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Kearney & Trecker Milwaukee 2K Universal Mill

It's funny you mention that. He claimed it weighs 10K lbs. I found that hard to believe, since the manuals from Kearney & Trecker state it is 6700 lbs. with all of the factory attachments.

Most people have no idea. At the same location I mentioned above, another guy bought a shaper that he thought weighed "6,000 or 7,000 lbs.", yet they carried it out first under the forks of that little Towmotor and it was apparent it was at its limit. My guess was about 3,500 lbs. and when I later checked the spec plate on their forklift that seemed to confirm it.
 
Most people have no idea. At the same location I mentioned above, another guy bought a shaper that he thought weighed "6,000 or 7,000 lbs.", yet they carried it out first under the forks of that little Towmotor and it was apparent it was at its limit. My guess was about 3,500 lbs. and when I later checked the spec plate on their forklift that seemed to confirm it.

After the teacher told me the mill weighs 10K lbs, he said he had moved it around with their forklift, which had struggled with the weight. I quickly asked what their forklift was rated for, to which he said "10,000 lbs." But I could tell by the hesitating way he answered he wasn't 100% certain. Since it has been moved previously by the forklift, I'm assuming we will be able to get it into the trailer with the forklift. However, I will bring everything necessary to get it into the trailer without the forklift, just in case.

On that front, Tom Lipton has a good video about moving a lathe:

YouTube
 
Some pic's of a recent move I did.

Pick the machine up. Doable with a bar but recently invested in a cheap ebay toe jack. Best $100 this year. Seriously :cool:
move 1.jpg

Then we built pallet under it. The key is when you build it under the machine you keep the screws accessible. Now I can remove the skid in the reverse operation. In my case this machine need to relocate in a few months, an being a lathe was inherently unstable.

move 2.jpg

We can lift the machine just enough for it to roll. I did all this by myself. Once it was on the ground I needed a 2nd operator to help push and steer on of the pallet jacks.
move 3.jpg
 

Yes that's it. Don't know that its any better than the others listed. I choose that one initially because it would arrive in the time frame I needed it. The only issue I had with it was the pipe would slide clear thru the pump handle receiver. I ended up having to bend that little tab clear down to keep the pipe in place. Other than that it worked very well. I would trust it like any other piece of rigging of that quality. And of course I never put my hands or fingers anywhere unsafe. If I lose a block under the machine I use another block to push it out.
 
I have the same mill I have a 5000 pound hyster fork lift. I cant lift it. The mill is every bit of 7 thousand pounds. I would get a rigger to move it. If you dump this thing or break an axle on your trailer or even get a blowout you will spend a whole bunch of money moving it.
 
A medium duty truck wrecker is my go-to for stuff like this. They're about $175/hr around here, 2hr minimum. The drivers are used to rigging heavy stuff and have the gear to do it. They're also not bashful about hauling the load around with it hanging off their hooks, it's what they're meant to do.
 
I must say, the pallet jack part scares me and if something goes wrong, winches can trip into neutral. Things can get away from you awful fast and with this much weight there will be no stopping it. That's a big part of why the preferred way of rigging is to hang it because if you're a couple of inches off the floor and something fails it will usually just drop and land flat. Picking up from underneath presents the opportunity for something to topple, especially because you have something under it which can cause it to tip.

I've been mulling the issue of a possible tip-over since last week. With this in mind, I stopped by the local Cat dealer last night. After speaking with the rental manager about my plans for moving the mill, I decided to go in a different direction than what I had posted previously. I put a reservation in for an 8K lb. forklift and a tilt-back trailer. (There was some confusion when I spoke with him last week; they don't have drop-deck trailers available, only tilt-backs.)

Now my plan is to pick up the forklift on the trailer Thursday after work; I'll drop the forklift off at the shop; Friday morning, we'll leave with the trailer and head up to Tacoma; (the loading of the mill at the school should be fairly straight forward, but I will bring all of the items necessary to get it loaded just in case the forklift won't do it); I'll haul the mill back home and use the rental forklift to pick it off the trailer.

In the Kearney & Trecker Operator's Manual I downloaded from Vintage Machinery, there's a description of hoisting the machine:
DO NOT USE CHAIN OR CABLE! BE CERTAIN ROPE IS OF SUFFICIENT STRENGTH (2" manila standard or equal). Exercise extreme care when hoisting machine, balancing on rope before raising. Horizontal Machines - place rope around rear end of overarms to crane hook, continuing around front of overarms and attach to hook.

I think it is time to purchase a rigging sling (or two) like this: 4" X 20', 2-Ply, Eye-Eye Synthetic Web Sling
 
When it's all said and done I think you'll be glad you went that route. Did the same place that rented you the forklift also rent the trailer to haul it? The general rule on forklifts is they weigh about half-again as much as their rating, so that's about a 12,000 lb unit. I mention that because I once saw a guy moving one that thought the forklift rating was the actual weight and let's just say his trailer never was quite right again after that!
 
When it's all said and done I think you'll be glad you went that route. Did the same place that rented you the forklift also rent the trailer to haul it? The general rule on forklifts is they weigh about half-again as much as their rating, so that's about a 12,000 lb unit. I mention that because I once saw a guy moving one that thought the forklift rating was the actual weight and let's just say his trailer never was quite right again after that!

Yes, the same company should be renting me both the forklift and the trailer (I placed the reservation Monday and still haven't received a phone call that everything is ready to go. I'm going to call the rental department today.) As far as the actual weight of the forklift is concerned, it is just over 13,000 pounds. The trailer is rated for 16,000 lbs.

I've been researching and buying pry bars, lifting straps, shackles, ratchet straps and a toe jack. I'll say this: buying this stuff isn't cheap, but once all of this stuff shows up, I'll be ready to move heavy machinery permanently. I'll be buying a lathe later this year and should have everything I need... hopefully. :D
 
Every machinist worth his salt is good at math. The more machines you move with your new rigging, the less that rigging cost you per machine moved, so the more you buy the cheaper it gets. See, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You'd be a fool not to buy more stuff! :)
 
Every machinist worth his salt is good at math. The more machines you move with your new rigging, the less that rigging cost you per machine moved, so the more you buy the cheaper it gets. See, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You'd be a fool not to buy more stuff! :)

Yeah that's what I told the wife...She still doesn't understand and probably never will.. LOL just joking.. Maybe I should see if this will work...Ramsay 1:)
 
Yes, the same company should be renting me both the forklift and the trailer (I placed the reservation Monday and still haven't received a phone call that everything is ready to go. I'm going to call the rental department today.) As far as the actual weight of the forklift is concerned, it is just over 13,000 pounds. The trailer is rated for 16,000 lbs.

I've been researching and buying pry bars, lifting straps, shackles, ratchet straps and a toe jack. I'll say this: buying this stuff isn't cheap, but once all of this stuff shows up, I'll be ready to move heavy machinery permanently. I'll be buying a lathe later this year and should have everything I need... hopefully. :D

Im guessing that if the rental place is renting you the trailer to haul that lift on you are probably good, but I just thought I'd mention that typically a trailer rating of 16000 includes the actual weight of the trailer. I know a lot of people that think it means its rated to haul 16000 on the deck which it is not. Need to subtract the weight of the trailer from that. I havent seen the trailer but most trailers in this size range that I have seen probably weigh 4 or 5 thousand pounds. When I bought my 6000# rated lift (around 12000 I believe) the guy delivered it on a tilt trailer and it kinda looked overloaded I thought but I dont know how it compared to the trailer you are getting. His trailer looked to have 2 7000# axles on it.

Jeff
 
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Well, Friday was a long day. But we made it back safe and sound with a Model K universal milling machine in tow! The teacher who runs the machining program at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Jarod, was super-cool. Plus, he took me on about an hour tour of the school's machine shop. They had at least 15 smallish manual lathes and even an American Pacemaker! There were some Haas CNC machines (mills and lathes) as well. The single most impressive machine was an old radial arm drill that must have weighed 30K pounds. They also had a foundry and 55 welders! (I wish my high school had the kind of machine shop this school has! My high school's metal shop consisted of welding. That was it. There wasn't a single lathe or mill at the school.)

Anyway, here's the machine at its old home.

Picking up the mill 6-14-19 (6).jpg

Getting it loaded onto the trailer.

Picking up the mill 6-14-19 (15).jpg

All strapped down.

Picking up the mill 6-14-19 (24).jpg

Somewhere East of Seattle.

Somewhere East of Seattle 6-14-19.jpg

In its new home in my shop.

The mill 6-16-19 (1).jpg
 
Here's the CAT forklift I rented. It had 2.1 hours on it when I fired it up.

Placing the mill 6-16-19 (20).jpg

It handled the Model K with ease.

Placing the mill 6-16-19 (7).jpg

The machine came with an hour meter; it's hard to know when it was installed. I assume the machine has more hours than indicated on the hour meter.

The mill 6-16-19 (5).jpg

This logo is on the motor starter; it's one I've never seen before. Anybody know what it stands for?

The mill 6-16-19 (8).jpg

The machine came with a fair amount of tooling.

Tooling 6-16-19 (1).jpg

Now that I have actually taken possession of this monster, the work begins. I spent about an hour wiping 40 years of accumulated gunk off of it, but I plan to do some deeper cleaning in the near future. I will also be reading up on the operation of this machine to obtain a more complete understanding of exactly how it works. It will be awhile before I have power to it; I have a lot of work to do to my shop in order to meet my needs. (We just moved in to this house three months ago and I've been working 5X10s for the last 10 weeks. Fortunately, I'll be working 4X10s for the foreseeable future.)

I took a lot more pics, but I don't have a hosting service for my pictures anymore since both Webshots and Flickr changed their business models. I'm a little surprised there's a five pic limit per post here. (I guess that makes sense: I'm not paying for my membership here and someone has to pay for the storage. )
 
That looks like about a 10,000# lift and you got the load as close to the mast as possible .... We use to pick up stuff with those machines that seemed impossible..I remember one time the boss on one of the jobs I worked on got a bunch of guys to stand on the back of the machine for extra counterweight.. LOL And just think No one got hurt! Nice machine... Cheers; Ramsay 1:)
 
The forklift was rated for 7300 pounds. I've operated seven or eight forklifts in my life and it was BY FAR the nicest machine I've ever laid hands on.



Thanks!

Yep they are really nice today. A far cry from the first ones I used.. Old Yale with two gearshifts no power steering, Chrysler industrial engine, and worn out ... Cheers! Ramsay 1:)
 








 
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