Lifting Rayburns, Agas etc...

Has anyone attempted this without a tail lift? Any tips?

Apparently the best way (for the non-dismantling types) is to put straps underneath and have one person lift each of each strap. But anyone standing in the back of a low-roof Transit can't stand straight, so couldn't lift safely.

Please don't break any Health & Safety rules. I dont have a van big enough but if I did doubt I would touch one, my brother has one of these rayburns and I remember him saying a few blokes delivered it from new and they struggled.

Good luck & happy New Year.

P.S. Can you come back and tell us how it went when you're lying in traction in hospital?!

We used to do these on white goods deliveries.

Strip it out as much as possible, up end it on to a set of sack trucks and then tilt onto the van, a couple of guys lifting at the same time.

If you struggle to get it onto sack trucks in the house, up end it onto a blanket and drag to the door, when you can get the trucks under it.

They are b****y heavy though, but 2 guys can manage them.

You can always use a pair of motorcycle ramps for the sack truck to run up/down.

Thanks chaps. Ramps and sack trucks sound like a good plan. I was thinking of investing in ramps anyway.

Not sure whether to agree to doing rayburns or not. I've been asked to do one in late Jan. I think I'll prepare as best I can and give it a try.

AJM, I'll let you know when I'm mended ;)

I think you're going to regret even attempting this one. If I were you I'd decline doing it. This needs a team and a taillift.

This is specialist move.

Oh dear, conflicting opinions. Are you sure, Rob? It's one of the smaller Rayburns, not the massive boat-sized ones. Apparently it'll be put on a pallet.

What I really need is one of these! www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMjSFgmdTTI

Is that you in the video camvan? You have lost weight! Not sure if those sandals conform to H+S regs?!

We have done a couple and they are bad! We have four people and on the last one we had it on a winch on a jcb bucket lower it to a basement and put it through a window (window removed)! There were 8 of us with the builders.

This is a job that has to be priced right. If we had to do one 10 miles away I would be looking at £350 + vat as it is a time consuming job that requires half a days wages for 4 people so price carefully.

Camvan won't be answering any questions about this for a few weeks - he's gone down the gym.

I can't believe you're even contemplating this without a tail lift!

If they have an Aga they have money. Hire a tail lift and charge accordingly. Bring loadsa mates!

The Rayburn is on the Isle of Skye and needs taking to Lincolnshire and would be an excellent backload for a trip I'm making north later this month. So good that I'm reluctant to turn it down unless certain.

Helpful locals usually aren't hard to find up there, so if given enough warning, man-power shouldn't be a problem (certainly for the loading end). It's the practicalities getting it in back I'm concerned about.

Are you sure it can't be done with a ramp? Torbay seems to think it can...

Look on Rayburn website, it gives you the weights & models. They start at 275kg and go up to 498kg.

This is what I would do. Stipulate that the item must loaded at that end then stipulate to the receiving end that the load must be unloaded on delivery. Its OK to try to please everybody but at the end of the day you are only a provider of road transport. They will be asking you to tarmac their drive next!

So explain you can provide road transport only, unloading and loading arrangemnets must be made by them. If you do decided to hump and lift this thing then make sure the budget is there. I'm thinking in the region of £600-750 so the ball is in their court. Don't take on something you will regret as these things have a habit of costing you money.

Lifting these things into a van is a no no, just think if (god forgive) you or anyone helping you got an injury.

If its on a pallet then one assumes there'll be a forklift at the other end. If not then there's little use of it being on a pallet as it'll just make it harder to unlaod.

I think that your judgement is being clouded by you wanting to do the job as it fits in to your schedule, rather than thinking of the practicalities of doing the job.

It really could end up a bit messy at the delivery end.

So not only are you likely to crush somebody to death, the rest of your team will be walking around with b*****cks like a bull! Cant you just stick to delivering small boxes!

He might want bollox like a bull.

You can ask him how far he has got to that point!

Best tip, get a big pair of bollocks because if you dont you will have a big pair once you finish the job. We do rangemaster and these are bloody heavy.

Google 'how to move a rayburn', take your time reading some of these and hope you can get some tips.

Thanks everyone. Now I'm terrified.

I think Barnsley has the best solution: give a price for transport but tell them they're responsible for lifting arrangements. If they don't like it then they can go to a specialist. That's what I'll do.

About 35 years ago I did move a full sized AGA in one piece. It was forklifted into the back of a LWB Landrover at the collection point and we got it out by using 2 lengths of UB fastened to the back of the Landrover and about 6 pieces of scaffold pole as rollers to help it slide/roll down on to 4 skates.

Wouldn't want to do it again though and I vowed that should the situation arise again I would let an expert dismantle and re-assemble it so that it could be moved in sensible sized pieces.

I've told the customer, and he's pretty confident he can get it in and out, so I've left it as his responsibility.

On uShip/Shiply etc people are saying they'll shift Rayburns for £50. Presumably they don't know what a Rayburn actually is...

If you're using Shiply as some sort of bench mark than you have bigger problems than getting an old machine that you granny used to use to heat her spuds up from A to B! You have a massive issue if Shiply is your bench mark!

Barnsley Shipping said:

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If you're using Shiply as some sort of bench mark than you have bigger problems than getting an old machine that you granny used to use to heat her spuds up from A to B! You have a massive issue if Shiply is your bench mark!

+1

+2

+3

For the record, I do not use Shiply as a benchmark!

That Rayburn job worked out well in the end and gave me a nice little backload, so I'd recommend not automatically saying no if you ever get the opportunity. Just depends on having a co-operative customer.

I liaised carefully with him before hand, so they had a tractor ready and rollers to help get it in and out, and there were extra people on hand at both ends. No trouble at all really.

ZENITH Courier Services said:

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Oh dear, conflicting opinions. Are you sure, Rob? It's one of the smaller Rayburns, not the massive boat-sized ones. Apparently it'll be put on a pallet.

What I really need is one of these! www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMjSFgmdTTI

It'll be on a pallet because it NEEDS a forklift.