32" Delivery Advice

[Braai-Q]

Dear All

Getting closer to delivery and it might be Friday or Monday depending on any issues unpacking the container. 

This creates a 627KG problem for me based on the delivery company only doing a 'kerbside delivery' off the back of a tail lift and presumably with a pallet truck. So I wanted to ask for the collective advice of this forum of gurus and 32KK owners to plan out my strategy and contingency plan. I've not wanted to bother Dennis for obvious reasons.

I have tried to find some images online to give me some insight and did a quick Google for '32KK delivery' but that initially offered me up ladies bras much to the amusement of my business partner who turned up at my desk precisely as the search result was returned. The 32KK is now known as a 'Bra-beque'. 🤦‍♂️

What I'm looking to establish is:

1. What is the ground clearance from ground level to the underside of the foot? Would someone be kind enough to give me a measurement please? It's the vertical on the red marker on Dennis' CAD drawing that I've included below. 

2. What material are the casters made of on the 32KK? Is it nylon/rubber? Just wondering the rolling resistance of them to get some momentum to move them over some imperfect ground. How easy is it to move around? I expect to reduce weight as much as possible of course but it's a lot of weight to control in motion. I assume the casters will rotate in any direction and are not in a fixed position.

3. In getting it off the base, I'm assuming that everyone has just created a ramp (heavy duty bonded ply?) and then undone the retaining blocks and wheeled it off. 

I have two entrances to my property, the one that is closer to where the 32KK is going, the 18 tonne truck won't be able to turn into so it'll need to be dropped next to the gate. The other entrance has over 30 metres of pea shingle to get it over although I'd be able to have the truck pull on to the drive and turn but it's still got to cover some distance. If I take the option of dropping it next to the gate, I will have to move it out the road quickly as the verge is shallow.  

The closer entrance is on a light scattering of pea shingle but the ground is more or less cleared in readiness for landscaping so it's just a bonded surface versus a finished drive like the other entrance. Hence my question on gauge and material of the wheels. Hoping that I can get the pallet truck from the delivery company to run over the surface and get me on to the patio where I'm home free. If that doesn't look viable, I have some 40x40 Slate from the floor I removed in the house and I can create two tracks to wheel it down - either the KK once off the pallet base or the pallet truck.

Many thanks

 

Alex

 

 

 

 

[Basher]

I am going through a similar thought process Alex.

I have a bit of uphill over exposed aggregate then about 6m over lawn and garden bed then up one step.

To conquer this, I'll hire a pellet jack and two lengths of ply wood to run over the lawn and garden bed and will also use the ply to ramp up the step( with some stacked timber lengths reinforcing under the ply).

I'll be keeping it crated until it's close to the final position so haven't worried about wheel clearance and strengths.

[PVPAUL]

Alex, I took delivery of a 32” KK in June this year. I was apprehensive as well. One of the things that freaked me out was the loading on to the lift gate and the tilting of the lift gate with all the weight on it. I had a 32” delivered in June and a 21” delivered just over a week ago. Both times the drivers were very accommodating without even having to ask. They both pulled far into my driveways without asking. For the 32” I went out and purchased 3 each 3/4” sheets of plywood and daisy chained this from my driveway to the backyard where it is being used. We kept the pallet in tack and used the pallet jack supplied by trucking company and myself, a friend of mine and the truck driver were able to move this without too much trouble.

Please note that the pallet top already has a ramp built into it for rolling the KK off of the skid onto a hard surface. Also the sides and the top of the pallet come off easily by removing 8 lag bolts on the bottom of the skid. I keep my KK on a patio with pavers on it so it’s not perfectly level between the pavers and I’m able to move this around by myself and I’m no football player for sure. 

Good luck and congrats!

Paul

[tekobo]

7 hours ago, Braai-Q said:

Hoping that I can get the pallet truck from the delivery company to run over the surface and get me on to the patio where I'm home free.

I would say that is your best bet.  People rely on the kindness of the driver and that usually works but I didn't want to risk that when my two were being delivered.  I made contact with the agent and they "negotiated" an extra £55 fee for us to use the driver's pallet truck.  In practice, the driver wheeled both KKs down a road and an alleyway with no problem at all.  If they flat refuse to confirm that they will let you use the pallet truck then you could hire one for the day - happy to send you details of the ones we investigated at the time.  

4 hours ago, PVPAUL said:

Please note that the pallet top already has a ramp built into it for rolling the KK off of the skid onto a hard surface.

Paul's right about this but sometimes the transport company puts the KK pallet on top of another pallet, making it impossible to use the inbuilt ramp safely.  This happened to me and I think also to @Pequod for one of his KKs. See here for our comedy sequence:

 

 

 

[Braai-Q]

7 hours ago, Basher said:

I am going through a similar thought process Alex.

I have a bit of uphill over exposed aggregate then about 6m over lawn and garden bed then up one step.

To conquer this, I'll hire a pellet jack and two lengths of ply wood to run over the lawn and garden bed and will also use the ply to ramp up the step( with some stacked timber lengths reinforcing under the ply).

I'll be keeping it crated until it's close to the final position so haven't worried about wheel clearance and strengths.

Thanks Basher. What I really covet is one of these All Terrain Pallet Trucks. I have a supplier who is a small business and he has one, he walks in with pallets of wood for me, one hand driving the truck and in the other, his mobile as he updates his delivery log. Casual as you like. Problem is despite telling carriage companies that we have gravel and to load an all terrain truck, the reality is that very few of them see the value in the investment as they're contracted to do kerbside drops where a standard pallet truck is sufficient to get the load off the vehicle. 

I too want to keep it crated till it's close to where it needs to be but that maximises weight. Fortunately, it has been really dry so the ground isn't soft meaning the chance of the wheels bedding into the hoggin on the drive are very low. I am usually pretty adept at these kinds of problems but there are a few considerations which could spoil my party if leave me in a situation where I have a 627KG problem blocking my gate from closing or something like that.

Currently thinking a forklift at £39 hire cost for a week is looking like great value even if I'll use it for less than an hour. 

 

[Braai-Q]

8 hours ago, PVPAUL said:

Alex, I took delivery of a 32” KK in June this year. I was apprehensive as well. One of the things that freaked me out was the loading on to the lift gate and the tilting of the lift gate with all the weight on it. I had a 32” delivered in June and a 21” delivered just over a week ago. Both times the drivers were very accommodating without even having to ask. They both pulled far into my driveways without asking. For the 32” I went out and purchased 3 each 3/4” sheets of plywood and daisy chained this from my driveway to the backyard where it is being used. We kept the pallet in tack and used the pallet jack supplied by trucking company and myself, a friend of mine and the truck driver were able to move this without too much trouble.

Please note that the pallet top already has a ramp built into it for rolling the KK off of the skid onto a hard surface. Also the sides and the top of the pallet come off easily by removing 8 lag bolts on the bottom of the skid. I keep my KK on a patio with pavers on it so it’s not perfectly level between the pavers and I’m able to move this around by myself and I’m no football player for sure. 

Congratulations on your new arrivals. Was the 32 that much of a convincer that you had to buy another? It took me ages to get another. Thanks for the information, this is gold! When my 19 arrived almost 10 years ago(!), I remember the crate was well thought out and the top lifted off elegantly. I appreciate good design and engineering and it's pleasing when you find it. I write that having spent about 10 minutes this morning trying to extract a pack of batteries from a heat sealed blister pack without damaging them. Wrap rage is a real thing. Such a help to know about the ramp, I was worrying about bracing and building a ramp that would take the load but that solves a problem.

 

Quote

Good luck and congrats!

Paul

Thanks Paul. I know that my ability to solve the problem on the fly without the right tools and machinery makes it much harder given the weight. 

I'm pretty good at building rapport with the drivers but in the UK, quite often it comes down to health and safety risk assessments and they're not covered under insurance if they injure themselves so this overrides goodwill. 

Interesting discovery of the day - Forklift Hire for a Day: £40 Carriage: £240(1 way). The cost of buying an all terrain pallet truck is about £650 once you lose the VAT.... 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Braai-Q

[Braai-Q]

5 hours ago, tekobo said:

I would say that is your best bet.  People rely on the kindness of the driver and that usually works but I didn't want to risk that when my two were being delivered.  I made contact with the agent and they "negotiated" an extra £55 fee for us to use the driver's pallet truck.  In practice, the driver wheeled both KKs down a road and an alleyway with no problem at all.  If they flat refuse to confirm that they will let you use the pallet truck then you could hire one for the day - happy to send you details of the ones we investigated at the time.  

That sounds like a con Kemi. They usually have a pallet truck on the vehicle to get stuff off the load bed for a kerb side drop. If it was an all terrain one, then yeah. Makes sense as they're about 10 times the price of a standard. 

5 hours ago, tekobo said:

Paul's right about this but sometimes the transport company puts the KK pallet on top of another pallet, making it impossible to use the inbuilt ramp safely.  This happened to me and I think also to @Pequod for one of his KKs. See here for our comedy sequence:

This is what my clearing agent sent me this morning. I ordered a cart for my 19" so I'm hoping that it doesn't arrive in a state. The silhouette of the package suggests it's on top.

Fortunately being in an agricultural area, my local farmer is going to give me a hand and he has a teleporter rated to 5 tonnes and has the skill to use it so that will make the job easy. One case of beer and promise of a BBQ. Job done I think. 

Off to read the other thread.

5 hours ago, tekobo said:

 

 

 

 

[tony b]

Good luck to you all in the uncrating. Can't wait to see the pics!!

[tekobo]

17 hours ago, Braai-Q said:

That sounds like a con Kemi. They usually have a pallet truck on the vehicle to get stuff off the load bed for a kerb side drop. If it was an all terrain one, then yeah. Makes sense as they're about 10 times the price of a standard. 

Yes, but it was worth it to be sure that the guy would help us.  It also saved us the trouble and cost of hiring, picking up and returning a pallet truck of our own.  The beauty of email is that I am reminded of the same level of angst by the email trail between The Husband and I, trying to work out if the lip at the entrance to our back yard would warrant hiring an all terrain pallet truck, etc etc.  Happily all these trials and concerns fade into the background once your KK is safely installed. 

17 hours ago, Braai-Q said:

Fortunately being in an agricultural area, my local farmer is going to give me a hand and he has a teleporter rated to 5 tonnes and has the skill to use it so that will make the job easy. One case of beer and promise of a BBQ. Job done I think. 

 

Sounds great if you can seal the deal.  

[Tyrus]

Teleporter???  Didn't they have those on Star Trek or was that the transporter. Whatever, have a good bottle of port ready when it lands

[Braai-Q]

22 hours ago, Tyrus said:

Teleporter???  Didn't they have those on Star Trek or was that the transporter. Whatever, have a good bottle of port ready when it lands

I meant a telehandler. Damn autocorrect on my phone. 🤦‍♂️

I am expecting this:

That said, in Ireland, they call the same thing a teleporter: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/many-farms-now-using-teleporters-35594852.html 

 

[Tyrus]

In the area I'm in I see that piece of machinery as something called a Lull. An expensive piece and should do the trick, take it slow and good luck.

[DennisLinkletter]

And remember you can always call me if you have any on the spot questions.. 

[Braai-Q]

10 hours ago, Tyrus said:

In the area I'm in I see that piece of machinery as something called a Lull. An expensive piece and should do the trick, take it slow and good luck.

How can one piece of plant equipment have so many different names?

[Braai-Q]

Well, this chapter of the journey has closed. It started with an innocent question about charcoal and ended up with the purchase of a 32KK. 😁 I'm kidding but you lot are a terrible influence! 👨‍💻

The 32KK arrived just before 4pm. Having checked in with the clearing agent after 8am, I knew to expect it late afternoon. I called to confirm and the vehicle tracker said they were 15 minutes away. I called Keith (local farmer) who said he would be over in 20 mins with the (telehandler/teleporter/lull). Perfect.

The vehicle arrived and the driver (who was Russian) discovered that my Russian was as fluent as his English. So through a combination of interpretative dance and 'da, da, da, nyet, nyet, nyet' we got the truck parked where it wouldn't block the road as he could not make the turn. Some more 'da, da, da' and the doors were open and the tail lift engaged.

Those familiar with the UK will be surprised to see blue sky. Typically, the arrival of complicated deliveries involving expensive items demands that the heavens open and that you have to deal with a deluge of mud and water. 

 

Tail lift down, we talked strategy (more interpretative dance this time with pointing) and a da or two later, we had the KK on the pallet truck and wheeling down the road. I'm afraid there aren't any comedy images of the two of us pushing 675KG of crated Komodo down the road. I was alerted to the presence of two cars behind us with a flurry of 'nyet, nyet, nyet' from the truck driver just as Keith arrived in the opposite direction driving the telehandler. We were stuck in the middle between a telehandler and a Range Rover. The Range Rover decided that reversing was a good idea and as Keith had to turn, he charged up the road in the same direction as the Range Rover in what looked like some surreal joust. Keith drove the telehandler in a way that suggested a love of rallying and that it wasn't his first rodeo.

We got the KK off the blue pallet first which would have seriously complicated life (special thanks to @PVPAUL who helped me avoid a problem and a lot of wasted time) and placed it on the patio. I have to say that as a piece of equipment, the telehandler was pretty impressive to watch. The horizontal hydraulic arms just extended out and eased the crate down effortlessly. It has all wheel steer so is remarkably manoeuvrable. 

As it was now after 4pm, the siren call of the pub saw Keith dematerialise and the Russian driver had already departed in a flurry of 'da, da, sign here, spasibo' leaving me to free the KK from its confines of the last two months.

I looked at my watch. 17 minutes from arrival to being ready to unpack. Might have to setup a league table on the forum although 90% of that is thanks to the telehandler. 💨

I had my socket set, screwdrivers, mallet and a small crow bar ready and tackled the crate. Eight bolts came out pretty quickly and my wife was enlisted to assist lifting the cover off. A challenge as she travels closer to the ground than I do so we were not well matched to lift evenly. The dog decided that now was the perfect time to get underfoot so had to be shepherded out the way. It went smoothly and off came the top. At this point I remembered that I should probably document the grand reveal. The patio is being ripped up and hard landscaping due to start shortly so I have blue linemarker all over the place for the contractors so they don't go through pipes or other services. And there it is. 

I've not quite finished unpacking it all as it was my wife's birthday and we were going out for dinner. While I would have liked to have opened it all up and set everything in place, I just didn't have the time so it's a job to finish tomorrow morning. One thing that I wasn't sure of was the hanging assembly for the side tables to fold them down. It was approaching midnight that I looked at them with a head torch. 

Anyway,  I'll finish this post with an obligatory shot of the dog (Welsh Terrier) contained in the BBQ to show scale and to keep him out of trouble after he picked up some of the packaging and sailed down the garden with it. Staged next to the 19" tabletop (same finish), the 19" looks positively pocket sized. Until you try and move it. 

Thanks to everyone for the advice and support along the way. Now I just need to remind myself of burn in procedures and strategies for making the grill easier to clean.

 

 

[MacKenzie]

Love that dog, but then I'm partial to terriers having own 2 wire haired fox terriers. 

I'll save the raves for the KK after more of the reveal hits the stands.

[Pequod]

Whoa! I’ve heard the 42 comes with a goat. Is a terrier part of the 32 standard kit now?

[tekobo]

10 hours ago, Braai-Q said:

We were stuck in the middle between a telehandler and a Range Rover. The Range Rover decided that reversing was a good idea and as Keith had to turn, he charged up the road in the same direction as the Range Rover in what looked like some surreal joust. Keith drove the telehandler in a way that suggested a love of rallying and that it wasn't his first rodeo.

That would have been a sight to behold!  Looking forward to the big reveal.

[Braai-Q]

10 hours ago, MacKenzie said:

Love that dog, but then I'm partial to terriers having own 2 wire haired fox terriers. 

I'll save the raves for the KK after more of the reveal hits the stands.

Mackenzie, if you have two wires and a KK, you are clearly of fine taste and great discernment. I would love to see some pictures. A group shot of KK and dogs would be 😍

[Braai-Q]

1 hour ago, Pequod said:

Whoa! I’ve heard the 42 comes with a goat. Is a terrier part of the 32 standard kit now?

Absolutely, due to the scale of the 32, you need someone to help you finish the quantity of food that you're going to produce. Best and most practical accessory. Also has a secondary dishwashing function.