lift-gates, but they would
be on larger trucks (>24ft) with air brakes, etc... things which
would require CDL...
So, that is out. The only thing I could find was a 15' long
7' high truck with a ramp... I got dollies, so I'll be able to
roll things into the truck. I'm getting moving pads to protect
everything.
I'm going to take tools to dismantle things, rope to tie things
down, and a digital camera to take pictures of cabling and/or
locations of things so I can restore them at my place.
Now, the only problem I've got is that the person who had offered
to help in the move is sick and can't help, so unless I can find
someone to help, I'll be wrangling this stuff alone at my place.
If there is anyone in the framingham, ma (sudbury, natick, marlboro,
maynard, etc) area who might be able to help, it would be much
appreciated. Meal/snacks are on me...
Please write to me off-line any time between now and about 9am
tomorrow... Thanks in advance to anyone who can help... Think
of the chance to handle some *real iron* (tm) :)
And look for pictures of the move in a few days on my web page...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
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Jay R. Jaeger The Computer Collection
Jay.Jaeger(a)msn.fullfeed.com visit http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/~cube