Speaking of wasting time, how are people packing and shipping engines?

So I managed to sell off the TR6 engine from my TVR project.  Some lady in Oregon gave me $500 bucks for the old lump.

Now I have to pack it up and ship it to her, which is turning into a bit of a pain.  She paid me an extra $100 to put together some sort of crate, and now I need to figure out what to do.

I've got a pallet that's in good shape, and an old tire to rest the engine on.  So that's a good starting point.  I'd really like to just strap it, and call it done.  But I committed to fancier packaging.

What to do for a crate?

Option 1 - Go to Home Depot and buy a couple sheets of plywood and 2x4's and spend a day building a crate.

• Minimal drive-around hassle
• Probably at least $50 in materials.
• But lots of work to build.

Option 2 - Buy some pallet collars from a local scrap container outfit.  Add plywood top as required.

• Moderate drive-around hassle, as the place is about 40 min North.
• Cheap at $8 a collar, and I'd probably need 4.
• Quicker to put together than a custom crate.

Option 3 - Buy a used IBC tote and cut the top off.

• Moderate drive-around hassle - also North of town a ways.
• Major logistics hassle - won't fit in the truck with the topper on.
• Not expensive - $50 or so.
• Very durable way to package.
• Gets coolness points.

My secondary concern is whether or not I'll be able to lift this whole mess into the back of the truck with the engine hoist.  The finished crate with engine  will likely be somewhere over 500 lb.  I can imagine this whole thing becoming a wrecking ball in my garage.

Probably the safest way there would be to build it a step at a time inside the truck bed.  Pallet first, hoist the engine in, add the sides in place.

I could rent a trailer, but that's another level of hassle...

After that I'll need to take it to some LTL terminal and have them fork it off the truck and ship it.  Looks like I can do that with FedEx freight.  Any shipping wisdom to confer?

Scott

Well, the last 4 or 5 motors I've bought have been strapped down to a pallet and then wrapped with that clear industrial saran-wrap like stuff, then shipped LTL.  If I was going to ship one out, and if you want to use the tire, I think I would put the tire on a pallet, motor on the tire, strap the crap out of it down to the pallet, wrap with plastic, then you could nail together some plywood in a box like structure over the motor onto the pallet as total overkill.

 Option number five : you pack the engine on the tire, and on the pallet, put it in the back of your truck. Drive your truck to Home Depot, and build the crate in Home Depot’s parking lot so that if you need anything it is immediately right there and you can ensure the project is done. Following completion of that, you drive to wherever you’re going to drop it off, in one swift drive around town. 

I would Strap the engine down to the pallet with a tie down, and then just do kind of a half assed job building the crate to make the person happy. Then wrap the living daylights out of it and shrink wrapped in bubble wrap

Engine on top of tire strapped to skid, wrap with a roll of bubble wrap, wrap that with stretch film, then put a double wall cardboard box over the whole thing for overkill. All those supplies are available at your local Uhaul store. 

For the strapping, if you don’t have banding supplies I just get some cheap ratchet straps and use those. 

I've done my fair share of equipment shipping and receiving. Strap the motor to the pallet with ratchet straps, screw together a 2x4 frame over top of the pallet and screw on plywood sides. Should be plenty strong, under $100, and certainly shouldnt take you a whole day to accomplish.

Strap it to the pallet then build a wooden tent shape over it with the plywood to protect the engine from the top and sides. This shape is easier to build, stronger, and requires less plywood than a cube-shaped crate.

If you crate it, label it "DO NOT STACK" unless you build your crate like a brick E36 M3house.  

Are you near an industrial park?  Cruise through to a place that looks busy and has a lot of pallets outside, ask someone who works there NICELY if you can have a few pallets.  Chances are the answer is yes.  I promise you that if you showed up at my place, not only would I give you pallets, but I would crate it and shrink it for you too.  Although we are pallet positive and dumpster 3 or 4 big rollbacks of packing materials a week, and we are nice people looking to help out.  

Otherwise build it like you would build a house, dont screw with building on an existing pallet, get 1x 8' 4x4, a dozen 2x4s, 2 sheets of OSB, some 3" screws, impact, and a circular saw, and go to town.  Should be able to spin it out in an hour or so.  Just remember, its not ballet, it doesnt have to be pretty.

Whatever you do try to avoid using nails. Screws please.

The last engine I had shipped to me was crated (very well) by someone with a framing nailer. It took me an hour and a half of swearing to unpackage. Swinging a BFH til I was sweating profusely trying not to hit the delicate alloy bits inside. There were 4 giant nails in every end joint and a total of 150 nails in all. It sailed past "protecting the contents" and ended up well into the realm of sadism.

When we receive engines there are usually a few wood blocks screwed to the pallet supporting the block at the oil pan flanges. Often there is a framework of 2X4's surrounding the engine and straps holding it down with a 1/2" plywood box on the outside.  If we got an old tire with it we would be put off by having to pay a $10 disposal fee.

In reply to Jumper K Balls :

why didn't you just cut the middle slats with a sawzall and pull the top off?

The sadist package was a tight matrix of 2X6 and 2X4 chunks. The crate materials weighed about as much as the engine. I wish I had the forethought to photograph it

I'd crib it up on the pallet using 2x4s/4x4s so that the hoist ears are pointing up, then strap it using actual industrial strapping (I have access to that. Harbor freight ratchet straps are a fine substitute) and shrinkwrap the whole thing.

Heavy single pallets rarely get stacked, but I have little faith in forklift drivers at LTL terminals, so a full wood crate isn't a bad idea. The skid should have a much larger footprint than the engine, and it should be fairly secure even without the straps. The most likely damage you'll see is the skid gets busted up by a sloppy forklift operator.

I learned something about myself today.  I'll drive an hour and a half across town to avoid ripping down a sheet of 3/4" plywood.

Went and bought the pallet collars - instant crate!

That was so easy...

I will do a bit more work here.  Right now the engine is on that old tire.  I'm going to replace that with some blocking on the oil pan flange - get the whole package lower.

I don't have access to banding at the moment, so I'll get the recommended HF ratchet straps.

I may pull off the valve cover to get the height down to just three layers of collars.  Then the remain two will get broken up to become the top.

Not bad!

Engine crate:  Shipping half way around the world (Macau)

In reply to oldeskewltoy :

You get a gold-star for that one, for sure!

What the heck are pallet collars?

I have to do this exact same thing tomorrow and I was just going to strap it down on a pallet and wrap it with plastic.  Do I need the sides & top?

I like adding the tire.

You also learn something else today:

home depot has a panel saw and will cut your plywood for you for free up to x cuts and 25 cents per cut afterward.  I’m a pro and still make them cut as much as possible.  

Anyone know a company that ships pallets coast to coast for a decent price ,

I am in SoCal so it would not be a big deal to do Depot to Depot , 

I have some stuff near Philly I might be getting  and its too much for Greyhound

Thanks for your ideas

In reply to USERNAMETAKEN :

Confession time. I shipped a pair of Jaguar camshaft to Crower to grind. I made this work of art black walnut and cherry box with carefully drilled out. Girdles for each cam bearing.  Glued everything together and then carefully countersunk brass screws. So they were surface flush and perfectly lined up. I even used a little inch pound torque wrench to ensure each one was properly torqued. 

Carefully everything  was sanded  shellacked and then varnished to musical instrument perfection 

 shipped it overnight because I couldn’t wait to hear how they liked my shipping box. 

Bruce Crower told me they had a little trouble getting them out of the box but the cams were ground and on their way back along with my shipping box.  

Their shipping box consisted of some cardboard  and shipping tape wrapped around my box cut Brutally  in half with a band saw.  

My only addition is to staple in a few Pig Mat type of oil absorbent mats under the engine.  A leaking pallet/crate can bring you attention that you may rather want to avoid.  Engine oil is not considered hazardous when you ship it but something that has fuel residue needs special labeling.  If you mess up their truck they may give you a bit more scrutiny.  

frenchyd said:

In reply to USERNAMETAKEN :

Confession time. I shipped a pair of Jaguar camshaft to Crower to grind. I made this work of art black walnut and cherry box with carefully drilled out. Girdles for each cam bearing.  Glued everything together and then carefully countersunk brass screws. So they were surface flush and perfectly lined up. I even used a little inch pound torque wrench to ensure each one was properly torqued. 

Carefully everything  was sanded  shellacked and then varnished to musical instrument perfection 

 shipped it overnight because I couldn’t wait to hear how they liked my shipping box. 

Bruce Crower told me they had a little trouble getting them out of the box but the cams were ground and on their way back along with my shipping box.  

Their shipping box consisted of some cardboard  and shipping tape wrapped around my box cut Brutally  in half with a band saw.  

This is hilarious!

OP. just don't do like the guy who shipped me a transmission from Germany last year. He put it in a cardboard box with newspapers on top to stuff the box. I think the bottom of the box was ripped in Germany at the depot when the first guy tried to pick up the box... The shifter arms were bent and one exhaust hanger mount was broken off the case. I still don't know if that happened before or during shipping. 

I sold a Pontiac 389 years ago.  I did a quality pallet and screwed on some 2x4 uprights; two in the front of the engine that I could bolt to accessory holes and two in the back I could bolt to bellhousing holes.  Then I tried taking it to Home Depot to borrow their banding tool but no dice, so I hit up HF and bought two cheapy tie down straps to make sure it was secure.  Total cost was about $9 for the straps.  The pallet and scrap 2x4 were free.

I should have shrink wrapped it because the shipper showed up with a flatbed instead of a dry van.  I was a bit concerned with water.  I quickly taped over the intake with a walmart bag which probably got shredded in the wind.  She didn't mention any damage or make any claims so I assume it made it fine.

93gsxturbo said:

If you crate it, label it "DO NOT STACK" unless you build your crate like a brick E36 M3house.  

Are you near an industrial park?  Cruise through to a place that looks busy and has a lot of pallets outside, ask someone who works there NICELY if you can have a few pallets.  Chances are the answer is yes.  I promise you that if you showed up at my place, not only would I give you pallets, but I would crate it and shrink it for you too.  Although we are pallet positive and dumpster 3 or 4 big rollbacks of packing materials a week, and we are nice people looking to help out.  

 

Otherwise build it like you would build a house, dont screw with building on an existing pallet, get 1x 8' 4x4, a dozen 2x4s, 2 sheets of OSB, some 3" screws, impact, and a circular saw, and go to town.  Should be able to spin it out in an hour or so.  Just remember, its not ballet, it doesnt have to be pretty.

 

Shipping LTL and you make a nice square box will pretty much insure they will put something on top of it.  2X what 93gsxturbo said.  Label it big and bold 'DO NOT STACK'.  Also if you use straps and plan to go under the pallet slats, don't strap it to the slats only, they can be pulled loose and then you have a loose engine.  Seen it happen when I was a manager at an air freight / trucking company.  Further what 93 gsxturbo said, make you own crate and match the size close to what the engine is.  LTL rates freight by the dims and weight.  You would be paying for the extra inches of a pallet and that could raise your cost some ort maybe even a lot.

68TR250 said:

93gsxturbo said:

If you crate it, label it "DO NOT STACK" unless you build your crate like a brick E36 M3house.  

Are you near an industrial park?  Cruise through to a place that looks busy and has a lot of pallets outside, ask someone who works there NICELY if you can have a few pallets.  Chances are the answer is yes.  I promise you that if you showed up at my place, not only would I give you pallets, but I would crate it and shrink it for you too.  Although we are pallet positive and dumpster 3 or 4 big rollbacks of packing materials a week, and we are nice people looking to help out.  

 

Otherwise build it like you would build a house, dont screw with building on an existing pallet, get 1x 8' 4x4, a dozen 2x4s, 2 sheets of OSB, some 3" screws, impact, and a circular saw, and go to town.  Should be able to spin it out in an hour or so.  Just remember, its not ballet, it doesnt have to be pretty.

 

Shipping LTL and you make a nice square box will pretty much insure they will put something on top of it.  2X what 93gsxturbo said.  Label it big and bold 'DO NOT STACK'.  

Maybe screw a single 2x4 diagonal across the top of the box so nothing can sit flat on top of it to help discourage anything being set on top of it

Patrick said:

home depot has a panel saw and will cut your plywood for you for free up to x cuts and 25 cents per cut afterward.  I’m a pro and still make them cut as much as possible.  

I've done this in the past, and I was feeling paralyzed the other day by not being sure I had all my dimensions right.  And I didn't want to just get a few cuts done.  So hence the pallet collars.  But I'm really not happy with them.  They're pretty terrible.  At least they only cost me $10 total.

So I used the tools available to me, and made a solid model of the crate.

Turns out the size was just right to where I could make the entire crate out of one sheet of plywood.  The guy at Home Depot did all 7 cuts without batting an eye, and I now have perfect crate sides all ready to go.  Got that, some screws, and some 2x4's and I should be good to knock this one out.

Others had asked about LTL freight.  I signed up with freightquote.com and they have a pretty simple aggregator for doing shipping quotes.  You enter your size and weight, origin and destination, and handling on each end (dock delivery, lift gate, freight-center  pick-up, etc).  Then it spits out a bunch of different quotes from a bunch of carriers.  Looks like you just pick one and it gets the order going.  I've not yet gone thru the whole process, but it was simple so far.

Here's the finished product. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Pretty tight fit in there, but it should be nice and stable.

Getting it wrestled into the truck was a chore! Had to review strap placement a couple times and get psyched up for it. Ultimately I won the wrestling match.

Just need to arrange the LTL shipping and drop off at the freight terminal, and this heavy bugger will be out of my hair!