Kit Pickup

[cnutting]

My kit will be ready in early March and I was looking for some info on the kit pickup process. I searched the forums and have a general idea. Wareham is about an hour away so it would make sense that I go pick up the kit in person. I'm thinking I can fit a complete 289 kit in a 16' U-haul box truck like others have done. My question is, how do most people get the body and frame out of the truck? I have a couple moving dollies so the skinny little ramp could be an option with the potential for YouTube humor if things go awry, or I've read where people removed the body and carried the frame, or even used an engine hoist.

Any suggestions or photos of your approach? I'd like to put the money saved from having it shipped towards beer and other essential supplies.

Chris

[Niagara Dave]

Welcome to the madness you are going to love it! I picked up my kit at the factory then drove 8 hours home. Factory five will load the kit for you with the exception of the boxes. The boxes they will bring out with a fork lift and you will load them in the van. I underestimated the boxes. I used a flat bed trailer and loaded all the boxes in my truck. When I got home I invited five of my friends over and lured them in with free beer. Four of us unloaded the frame with the body attached and the other two moved the axel stands in place. Good luck! Have fun with the build.

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[Kpt112]

Chris,

I did the same thing you are considering last March. I drove up and picked up the car directly from Factory Five. When I arrived they lowered the car onto the uhaul with a forklift. Once I got it home I used some home made dollies to roll it into my garage. Nothing more than plywood, 2x4 and cheap wheels from Harbor Freight. The size of the dollies was 2 ft by 3ft. I had placed a heavy duty blue tarp under the car (so the powder coat would not get scratched) and was able to slide the car off the uhaul on to my dollies. I also used a floor jack where needed. I did this by myself, so if you have 2 other people the job should go much easier. Much cheaper than delivery. I also live in Pennsylvania 5 hours away.

Good Luck.

Kevin

50047

[JIMOCO]

Chris, I rented a twenty footer. Since the car is 13 feet long this gave me a little extra clearance and room for the rear end and transmission I picked up at Mike Forte's. I built a dolly to support the frame and made it tall enough that I could roll the chassis and body down the ramp and have clearance as the rear approached the ground, the center cleared the peak of the ramp and the front cleared the ramp as it came down. I added eye bolts to the frame for tie downs. I made sure that the spacing of the wheels fit within the edges of the ramp. I used good wheels and left the assembly on the ramp during the early stages of my build. Two of us could have easily rolled the assembly off of the truck but having a third to watch the wheels as it the approached the ramp was helpful. When at FFR the guys were able to load the assembly directly on to the dolly while it was in the truck. If you send me a PM I can send you pictures and the dimensions. I cant seem to send pictures with my reply. JIMOCO

[silver_pilate]

I wish I could do a pickup. But I'm having a hard time convincing my wife to do a 2000+ mile, 30-hour road trip (1 way!). I'll be ordering this spring, but I'll probably have to let the professionals bring it to town. I guess I could fly up and U-Haul it back one-way in a box truck, but I'd likely play hob getting it out of the truck.

I curious how others have gotten the kit unloaded from an enclosed U-Haul? I've built a frame dolly I could probably use once I got it home, but those trucks seem a might high for clearance. JIMOCO, I'll shoot you a pm for pictures.

--Nathan

[JIMOCO]

Nathan and Chris. I have attached photos of my dolly. What is not on these pictures is the eye bolts for tie down and the carpet I added as padding over each of the round cut outs for the two four inch frame tubes.
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[silver_pilate]

Looks good! Do you recall the height from the floor to the frame-rest?

--Nathan

[JIMOCO]

The wheels (locking) are 5" diameter and with the mounting hardware a total of 6.25". The 4x4 legs are 12" bringing the bottom of the horizontal 2x4 to 18.25" from the ground. The 4" chassis tubes are 90" long so I made the dolly 85" and the cut outs at 24" center to center. The picture with the frame on the dolly shows a black strap wrapped around the front of it. I ran a ratcheting strap from the rear cross member to the front of the dolly and another from the front cross member to the rear of the dolly to hold the chassis to the dolly and prevent it from sliding off coming down the ramp. The 5" wheels roll very smoothly and make moving the assembly very easy. The driveway to the garage had a rough surface that would be a problem with small wheels. The tie down bars in the truck were 17" from the floor and the ramp was 10' long. Hope this helps.

[cnutting]

Thanks for the tips and pictures guys. Looks like Mike Forte will be coming to the rescue. He's not that far from me and has a trailer and frame dolly.

[thwrightstuff]

Chris,

I did the same thing you are considering last March. I drove up and picked up the car directly from Factory Five. When I arrived they lowered the car onto the uhaul with a forklift. Once I got it home I used some home made dollies to roll it into my garage. Nothing more than plywood, 2x4 and cheap wheels from Harbor Freight. The size of the dollies was 2 ft by 3ft. I had placed a heavy duty blue tarp under the car (so the powder coat would not get scratched) and was able to slide the car off the uhaul on to my dollies. I also used a floor jack where needed. I did this by myself, so if you have 2 other people the job should go much easier. Much cheaper than delivery. I also live in Pennsylvania 5 hours away.

Good Luck.

Kevin

50047

Kevin, I just sent you a PM, but it looks to me like a pickup truck and 6x12 trailer is enough to pickup a complete kit?

[ggunter]

It's an exciting day when you go to pick up your car. A life long dream for me. Truly fun to put together and the support from this forum is amazing.137477137478137479137480137480

[thwrightstuff]

Yeah, as each day approaches, I get more and more excited. I can't wait to start this beast! It looks like you've got a 16' trailer there. did you rent that or did you have that? Where did all of y our boxes go and what size kit did you get?

[ggunter]

The trailer is 18'. I had a 12' but getting the car was a good excuse to upgrade my trailer. I got the complete kit and put all the boxes in the pickup bed which is 8'. You have to carefully arrange them but they will fit. I bought a cargo net from Harbor Freight to put over the boxes and it all worked out well.

[thwrightstuff]

Great news, thanks! How many tow straps did you need? will 4 be enough? How long do you recommend them being?

[FF33rod]

As mentioned in another thread, if you go with a trailer with a ramp of some kind at the back, quite often the rear gate is not as wide as the trailer itself. For example, this uhaul trailer...
https://www.uhaul.com/Trailers/6x12-Utility-Trailer-With-Ramp-Rental/HO/

The crane from the delivery semi can plop the chassis into it no problem but you need 3-4 individuals to lift it out over the sides (or rear) because the rear gate is not wide enough to slide it out on a dolly....

Have fun!!
Steve

[thwrightstuff]

So i was actually more concerned that I would not be able to shut the ramp gate with the body on the trailer because of the length of the trailer, so I was thinking of getting the trailer without a ramp. However, I think the ramp may be wide enough for the dolly I built, but I don't think it will lift the frame high enough to clear the side rails. Since the rampless trailer has a gate that goes down, I figured my friend, fiancee and myself could lift up the frame and put it on the dolly on the ground, no?

[FF33rod]

I don't want to make assumptions of your fiancee's build or strength :D but likely one more person would make things a lot easier... Or perhaps you have an engine crane or similar that might help?

[thwrightstuff]

Haha fair enough. She’s small but mighty and my friend is a pretty strong dude, as am I. I alone have lifted a motorcycle engine. Having said that, I’d rather work smarter, not harder. Sadly, I don’t have a fourth person that can really help me out. I do have an engine crane, but currently my engine is living there and I don’t have a table I can put it on and either I’m stupid or I can’t figure out a way to put the engine on the floor when the crane is in the way.

[rich grsc]

Haha fair enough. She’s small but mighty and my friend is a pretty strong dude, as am I. I alone have lifted a motorcycle engine. Having said that, I’d rather work smarter, not harder. Sadly, I don’t have a fourth person that can really help me out. I do have an engine crane, but currently my engine is living there and I don’t have a table I can put it on and either I’m stupid or I can’t figure out a way to put the engine on the floor when the crane is in the way.
Set it on a tire

[Joecobr]

A couple of pictures are worth a lot...all a one man show.

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[ggunter]

I am always impressed at the ingenuity of people when they want to get something accomplished.

[thwrightstuff]

A couple of pictures are worth a lot...all a one man show.


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137504

Wow, Joe, wow. Color me impressed!!

[rich grsc]

Plan on building a car, but can't figure out how to haul or unload the kit???

[thwrightstuff]

I prefer to save myself from the risk of driving out there not properly equipped for picking up my kit, only to have to figure something out last minute and likely more expensive or be forced to have it shipped with a massive delay.

I don’t see any harm in asking people who have already done this before. Isn’t that kind of the purpose of this forum?

[Joecobr]

I prefer to save myself from the risk of driving out there not properly equipped for picking up my kit, only to have to figure something out last minute and likely more expensive or be forced to have it shipped with a massive delay.

I don’t see any harm in asking people who have already done this before. Isn’t that kind of the purpose of this forum?

I always fall back on the adage, “How do you eat an elephant? Like anything else...one bite at a time.” Take your time and research the hell out of every step in the build and you can do it. It’s all well documented on this forum...including threads on picking up and hauling the kit home. And don’t shy away from asking questions. That’s how we all increase our knowledge on how to build these cars. Enjoy the journey. It’s a blast!

[cob427sc]

I have always picked up my cars from FFR with an open trailer along with several more for friends (10 maybe?). I just back the trailer up to the garage, lift the whole chassis and body with my engine hoist, pull away the trailer and set the frame back on my dollies. Then you can move around to your hearts content. GTM was the hardest as it was difficult to drop the straps through the body and find a balance point to lift it up.