shipping a motor - data point
 

I just shipped a motor from Seattle to Atlanta

I shipped it with these guys at mike z's suggestion.

http://www.forwardair.com

My dad boxed it up for me. It had to be delivered to their terminal. They have terminals everywhere so not to inconvenient.

With the tin on, no exhaust, CIS on; the box was 36"x30"x30". It had to be delivered in a fork liftable format. They took it right out of the back of his wagon. It had to be covered in 1/4" plywood min.

Cost $180 + I bought $5K insurance for $50.

Here is the amazng thing - It was dropped off today (5/21) and it wil be at the terminal in Atlanta on Tues. (5/25).

4 DAYS!!!!

Amazing, they run this route twice a week so this was nothing special.

Hope this helps fellow shippers!

I think Jake Raby, the four cyl guru uses them. Good to know, though.

I had a similar experience with forward air when I sold the motor from my '73. They were definitely the best option for shipping an engine that I found.

I bought a motorcycle on EBAY a couple of months ago and had it shipped using ForwardAir, and then I had FEDEX deliver it to me for only $275 total. Indy to Atl.

Wild - Fedex picked up a motor cycle?? who would of thought.

By the way for future archive searchers - the 3.0 SC motor with out exhaust and in a wood box weighs about 430 lbs.

Here in the Midwest (Michigan to be exact) the only Forward Air is in Detroit (2 hrs away), so it adds far too much to the shipping cost for me.

I ship all engines and freight items via R & L Carriers. Anywhere east of the Mississippi for under $230. Recently, I sent a complete 3.0 from Michigan to my customer's HOUSE. Took 28 hours to get there.

I use air freight containers purchased from a shipping supply vendor for $30.00.

One of Forward Air's bread and butter runs is delivering motorcycles. I ship trannys shrink wrapped to pallets and the cost with insurance is usually about $100.

When my wife moved from Houston to San Diego, we used Forward Air to ship the boxes. 13 Boxes on 2 pallets, $140. We dropped them off on Saturday afternon and they beat us to San Diego, Monday afternoon. Very good carrier, very fast, very cheap.

James

I just shipped a 2.0 to LA from Ohio on ABF for terminal pickup, they picked up from my dock. I built the crate on top of a pallet and with all the included items the weight was 484, dimensions 48x48x27 total cost was $250.14 using there internet discount of $35.00

Wow Jerry sounds like R&L is a great deal. Where the heck were you when I was searching old threads about shipping motors!! :-))

"I use air freight containers purchased from a shipping supply vendor for $30.00."

Can you post more about this?

Also what do most people do to secure a complete motor onto a wood pallet?

The Air Freight containers are boxes that have a pallet bottom and high load sides along with a high load top.

You can get them in a variety of different sizes, I use them often for transmissions as well.

Here is a picture of what they look like (one of the larger sizes, I normally purchase the 36X36X36 containers for $30.00ea). They are very light and quite compact prior to assembly. I simply poke holes in the bottom side and run my securing wire around the pallet.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1085256037.jpg

When I shipped mine I wrapped it in a egg crate foam rubber and shrinkwrapped it to the pallet.

Thx Jerry - that looks great -- where does one buy them?

Until recently, I purchased mine from Binger Shipping Supplies here in Michigan, however the four day delivery time kinda got under my skin.

Now I buy all of my shipping supplies from Uline ( www.uline.com ), they have warehouses in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, LA, Minneapolis and Newark.

I can place my order on Monday AM and get my boxes/supplies by Tuesday PM in time to make FedEx Ground/UPS/USPS. Better yet...they are WAY cheaper!

Whoa - those are nice.

Randy - my dad put some eyelets in the pallet and used some in- expensive ratchet tie downs to anchor it

Thx!