How to move a heavy pipe???

[HCJ]

I need a culvert pipe for a creek crossing. Found what seems a great price on a concrete pipe, a 4' diameter by 16' long concrete pipe, like new. Problem is, it's 30 miles away, and I would have to load it, transport it 30 miles, and unload it at the creek, and place it. The price is $150. He has 3 for sale, but I only need one. I have a 7 ton gooseneck flat top and a 70 horse tractor with a loader with a 2500 lb lift. Obviously this pipe weighs many tons. My loader could not come close to lifting it. My gut (and brain) tells me "no way". But the pipe would be perfect for my needs.

My question is how much should it weigh? And are there any clever ideas to load this and unload it? If the Egyptians could move 30 ton stones by hand, surely we can come up with an idea to transport this pipe. If I have to pay someone to move it, it won't be a bargain. Out of curiosity, what should I expect to pay for a pipe this size in concrete, galvanized, or plastic? I could easily move a steel or plastic one, but I expect they cost much more, and are not nearly as strong as a concrete one. Unless the experts here at TBN have some great ideas, looks like I will have to continue wading across this creek.

 

[CurlyDave]

Concrete weighs about 150 lbs/cu ft. We have to know the wall thickness to calculate weight.

How did the culvert get to its current location in the first place?

P.S. You can't fool me, the Egyptians had thousands of slaves with ropes to move those rocks. I saw the Ten Commandments.

The also didn't have to satisfy the highway patrol.

 

[slagmaker]

not sure how much it will weight, but if it is less than 14,000 and you can come up with a bale moving trailer it might work. If your lucky you might even be able to dump it like bales.

they work great for moving smaller pipe

 

[JB4310]

link

Illinois Concrete Pipe Association

As you can see by this link this pipe could weigh close to 1,000 lbs per foot if it's 5 inch wall thickness.
So that rules out moving it with a 7 ton trailer, if you could get it delivered to your property with a heavier equipment trailer you could role it in to place, but it would be a challenge to say the least.

What do you need the creek crossing for? home driveway or access to back property. why do you need 16 ft wide? and do you need 4ft dia.

http://www.marienco.com/doc/N-12 Brochure.pdf

This stuff is HD and relatively light weight but very expensive.


Plastic Culvert FAQ
This link compares plastic vs concrete vs metal.

JB.

 

[ampsucker]

well, the price is right, but i agree, moving it would be a pretty big challenge without specialized equipment.

how about using multiple smaller pipes to get the cross sectional area (flow volume) you need?

for example, one 4' diameter pipe has a cross sectional area of 12.5 feet. you could use 6 or 7 smaller 1.5' diameter pipes to get the same cross sectional area and they would be much easier to move into place.

just an idea. i know it wouldn't be nearly as cheap, but you might find some smaller culvert pipe on sale somewhere and could go that route instead. plus moving the 4' pipe doesn't sound like it will be cheap either.

amp

 

[Egon]

16 foot concrete pipe may require lifting at certain points to prevent breaking.

 

[MarkV]

Wonder if you could drag it onto a roll back type of wrecker with its winch?

MarkV

 

[radioman]

No wonder they were selling it cheap- he can't get rid of it himself. If you only need a crossing for tractor, would a 10 foot work ? Reason I ask with 10 foot is if the concrete pipe is made like many concrete pipes I have seen, they have a bell and insert end. If you cut a 5 foot off each end and transport one at a time? using JB4310 thoerically guessed wieght, it would be only 5k, something your gooseneck can handle. Once you get it where you want it, I am sure you can roll it into place with your tractor and assemble the 2 pieces to make a 10 footer pipe. The only real expense would be renting a gas powered concrete saw to cut the pipe, and whole lotta sweat and elbow grease like egyptians.

 

[GaryBDavis]

not sure how much it will weight, but if it is less than 14,000 and you can come up with a bale moving trailer it might work. If your lucky you might even be able to dump it like bales.

they work great for moving smaller pipe

Nice hay trailer. What brand is it? I assume it is a side dump, is that correct?

 

[JB4310]

That weight I estimated was for standard RCP, (5" thick wall = 867 lbs/ft) I've never seen or heard of concrete pipe in 16 foot lengths so I doubt it is standardized.

That ADS N-12 pipe is only 31 lbs per foot for 48" dia but costs $54/ft.

JB.

 

[EddieWalker]

It's too heavy to move to be cost effective. Forget it and either look at plastic, metal or a bridge. Some deals are just too expensive.

As for the creek, they can be very tricky in sizing a culvert. Most of the time, it's just a matter of time until they wash out. Even the city and county engineers get it wrong and they wash out. The easiest and best chance of sizing it right is to find where the paved road crosses the same creek and see what size culvert they used. They have budgets and don't want to spend any more then they have to, so they will put the smallest pipe in there that they think will work. If you go any smaller, it will fail.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[Wis Bang]

I have watched 48" concrete pipe being delivered. It came on a flatbed in 6' widths. It sat on rails of wood running the length of the trailer & there was a set of 'forks' standing at the back. The had a hydraulic damper and the driver simply rolled each section back until the forks gently lowered them to the ground. They were not wider than the trailer [8'] so I figured 6' instead of 7' so the site designers can do things in even numbers...

We had a 3" aluminum 'I' beam welded into a 'C' shape that hung from a loader bucket & slid in one end to pick them up and place them in the trench.

16' lengths sounds like something special

 

[George2615]

I think the others have said it.
1) The price is right.
2) The equipment needed and cost to hire it would far exceed the cost of buying your own metal or plastic culvert.

P.S. Curly is wrong about the Egyptians. The TV show didn't know either that Aliens (the outer space ones not illegal ones) helped build the pyramids and used lasers to cut the stone and levitation to place them.

 

[dangerdoc]

I need a culvert pipe for a creek crossing. Found what seems a great price on a concrete pipe, a 4' diameter by 16' long concrete pipe, like new. Problem is, it's 30 miles away, and I would have to load it, transport it 30 miles, and unload it at the creek, and place it. The price is $150. He has 3 for sale, but I only need one. I have a 7 ton gooseneck flat top and a 70 horse tractor with a loader with a 2500 lb lift. Obviously this pipe weighs many tons. My loader could not come close to lifting it. My gut (and brain) tells me "no way". But the pipe would be perfect for my needs.

My question is how much should it weigh? And are there any clever ideas to load this and unload it? If the Egyptians could move 30 ton stones by hand, surely we can come up with an idea to transport this pipe. If I have to pay someone to move it, it won't be a bargain. Out of curiosity, what should I expect to pay for a pipe this size in concrete, galvanized, or plastic? I could easily move a steel or plastic one, but I expect they cost much more, and are not nearly as strong as a concrete one. Unless the experts here at TBN have some great ideas, looks like I will have to continue wading across this creek.

I hope you don't live on a hill, if that thing started rolling it could cause a lot of damage. Be careful!

I have a 16 ft x 4 ft metal tube that probably weighs less that concrete tube and I couldn't lift it with my backhoe and it was rated for 6k pounds.

 

[dangerdoc]

It's too heavy to move to be cost effective. Forget it and either look at plastic, metal or a bridge. Some deals are just too expensive.

As for the creek, they can be very tricky in sizing a culvert. Most of the time, it's just a matter of time until they wash out. Even the city and county engineers get it wrong and they wash out. The easiest and best chance of sizing it right is to find where the paved road crosses the same creek and see what size culvert they used. They have budgets and don't want to spend any more then they have to, so they will put the smallest pipe in there that they think will work. If you go any smaller, it will fail.

Good luck,
Eddie

It may be easier to make a low water bridge. Use a tube big enough to keep the trail open most of the time and create a wide well rocked path for the water to flow over when the creek is up.

 

[HCJ]

Thanks for the ideas. I am not sure how he got this pipe, but he did say that he did not use it because of it's weight, and bought metal pipe instead. I was attracted to the price, and see now the reason it's so cheap is that it is immovable without really heavy equipment. I wanted it to create another route to my property's back 100 acres, as there is only one crossing now (a 4' metal pipe). Oh well, I'll save up for a plastic or metal pipe. I already have a 36' plastic pipe to install on another smaller creek, so that is another project waiting for a friend to bring his small excavator to dig the trench. I would like to know how he got 3 of these delivered.

Cutting it into manageable lengths was a good idea, but I don't think I will try that. Out of curiousity, what length is usually used for a primitive creek crossing that would be appropriate for a tractor and a 4 WD vehicle? Ten feet seems a little narrow, as the sides never seem to hold up well. My 3' pipe is a 20 footer, and I probably will bury it all or at least 15 feet of it. I don't think cutting it in half would yield 2 usable pieces. Thanks guys!!

 

[dex3361]

I had 2- 6.5' long x 6' outside diameter with 6" wall thickness, delivered about 11 years ago. A flood wiped out my galvanized 4' diameter creek crossing. I had it delivered with a heavy duty knuckle boom truck and the guy told me the weight on each peice was 12,000# it seemed high until the Cat 312 excavator had trouble picking them up and setting them. The operator had to ease (roll) them into the creek and drag them them into place. I would think it would be cost prohibitive to haul a piece that size/weight.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I have no idea what you guys think is reasonable $$$ wise, but instead of guessing that it is to much, call around and get some prices. Companies need work these days and might just give you a good rate. My brother just had some concrete work done, ended up using one of those huge truck pumps that they use when pumping concrete for freeway bridges. It was only $200 more than one of the little pull behind trailer pumps. It made the overall job much easier and faster for everyone involved. We have been using cranes for the past 3-4 years and for the time saved by using them, they actually are very reasonable. Call around and get some prices, you won't know without asking.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I would ask the seller how the pipe got there to start with. The problem is that you more than likely need a piece of equipment to pick it up to place on a heavy enough trailer. Most trucks with a knuckle boom type of crane do not have near that kind of capacity if at all.

With some finessing, it could be pushed onto a trailer by rolling it until it bumped against a wooden block secured to the trailer then turned sideways to line up with the trailer then pushed forward to touch the bulkhead. All very touchy stuff done by a somewhat crazy crew. (Trust me, I may not have seen it all but I have seen plenty) Then you stil need to deal with it at home.

I would ask around for double wall PVC pipe prices. Even a 48"x16' pipe would be easy to handle and save the expenses of the concrete. I figure lenth based on about a 45 degree angle of backfill and my final road width. Twenty feet pipe sections work best overall in my experiance for an average one width lane.

An engineer may disagree but I figure that a given pipe will flow only about 3/4's of it's diameter when full due to friction. Be careful when sizing smaller diameter pipe to save money. Planning for the worst case scenario will save money in the long run.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Have you seen the show Axe men? Get one of them Gypo logger trucks and a Mounted boom to load it on the log truck. You might have to cut it in half or some where there abouts.