Freight Shipping?

[Hokie LX]

Anyone have experience with freight shipping? I bought a RTT in CA and am needing it shipped here to NC but have never had to ship freight before. Any advice, suggestions, experience, service reviews?

I know Fastenal does frieght as well as Greyhound but wanted to get some advice from you all beforehand.

I'm assuming I'll need to pallet and wrap it regardless.

Thanks!
Chris

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I've used southeastern, YRC, and Fastenal before. All pretty easy, and it needs to be palletized.

They may have online menus, but I've called the local depot where I'm shipping from, gave them destination info and whatnot, then dropped off the pallet. Not cheap, but not difficult to set up.

Fastenal I haven't shipped out with before, but I have received from them. Very easy, and convenient if you have a fastenal store close to you. Having a truck or trailer they can load/unload the pallet with a forklift is pretty crucial though.

 

[Jeff Elliott]

Ditto on Fastenal - Have used them a couple of times (Tires and wheels on a pallet, etc.). Works great as Johnny mentioned. Limited experience with the others but all are pretty much the same - if it's on a pallet, you know the dimensions and weight, have a means to be loaded / unloaded, it's a breeze.

These guys can handle a few curve balls as well - when i bought my lift, the only way I had to get it home was on a jet ski trailer (double). Forklift driver at Yellow Freight was nice enough to set the lift on the ground to allow me to unbolt it then load each tower individually to spread the weight.

Good luck

Untitled by jeff elliott, on Flickr

 

[Hokie LX]

Thanks guys. My issue I'm running into is that the tent, a Tepui ExplorerAutana 3 is ~56x48x12 (larger than a standard 48x48 pallet) and weighs ~150lbs so I'm looking at boxing it possibly with some padding inside. The RTT can also be stored on their sides for reduced floor space but I am having trouble seeing if that decreases cost. I've seen quotes ranging from $300 depot to depot with Fedex all the way up to $1100 for door to door with liftgate service.

I reached out to Fastenal but they aren't servicing this route currently. Apparently this is a dynamic model where availability is only at some times.

I have a trailer they can use to unload which is nice at least.

This is new for me so thanks for the insight.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You can make your own pallet to fit whatever size you need. Plenty of things are shipped freight that don't fit into a 4'x4' pallet. The companies adjust prices to fit whatever size of pallet you're dropping off. I shipped off a set of cylinder heads for my ferd on a half size pallet for example.

Not cheap Depot to depot ftw.

 

[Hokie LX]

You can make your own pallet to fit whatever size you need. Plenty of things are shipped freight that don't fit into a 4'x4' pallet. The companies adjust prices to fit whatever size of pallet you're dropping off. I shipped off a set of cylinder heads for my ferd on a half size pallet for example.

Not cheap Depot to depot ftw.

Hmm. I had thought of that but just increases cost. Probably the best way to do it though... I'll look into it. It's at my brothers house in LA-area currently with limited tool availability so maybe this will be an excuse for me to outfit him with some basic tools to build a pallet lol

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You could always cut the RTT down to 48x48 if you want to save on shipping cost

Gotta pay to play when you want to ship big things across country.

 

[Hokie LX]

Gotta pay to play when you want to ship big things across country.

Truer words have never been spoken. I got the tent so cheap that I don't mind spending some $$ to get it here safely. I'll look into maybe building a pallet since they're not complicated. @Hokierig time to get a drill, saw, and some ratchet straps or tie downs.

 

[jfz80]

Have helped concrete jungle receive a RTT on 4x8 pallet with free set of Harbour fraught ratchet straps for 300 from ups AZ ton NC.

have used south Eastern freight before. Terminal to terminal for amor. Was easy with a trailer . Twice.

fastenal was easy pick up as well.
Greyhound is cool till you carry an arb bumper across a parking lot + 2 blocks right @fj40z