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The 1 man transportation method?

PeteB

PeteB

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Ocassionally, in this pinball hobby, we have to be a "billy no mates" and move things around by ourselves. There are a few tricks I've learned over the years, such as:

Moving a pin: - buy a good trolly. Buy pin skates. Buy furniture dolly's. Buy a hydraulic lifting table. Ok sorted!

Setting up/Dismantling: - everybody knows this one. Strap the head down on the cab. Tip the cab on it's **** end. Assemble the front legs. Prop up the back end, and assemble the rear legs. Ok sorted!

Loading/unloading a van: - errrrrrrrmmmmmmm????

So, how do you load a pin on and off a van by yourself?

I did manage to bung a Rollergames into a Toyota Celica once. I removed the legs. I removed the head. The playfield glass. The playfield. Ok so pretty much everything. Then I used 2 planks of wood propped against the boot, I slid the cab on to them then lifted and slid the cabinet in to the boot, but that's pretty much all I can remember as I hit my head so many times I think I got a concussion.

I guess this is the "share your tips for the enthusiastic Do-It-byYourselfer" thread. Ok fellas, GO!
 
I found a way to get them in my estate car and transit van on my own, both SS Bally and WPC. It obviously makes life easier and safer if you remove the backbox - but I do not do this as even my SS Vector has a hinged backbox.

If you get it next to your car on your trolley, put the 4 legs on. The pinball should balance on three legs, but it does not take much to tip the balance. I put the folded backbox end right next to the car bumper with a towel protecting the car, so the game is ready to be pushed in. I then twist the pin slightly so one of the rear corners is about an inch away from the bumper. Then I remove the rear leg next to the bumper, my pinballs all balanced at this point - but only just. There is not much weight if you have to support this corner.

Then push this corner so it overhangs your boot, so the machine can't fall down

Then remove the leg from the other rear corner, take the weight, and slide it so this corner also rests in your boot. You now have the back of the game ready for sliding in, with the front of the game still on its legs. Good to plan ahead here and keep friction down by using a towel to slide your game on

Then slide the game in, remove front legs. Bingo

To get it out on your own, do the reverse.

The critical thing here is clearance from the top of the folded backbox to the underside of your roof. I have found it much, much easier to use my campervan (based on a standard tranny van) as I have masses of headroom. It is very tight getting it in my estate car as I only have about an inch of clearance but I have moved an addams family in the estate using this technique.
 
PeteB said:
Ocassionally, in this pinball hobby, we have to be a "billy no mates" and move things around by ourselves. There are a few tricks I've learned over the years, such as:

Moving a pin: - buy a good trolly. Buy pin skates. Buy furniture dolly's. Buy a hydraulic lifting table. Ok sorted!

Setting up/Dismantling: - everybody knows this one. Strap the head down on the cab. Tip the cab on it's **** end. Assemble the front legs. Prop up the back end, and assemble the rear legs. Ok sorted!

Loading/unloading a van: - errrrrrrrmmmmmmm????

So, how do you load a pin on and off a van by yourself?

I did manage to bung a Rollergames into a Toyota Celica once. I removed the legs. I removed the head. The playfield glass. The playfield. Ok so pretty much everything. Then I used 2 planks of wood propped against the boot, I slid the cab on to them then lifted and slid the cabinet in to the boot, but that's pretty much all I can remember as I hit my head so many times I think I got a concussion.

I guess this is the "share your tips for the enthusiastic Do-It-byYourselfer" thread. Ok fellas, GO!
Click to expand...

All of which can be done a lot easier if using a hydraulic lift truck thingme ;0)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
There's really no need to struggle with inadequately sized cars either. I hired a van from Enterprise recently and it cost £18 for the day.
 
Not a one man job but recently sold my BR to @aaronhicksuk who had an interesting method of getting it into his estate car ( can't remember what it was ). The head had to come off and was held up in the cars roof by his brother while he slid the main cabinet underneath it coin door end first. I think the roof was high enough in the middle of the car but not towards the back door so was the only way to do it. They must be good at tetris.
 
JT. said:
There's really no need to struggle with inadequately sized cars either. I hired a van from Enterprise recently and it cost £18 for the day.
Click to expand...
Wow, what type/size of van was that? that's ridiculously cheap.
 
Sit on open boot, rest front of pin on your knees unscrew leg bolts. Piece of ****..
 
I have a 3 foot bit of 3x2 with a about 3 foot of carpet nailed onto it.

Drop wood in boot of car, drape carpet over bumper and then you can easily load and unload a pin by yourself withou scraping the rear bumper etc.

Cheers
Ian
 
Never tried on my own. Never would. Always call on the assistance of a friend/neighbour. Costs me a beer.
 
Sure, it's always best to hire a van. It's cheap enough. I can't even remember the reason why I squashed a 1990 Williams game in one of these. And yes it has a boot lip too, quite a big one.

TC2004GTS-AP.jpeg
 
kevlar said:
Wow, what type/size of van was that? that's ridiculously cheap.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought too :thumbs: Last time I hired one (about 4 years ago) it was more than double this price.

The one I got was a VW Caddy - loads of space for a pin in it.
 
Large or large-ish Van - always hire one with a tail lift, wheel on using sack trolley and use the lift. Sorted. :cool:

Small van / large car - use hydraulic lifting table or low handled sack trolley. If using sack trolley lower on to the back of the van or car boot, then push the machine up the trolley frame and in to the vehicle. Doesn't work if you have a large P handled trolley. Sorted. :cool:
 
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