Pallets & Racks for attachment storage (not a fork discussion).

[52farmer]

Vendor says it would be on a box truck so would be pulled out length-wise with the procedure you mention, perhaps. Is the driver going to be okay with me fumbling my way through such a procedure?

Driver really has to be able to work with you to deliver the shipment.As long as your ready when he arrives, you shouldn't have a problem.Just keep in mind, his job is to get freight to your house, yours is to unload, most cases the drivers are helpful.Treat the driver the way you would like to be treated and it will work out fine.

 

[fruitcakesa]

When I ordered my 8 foot snowplow, It came on an 8 foot pallet in a tractor trailer.
The pallet had already be damaged by whoever originally handled it and it had been loaded the long way in.
I was able to angle it enough with my forks to get under the 4 foot length and off the truck.
When it was on the ground I reset my forks so it was better balanced and then clamped it with the grapple for the ride back up my bumpy hill.
Take your time and you will be ok.

 

[kenmbz]

So far all of the delivery drivers were quite ok with me showing up with a tractor and forks. Just remember to take your time, and if it takes a more than 20 minutes, to tip the driver since his day is going to be a bit longer. So far have been able to keep within this time though. Make sure you have your rear ballast set, may need to lift the forks pretty high.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Question (since I have no experience with this):

Say I have a 48" deep rack. How bad is it if the rear end of a 48" deep pallet does not rest on the rear beam assuming customary wire decks underneath?

Tragic load failure? Or expected occurrence? What if it's a 42" deep pallet on a 48" deep rack, and the entire pallet misses the beams? (The beams are, what, 2" wide? in terms of the horizontal dimension).

Just wondering if it's really better to get 42" rack. Of course then there are issues where I'm likely to have the pallet 5" off the front instead of 3" off the front, but even then it would still overhang the rear by 1".

Anyway, if you know of pros and cons on the rack depth please share, I'm wrestling with this in my order.

Also, realistically, if I got a 48" rack I'd be tempted to put it flush with a wall. Bad idea? I'd offset the pallet away from the wall a couple of inches to avoid hitting the wall (thus prior question about pallet not sitting directly on beam). If it was a 42" rack I'd put it 3 inches from the wall, but similarly offset the pallet, except on a 42" rack it would still sit on the rear beam.

Tight space at a premium, I'm basically wanting the rack not to exceed 48" from the wall, and the pallet to be at least 2" away from the wall to avoid hitting the wall (which is an interior building wall). Hmmm, like the old software design equation: fast, cheap, good, pick two. I can't have it all. I can move it all forward toward my vehicle, either way the vehicle is likely to be parked 12 inches under a 48" deep pallet. More if I move stuff further from the wall.

 

[jmc]

^^^^

Inevitably, I expect to "miss" with the forks and hit the beam if the tips are too low, or hit with the forks' heel if the forks aren't level. Wall support might be good in that case because bolts to the floor might just bend the feet with a force that far up. The big-target-skids I mentioned in #36 was to minimize the chance of this. Still, I need clearance behind the racking so I'll just have to add some blocking back there.

 

[dstig1]

You are really overthinking this. The mesh shelves have a weight rating of their own, which will inevitably be less than the rack itself. As long as you don't exceed the weight ratings, it is fine. I left a ~6-8" gap behind mine, mainly so I could slide some scrap plywood behind there to store it. The forks would probably poke into the drywall a bit if there was no gap, I guess. It is a good idea to secure the rack to the wall and/or floor. I went for the walls.

 

[aczlan]

When I put up mine, I bolted them to the wall at the top. I had plans of drilling into the concrete and holding them down to the concrete as well (I have a box of anchors just for that purpose sitting in the shop), but haven't gotten around to it yet.
If you want the wall to stay intact, I would sheet it with 3/4" plywood or flakeboard.

Aaron Z

 

[Bullwinkle123]

You are really overthinking this.

True enough! I have no experience with it so trying not to make an $800 mistake, or worse if I screw up the building as well as just the shelving. Don't want a 400 pound implement falling down through the rack.

Anyway, thanks for the tips. What I was really hoping to get a handle on this weekend was: 42" or 48" deep shelving, given my desire to keep everything as close to the wall as possible. Unfortunately I'm incapable of saying it that succinctly on the first try

 

[Underdog57]

I have no experience with those racks, but I would go with the 42" and leave a space behind them and the back wall.

 

[BoylermanCT]

When unloading long objects from a flatbed, it is often easiest to find the center of the load weight wise and pick up the load enough to allow the truck to pull out from underneath the load. Then you can move the load without worrying about damaging the truck. I did that with 900 lbs of metal roofing panels that were 3’x28’.