Dollies, Ramps and Straps, Oh My!

[Club Billiards]

Don and I had fun with this one. I've got to say that this trip confirmed I should stick to my word and never give U-haul another dime of my money. I guess this is what I get for giving them another chance. I specifically asked for a door height over 6'6" to move a 9' Diamond Pro-Am in the cart. Unfortunately when I get 4 hours from home to the rental place, the door is dead on 6' high. Any of you know how high a 9' Diamond Pro-Am is in the cart? LOL

Sooo...instead of flipping it and pushing it onto the truck, here's what we ended up with:

There was JUST enough room for the slate to go up the ramp and in the door of the truck.

Although aggravating, not a HUGE deal, because we knew we would have a tight space moving it in the buyer's house.

One quick thumbs up before we shift the weight onto the ramp:

And here we go!!!

Finally down the stairs and in the basement:

Sorry, we started running short on time. I wasn't able to get pictures getting the frame in, or getting the 670 something pounds of slate back onto the table. A little while later, and some time with Diamond's great leveling system, and we've got another happy Pro-Am owner!

Man, these things are heavier than hell, and it took a lot of planning to get everything in safely. I think I still enjoy working on Diamonds than anything else out there though. Glen, I still don't know how you do these yourself!!! You're either a beast, or crazy, or both!

 

[realkingcobra]

You're either a beast, or crazy, or both!

Well now.....looks to me like you and Don BOTH lost your virginity at the same time with a Diamond 9ft ProAm....the soreness will go away in a little while:rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1: and YES, I AM all of the above

Glen, the I work ALONE...."real.....KINGCOBRA"

 

[PoolTable911]

Great job Josh & Don....I can't even imagine what a pain in the ass that is to move down stairs.:thumbup:

 

[Club Billiards]

Well now.....looks to me like you and Don BOTH lost your virginity at the same time with a Diamond 9ft ProAm....the soreness will go away in a little while:rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1: and YES, I AM all of the above

Glen, the I work ALONE...."real.....KINGCOBRA"

Yeah, we'd moved 7 footers even before we knew about Diamond's dolly, which is the stone cold mortal NUTS by the way. 9's are such a different story though. We had moved one other before this, but it was ground floor to ground floor, and even it was brutal without the dolly.

Oh, and Pat, the ass is just sore from all the driving, the table was much more of a pain in the neck/back!

 

[realkingcobra]

Yeah, we'd moved 7 footers even before we knew about Diamond's dolly, which is the stone cold mortal NUTS by the way. 9's are such a different story though. We had moved one other before this, but it was ground floor to ground floor, and even it was brutal without the dolly.

Oh, and Pat, the ass is just sore from all the driving, the table was much more of a pain in the neck/back!

All I can tell you...is FEAR the table...and you WON'T get hurt, because the first second you take that table for granted, THAT'S when you're going to get hurt

 

[Club Billiards]

Yeah, Fear the table and you won't get hurt is a little bold. Definitely safer to say if you don't fear the table, you will get hurt.

 

[JZMechanix]

Great work, fellas. :thumbup: I am curious as to why you don't use a more "user friendly" ramp when moving that slate down steps. Seems like it would be easier if the ramp was one piece that was wide enough to accomodate the width of the slate dolly, or maybe have some kind of "tracks" to keep the wheels in line. I imagine it would be ugly if that cart somehow got off line and fell off that narrow piece of wood??? Can you explain how you keep the ramp stable, and do you use some kind of winch to lower the dolly down the steps? Not questioning your methods or anything, (as I've never had the pleasure of moving a 9' 1 piece slate ) just trying to learn something here.... thanks!

 

[TableTek]

Pro-Am move downstairs

Wow, nice job guys. I would have asked the guy when the addition is going up! Heh Let me know if you still want that cue shaft, I can mail it to you and you can send me a check after you get it. It was great having you both at the Hacker shop. heh And boy did I mess up them Olhausen rails. I am glad you guys were there to see it. ttyl
Rob

 

[Donny Wessels]

Josh, did you lower the table down with a winch, ratchet strap or just muscle?

 

[Club Billiards]

Great work, fellas. :thumbup: I am curious as to why you don't use a more "user friendly" ramp when moving that slate down steps. Seems like it would be easier if the ramp was one piece that was wide enough to accomodate the width of the slate dolly, or maybe have some kind of "tracks" to keep the wheels in line. I imagine it would be ugly if that cart somehow got off line and fell off that narrow piece of wood??? Can you explain how you keep the ramp stable, and do you use some kind of winch to lower the dolly down the steps? Not questioning your methods or anything, (as I've never had the pleasure of moving a 9' 1 piece slate ) just trying to learn something here.... thanks!

We actually did try to use the ramp off the back off the UHaul. I think it would have been perfect down the stairs. However, with rusted and stripped bolts and nuts attaching the thing to the truck, we weren't able to detach it, so we improvised.

The homeowner actually joked at one point "You know, this would be done already if Josh wouldn't keep stopping to THINK so much!" LOL We were very, VERY slow and careful to track perfectly straight down our ramps. The 4x4's at the bottom were definitely smaller than what I would have liked, but their length blocked in perfectly and kept the long boards from moving at all. It all was actually VERY sturdy and solid despite not being attached to anything. I definitely would have rather used solid metal ramp, but with that option out, and the Home Depot down the street closed already, I think what we had actually worked out pretty well. Glad you asked though!

 

[Club Billiards]

Wow, nice job guys. I would have asked the guy when the addition is going up! Heh Let me know if you still want that cue shaft, I can mail it to you and you can send me a check after you get it. It was great having you both at the Hacker shop. heh And boy did I mess up them Olhausen rails. I am glad you guys were there to see it. ttyl
Rob

I'll see the interested party on Monday when he brings me my new cue. I found a old beat up Dufferin on the wall at Fiddlestix in Canton a few months ago with some crazy grain. Ended up buying it dirt cheap with the intention of having it cut into a two-piece. Turns out it is one of the Goncalo Alves (sp?) Dufferins. Gorgeous piece of wood. Anyway, he's bringing me the finished cue, so I'll ask him then if he still wants to get the shaft from you, no pun intended.

 

[Club Billiards]

Josh, did you lower the table down with a winch, ratchet strap or just muscle?

Pure stubborn brute muscle. LOL I know you've never met my partner Don (The one giving the thumbs up), but a lot of these guys on here have and will appreciate this... We were working on a table one day when the customer told him, "You know, no offense, but if you lost 50 lbs, you'd be a beast!" I said "Sir, no disrespect, but he's already a beast!"

It really did take a lot of strength to hold the table back as much as possible from the top while Don slowed it from the bottom. It would have been great to have a winch, but there was a swimming pool directly behind us there, and nowhere to anchor.

 

[OTLB]

interesting job and congratulations on getting it down there safely. Thats why its important to have a good team. Not sure if you had enough strapping or if you could have gotten truck closer but I lowered billiard slates one time using strap wrapped around a pole to provide easier control of the load. It was very easy to release the rope and lower the slate. Just a thought as its good to have some extra safety built in especially when Josh would probably throw himself in front of the slate to save it(hope not). Glen doesn't work alone either as he uses a winch sometimes. Plus he has an invisible stair climber

 

[Club Billiards]

interesting job and congratulations on getting it down there safely. Thats why its important to have a good team. Not sure if you had enough strapping or if you could have gotten truck closer but I lowered billiard slates one time using strap wrapped around a pole to provide easier control of the load. It was very easy to release the rope and lower the slate. Just a thought as its good to have some extra safety built in especially when Josh would probably throw himself in front of the slate to save it(hope not). Glen doesn't work alone either as he uses a winch sometimes. Plus he has an invisible stair climber

LOL Don always teases me about it, but as we were unloading slate from the van parked in an icy driveway last year, the weight shifted a little and the van started to slide. Purely instinctively, I grabbed the bumper. To my credit though, the van did stop sliding after about 6 inches, although I think it had NOTHING to do with me holding it back.

But no, this entryway was in the back of the house with a swimming pool about 10 feet behind us and a stone sidewalk the only access.

 

[rtcnlz]

Thanks for the great effort

Hey Josh- Just wanted to thank you and Don for the very hard work. For anyone that doesn't know these guys or is thinking about using them this was a marathon day with hours of travel involved on each end. They were real pros planning out each step - that's why this worked with a less than ideal truck and ramp. I can't imagine how tired they must have been once this table was in, and then they spent another 1-1.5 hour leveling the table. I got the impression that they would have stayed for 3 more hours if that was what it took to get the table perfect. Can't thank you enough.

 

[Club Billiards]

Hey Josh- Just wanted to thank you and Don for the very hard work. For anyone that doesn't know these guys or is thinking about using them this was a marathon day with hours of travel involved on each end. They were real pros planning out each step - that's why this worked with a less than ideal truck and ramp. I can't imagine how tired they must have been once this table was in, and then they spent another 1-1.5 hour leveling the table. I got the impression that they would have stayed for 3 more hours if that was what it took to get the table perfect. Can't thank you enough.

Thanks, Robert. You're right, we absolutely would have stayed as long as it took. I already feel really bad we kept you up as late as we did. With your appointment the next morning, have you even had a chance to play on it yet?

Like I said, keep in touch over the next couple of weeks and let me know how it plays once it acclimates to your basement. It should be dialed in enough that it'll be alright, but while we're on our next Michigan run, we'll swing by if you'd like. It was a real pleasure working for you. We'll talk to you again soon.

Thanks!