How I moved a Komodo by myself and lived to BBQ again (long)

[JeffB]

Recently, I was lucky enough to take ownership of a Komodo, the only catch was I had to pick up the cooker myself. I won't get into specifics but when I say "pick up the the cooker myself", I mean all by myself. So, I set about figuring out how that could be done.

I happened to mention what I was planning on doing in another thread and given the negative reaction I received I have to assume no one has done it before, or at least they had the foresight not to mention what they were planning on doing . Either way, I brought my camera along with me and documented the process in case anyone else might be interested. The following process worked for me, but as with anything (especially stuff you see on the internet) your mileage may vary.

I don't own a car big enough to haul a Komodo so I made a reservation to rent a minivan. My plan was to lower (or remove) all the seats in the minivan and load the cooker through the rear hatch via a ramp. The ramp was constructed with material I had in my spare lumber pile. Each leg of the ramp was built from two 2x4s laid side-to-side with sections of 1/2 plywood screwed in from the bottom to hold them together. I didn't know how far apart the wheels were so I brought some spare wood that could be used to attach the legs to one another once I figured out the measurements on site. Since I didn't want to spread my attention around too much, I created channels from strips of 1/2 plywood on each ramp leg that would keep the cooker on the ramp while I focused most of my attention on moving the cooker up the ramp. I didn't expect the channels to actually keep the cooker moving in a straight line, but rather to alert me in the event the cooker veered off course. Once everything was put together on site this is what it looked like.

I slapped together a less complex ramp to manage the transition from the main ramp to the minivan floor from scraps I brought with me. In hindsight I should have planned something better as this transition turned out to be the most difficult part of the process.

To actually move the cooker up the ramp, I rigged up a basic block and tackle arrangement using a couple double pulleys. My anchor point in the car ended up being a rope wrapped around the van's B-pillars. I threaded the rope through the side door hand holds to limit the vertical movement of the rope.

On the cooker side of things, I wrapped rope around the cooker top and bottom running a rope between the two to hold the pulley. I let the pulley "float" on the rope so it could adjust as necessary but I don't think it moved from its initial location once things got under way.

I don't have any action shots of the process given that I was doing things my myself, but I did bring my anvil along (to function as a rope cleat) so I could stop the cooker mid ramp and back away to take a picture.

Pulling the cooker up the ramp went extremely easy. I basically stood directly behind the cooker nudging it with my hip as necessary while I pulled on the rope. The transition between the main ramp and the minivan floor turned out to be the most difficult part simply because the small ramp I slapped together to handle that part was too narrow and a wheel rolled off. I ended up just pulling the small ramp out of place and easing the cooker down. Once in the van I tied it down, loaded the lid and all the junk I brought with me, and was on my way.

For unloading the cooker I used the same basic arrangement. Since I had more scrap lumber at my disposal at home I tried something a little different for the transition ramp (small sheet of plywood propped up). I also tied a rope to the cooker so I had a little better control over it as I pulled it onto the ramp from the minivan. My driveway has a slight slope and the minivan floor was not particularly flat so the transition again proved to be the most difficult part. Once the cooker was on the ramp though it came down very easy.

Once safely on the ground I put the lid back in place and rolled it to its new home on my patio. Here is what it looks like after I cleaned it up and reattached the lid spring.

I was meaning to actually calculate the forces involved in moving the cooker beforehand but never got a round to it. My gut feel was that it wouldn't require anything more than 50 lbs. of pressure on the rope to move the cooker. In practice, it seemed to be less, so I decided to finally dust off my physics & trigonometry textbooks when I got home. I am pretty sure my calculations are right but if anyone who knows better sees an error let me know.

To move an object up an incline you simply need to apply more force than gravity is applying down the surface of the incline. The formula for the force down the incline is:

mass of object * g * sin(incline angle)

In my case, I had an 8ft long ramp with an approximate 2ft rise so sin(incline angle) is 2/8. The cooker bottom with nothing in it weighs 145kg (320 lbs.) so the force is: 145 * 9.81 * .25 => 356 Newtons. The double pulley arrangement gives a 4x mechanical advantage so the force needed on the rope becomes 89 Newtons. Converting Newtons to kg of force involves dividing by g so 89 Newtons equates to 9.1 kg of force or about 20 lbs. The calculations assume all frictionless surfaces so even if you double the force required to account for friction in the pulleys, cooker wheels, etc. you are still talking about a very minimal amount of force required to move the cooker. Given the distance versus force tradeoff inherent with such a pulley arrangement everything happens slowly giving very good control as well.

I had a lot of fun moving the cooker and at no time did I feel as though I or the cooker were in danger. Now that the whole moving process is over it is time to start cooking. Although... I do eventually want to move the cooker to my deck (10 feet up from the patio) but for that, I think I will bribe neighbors with BBQ

I want to thank Jackie for being so generous with her time and for making the whole adventure possible.

[bryan]

Re: How I moved a Komodo by myself and lived to BBQ again (l

Outstanding job! Well done!

Yes I think some and me for sure were concerned that it would top over and be damaged. Great job! I would never have had the courage.

[Firemonkey]

For most of us, there would would have been apprehension and fear, whcih we would have countered with more people and muscle. Jeff, on the other hand, planned ahead and engineered a plan...even incorporating the laws of physics. There was no fear there, just a man on a mission who refused to be denied

If it were me, I would have had to resort to finding a stranger to help me lift it in the van, and rewarding them with beer or cash.

[DavidS]

Very nice job. You will enjoy your KK.

[jdbower]

Nicely done! Might I suggest fashioning a crude trebuchet to fling the cooker into the back? That'll be extra credit for next time

[cruzmisl]

Holy MACGUYVER!

He'd have moved it with a pencil, a paperclip and a half a piece of chewing gum though

[Fetzervalve]

I knew you could do it! Now the real fun begins. (gotta like a guy who brings a radio - probably to drown out the sounds of ceramic cracking and sobbing ... I kid, I'm a kidder)

I'm glad we gave you some inspiration to document it (didn't we?) You will enjoy looking back at that post for years.

[JeffB]

If it were me' date=' I would have had to resort to finding a stranger to help me lift it in the van, and rewarding them with beer or cash. [/quote']

That probably would have been the smart thing to do. But I am too cheap and like my beer too much Actually one of the biggest drawbacks to doing things the way I did is time. I would estimate that the planning and loading process resulted in things taking ten times longer than simply having enough muscle to push it into the van.

Might I suggest fashioning a crude trebuchet to fling the cooker into the back?

Trebuchet... hmmm... maybe for getting it onto the deck. Although, I would probably miscalculate and send the cooker flying into my house. I can imagine my house reduced to splinters and the Komodo sitting on top of the pile without a scratch on it.

I'm glad we gave you some inspiration to document it (didn't we?) You will enjoy looking back at that post for years.

No doubt. I do like to take pictures of "projects" I work on. It is always fun to look back on things you built/did, but in this case, I did probably document the process more than normal. I am glad it wasn't to serve as a warning to people

[primeats]

All I can say is wow!Congratulations on owning an engineering masterpiece, and complimenting it with one of your own. I think your gonna fit right in with this group!

[PaulR]

Well done, and great photo's!

Must have been scary leaving the KK on the ramp whilst taking the photo (is it moving? .

[JeffB]

Must have been scary leaving the KK on the ramp whilst taking the photo (is it moving? .

The anvil I brought with me is 110 pounds. Once I tied the rope to it nothing budged. You will notice that I wrapped the rope around the anvil a bit more than was necessary -- I wasn't going to take any chances with a runaway Komodo.

[Conodo12]

So.... will you be selling your KK moving kit to general public anytime soon?!? Thankfully (and even more hopefully!) my KK moving days are over!!! I like my KK right where it is!!

Quite an ingenious set up - Congrats on a successful move and welcome to the forum!

[Syzygies]

rise / length = me / cooker

In my case' date=' I had an 8ft long ramp with an approximate 2ft rise so sin(incline angle) is 2/8. The cooker bottom with nothing in it weighs 145kg (320 lbs.) so the force is: 145 * 9.81 * .25 => 356 Newtons. The double pulley arrangement gives a 4x mechanical advantage so the force needed on the rope becomes 89 Newtons. Converting Newtons to kg of force involves dividing by g so 89 Newtons equates to 9.1 kg of force or about 20 lbs.[/quote']

In other words, the weight of the cooker makes a force pushing straight down ("cooker"). We can draw a triangle breaking up this force into two components, one pushing against the ramp ("ramp"), and another pushing against us ("me"). This triangle has the same shape as the ramp itself, so

rise / length = me / cooker

Multiplying both sides by "cooker", in your case 320 * 2 / 8 = 80 lbs, but your pulley divides 80 by 4, giving 20 lbs.

If I make a 4 ft ramp and just roll our new cooker off its 4 inch perch on the shipping crate, then 320 * 4 / 48 = 26 2/3 lbs.

Of course, my ramp will sag if I don't make it strong enough, with enough supports. The cube laws here can be daunting; time for the Sagulator! For example, a 2x4 sheet of 3/4" fir plywood, floating attachment, 320 lbs center load, span 48" and depth 24" will sag 3/4ths of an inch. This suggests structural failure of the plywood to me (the cooker is moving, after all) so I'd throw in a center support, making 24" spans, for a sag of 1/10 of an inch.

[JeffB]

Syzygies, I think in practice getting the cooker off the crate is easier than the calculations might suggest. I used my eight foot ramp to get it off simply because I had it. But if I didn't I would have just used a short (1 or 2 feet long) piece of 3/4 ply. A tenth of an inch deflection is not enough to break 3/4 ply but I don't think it would even come to that. The stance of a KK is pretty wide so the full weight of the cooker would never be on the ramp if it is kept short enough. If you are really concerned you can just throw whatever you have on hand underneath the ply to provide some support.

Most people just get a couple 2x4s, loop them through the ropes on the legs and pick the cooker straight up while someone pulls out the crate.

As another data point, I am pretty sure that the newest cookers are actually lighter than the one I moved. Since your cooker already came in two pieces, emptying the bottom should get you below 300 which should be easily pushed down a short ramp. With the top on, a KK is slightly top heavy but just the bottom by itself is actually very stable and the top lip is at a perfect height for holding onto.

[primeats]

Why can't a bumble bee fly? Sometimes indomitable spirit overtakes logic and reason. Although I must say the older I get, the frequency of over planning overtakes raw strength(stubbornness).

[Syzygies]

Yeah, primeats busted me, I was playing. Laurie asked me to look at this thread and think about it before we did anything. "Mia moglie ha sempre ragione!" so I did.

Jeff, good point on the wheelbase. On a level ramp (a.k.a. bridge), a Komodo is never a "center load". However, at the critical angle where a Komodo is about to tip over if unattended, all of its weight is on two wheels, and a center load is what we have. Any idea what this angle is?

I also wouldn't worry about 1/10" deflections. But 3/4" sitting still? Since the Komodo isn't sitting still when we roll it along a ramp, this is too close for comfort. Anyhow "overbuilding" a calculation like this is called "bounding", and its a respected activity. One prefers tight bounds, but then there are always issues one doesn't anticipate, better to have those one can anticipate under control.

[JeffB]

On a level ramp (a.k.a. bridge)' date=' a Komodo is never a "center load". However, at the critical angle where a Komodo is about to tip over if unattended, all of its weight is on two wheels, and a center load is what we have. Any idea what this angle is?[/quote']

I am not sure what that angle is. However, if you have an empty cooker bottom I doubt there is any slope angle (including 90 degrees) from a 4" rise that would induce a tip over if you are holding onto the cooker.

In my mind, the only chance of tip over from that height is the transition point between the ramp and the ground if you just push the cooker down and its wheels get stuck. At that point the two wheel "center load" is on the ground and nearly all pressure is off the ramp. The stance of the wheels on a KK is wider side to side than front to back so I always visualize pushing the cooker that way. Of course, when pushing side to side the two wheels (front and back) are not in line with each other and an obstacle (like the end of a ramp) generates a "twisting" effect.

I also wouldn't worry about 1/10" deflections. But 3/4" sitting still? Since the Komodo isn't sitting still when we roll it along a ramp' date=' this is too close for comfort. Anyhow "overbuilding" a calculation like this is called "bounding", and its a respected activity. One prefers tight bounds, but then there are always issues one doesn't anticipate, better to have those one can anticipate under control.[/quote']

I wouldn't worry about a 3/4" deflection either if you are using a decent plywood (mdf, particle board, etc are a different story of course). Either way, do whatever you are comfortable with. There is always a balance between over-engineering and just "getting stuff done" but it is your cooker after all and the last thing you want to do is have something go wrong at this point in the game. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[Amphoran]

You can lift one pair of legs a LOT more than 4" without it getting unstable.

In fact, that is how I got mine up several steps in height all alone: Lift one pair of legs off the ground, and shove a 4x4 or 4x6 under the two lifted wheels. Go around the cooker, and do the same thing for the other pair. Now simply reapeat one side at a time until the kk is lifted as high as you need, and on the final lift, slip the ramps under the wheels and away you roll.

You only lift an apparant 50-80 lbs to tip it, and you are never tipping it over center.

It will also work with 2x6 or 2x8 pieces, just takes longer - or you could shove two in at a time. If you're fearful of the stability of the stack,you can also rotate 90 degrees every other pair, so you are building a square stack rather than a pair of rails.

Mike

[primeats]

Your a good man Syz! No disrespect intended, all in good fun! I have been humbled by your methods many times!

[Syzygies]

Laurie and I wanted to make this as easy as possible, so we worked as if we were 98 pound weaklings handling a cooker that weighed a good part of a ton. As everyone has said, handling a KK is far easier than that. Still, the steps I took to be extra careful were satisfying to execute.

For rolling the KK off its pallet, I screwed a 2x4 onto the side of the base, then screwed a scrap of ramp plywood onto the 2x4. I threw scrap 2x4 and 4x4 under the ramp for support, and the KK slid off easily.

Our dome was crated separately. We moved it onto a cushioned table, then slid it onto place using another makeshift ramp.