Any ideas for unloading pallets.

[Orange 08]

I am considering making one of those block walls and want to trailer the pallets of blocks in my dump trailer to save a little money. The trailer of course lifts to dump and it also has loading ramps that store underneath and attach to the rear to load tractor with. I also, of course, have my BX24 tractor. Now the tractor won't lift the full pallets (what do they weigh? ) but has anyone unloaded these with what I have.

I have considered dragging the pallet down the ramps but they will probably get stuck at the bottom and I am not to sure of driving away with the ramp attached. If I drove away with a pallet resting on the end of the ramps I think the lip the ramp sits on would bend.

Has anyone already invented this wheel?

Thanks.

 

[Duffster]

The pallets weight ~3200# - 3500#

What I would do is get some extra pallets and offload some of the block onto the extra pallet.

You can figure out how many you have to take off to make the remainder of the pallet manageable for the tractor.

 

[texasjohn]

Duffster has the answer...

I have recent experience with almost exactly this problem. In my case, there was a pile of about 12 full pallets of cut stone in a pile... free, just load and go.

I obtained a bunch of pallets, used my fel with forks. Loaded stone onto pallet, experience taught me that 3 layers of stone was all my tractor could handle. Put empty pallet on forks, load pallet, lift and put in dump trailer.

To get pallets pushed into front of trailer (20 footer), I used a combination of empty pallets and long 4x4's to push loaded pallet forward.

To unload, rearmost pallets can be lifted off and placed for future use. I looped a long chain around each forward pallet and pulled it to the lip of the rear trailer edge, then lifted and placed for future use. It helps with the chaining operation to lift the dump bed... makes sliding the pallet forward easier.

Be sure and have LOTS of weight on your rear. HST shines in this application, both for pulling/pushing pallets with precision and driving with max weight on FEL.

Careful, it's easy, easy, to get more weight than you think into the dump trailer this way.... do some calculations about how many pallets you should carry considering the capacity of both your tow vehicle and trailer.

I have ramps just like you describe... I would NOT try driving out from under a full pallet.... I predict that it would tear out the upper hook on the trailer where you attach the ramps.

Duffster is in the right ball park for weight per pallet... depends on exactly what type of stone it is.... likely the people you purchase the stone from will know true weight for your stone.

 

[frwinks]

not sure how many full 3200lb pallets you need, but given the lift cap on your FEL, the "breaking down into smaller pallets" technique might get old pretty quick
I would pick a spot close to the wall location, forget the ramps for unloading, when they're loading the skids into your trailer, place them on some round logs or fence posts (make sure you strap it good for transport), when you get home stack some skids to be level with the trailer deck and just pull the skid(s) off, they'll roll on the logs and onto the skid deck. You can cover some good distance like this as long as you have enough skids, you can also step it down and set the big 'ol 3200lber (just make sure you're controlling it on the way down) on the ground and keep rollin....
I used this technique unloading skids with cement bags, exept I never had logs under the skids on the trailer when loading, which would've made things a lot easier on the equipment

 

[Beavis]

I'm not sure how much "a little money" is, but in my case I had the product delivered. The delivery fee was about $50 and there was no way I could get them myself for that amount. They sat the pallets where I wanted them and had the proper equipment to do so. unless you have a dump trailer with fold down sides, I think you may be creating a lot of work. Again, I don't know how much you are saving, by picking the product up yourself, but just something to think about.

 

[Reg]

I am considering making one of those block walls and want to trailer the pallets of blocks in my dump trailer to save a little money. The trailer of course lifts to dump and it also has loading ramps that store underneath and attach to the rear to load tractor with. I also, of course, have my BX24 tractor. Now the tractor won't lift the full pallets (what do they weigh? ) but has anyone unloaded these with what I have.

I have considered dragging the pallet down the ramps but they will probably get stuck at the bottom and I am not to sure of driving away with the ramp attached. If I drove away with a pallet resting on the end of the ramps I think the lip the ramp sits on would bend.

Has anyone already invented this wheel?

Thanks.

Assuming the place where you buy it will load it on your dump trailer, i.e. you won't have to haul the tractor there.
Get a spare pallet and load some conservative number of blocks onto it, secure them, take them to the work area, unload, return for next batch, etc.
This might be 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 a full pallet, whatever, just be conservative about it.
It would be much BETTER if your trailer has removable sides, then you wouldn't have to deal with the ramp issue.

I think I would first check to see just what the delivery charge is, it might be worth paying a few bux to save labor and reduce risk.
Often stone/masonry yards have piggy-back forklifts on the back of their delivery trucks, THOSE can lift full pallets and place them exactly where required.

 

[matt_isserstedt]

An idea: buy the proper number of pallets for the total job and ask the yard to store them aside for you (will take a little negotiating but times are kinda slow now). I would do this for color match, the yard is likely to be happy to have cash in-hand.

Pick up 1 pallet at a time, leave it on the trailer and unload brick by brick, return to the yard for the next pallet.

Leave tractor parked in the shed.

 

[Orange 08]

Thanks guys,

This gives me some ideas. I was hopeing for some kind of magic but I suppose I could just leave them in the trailer and work from there. They would be a little high to reach until the pile got down to the level that the tractor could remove.

For delivery they said about two or three hours at $40 an hour which wouln't break the bank I guess. Their price is $219 a pallet and I would probably need about 3 pallets to start. That price sound about right?

 

[Reg]

Well, for 3 pallets your delivery is going to add between $30 and $40 per pallet.
I would figure the TOTAL number you need and see what that does to your arithmetic.
If they can deliver ALL of what you need in 1 load and stack them closer to the actual job you may be way ahead by paying for delivery.
If you can't pay for them all at once you just don't get the economy of having them on one load, probably can't drive as good of a volume price either.

I had checked into Allan Blocks a while ago, plus another well known brand that I'm not recalling right now.
They have spec'd weights for them, so knowing how many you get per pallet should be simple arithmetic, same with figuring how many you can stack (or leave) on a pallet that your tractor can safely lift and carry.

PS No, $40 an hour for a truck and delivery driver does NOT sound about right.
WAY LOW, in my opinion.
I would be wary that they might come back with a different figure once you have committed.
Watch for the "4 hour minimum" thing too.
One way of pricing some jobs is that they only get done in multiples of 1/2 days, i.e. while you may HAVE an hourly rate you could never actually DO eight one hour jobs in a day.
So it is really per 1/2 day or full day, with the 1/2 day being about 60% of the full day price.

 

[Reverend Blair]

I'd likely just leave them in the trailer if it was me.

To get them off though, I'd likely build long ramps out of scrap wood, then just hook a chain to the pallet and drag them off. Of course most people don't have a yard full of 6x6's and 4x4's.