Engine Shipping

[Garry Sharp]

I am about to ship my engine out to be rebuilt for the first time. Any recommendations on what trucking company to use?

Thanks,
Garry

[Daryl DeArman]

Anybody but A, B, or C

D, E, or F would be my choices----in that order.

Build a nice solid crate, not just a pallet. Make sure it does not have any oil in it. Label the crate and the engine both just in case they should part ways in their journey.

[DanW]

From my first experience....

My engine builder sent me a plastic case box with an engine stand within that was collapsed for UPS shipment. $40 to me via UPS.

I put my engine in it, bolted it to the stand, stand bolted to the bottom of the case, strapped it over the valve cover to hold everything down to the case and bolted the upper half of the case to the lower half.

I weighed it on my setup scale, measured the dimensions, and looked up Freightquote.com.

Got a freight quote, but used the wrong freight class. They called me right back and advised a different freight class would save me money. I printed the three copies of the BOL. One copy taped in a envelope taped to the valve cover, copy on the plastic window on the crate and a copy for myself and my shipping dock.

I shipped the crate from the dock at my work to the engine builder. Engine was received without damage at the engine builder. I arranged shipping back and process worked great.

If anyone wants the contact info for the rep I use at Freightquote, send me an email or PM.

YMMV I am sure Daryl DeArman will have much more. Say a prayer its not lost or damaged and you don't have to make a claim.

Regards,
Dan

[sracing]

Unless you have an good account with a LTL trucking company. DO NOT SHIP in your name. Most engine builders should be getting anywhere from 45 to 55% off of tariff prices. I always had the engine owner ship freight and bill to my account. I then just passed that amount on to the invoice. You will normally want to ship as class 085 and your palleted/boxed engine should come in at about 225 lbs. if done well.
As mentioned here, freightquote (and others) will save you a bunch off of tariff, but your builder can probably do better.

Jim

[DanW]

Unless you have an good account with a LTL trucking company. DO NOT SHIP in your name. Most engine builders should be getting anywhere from 45 to 55% off of tariff prices. I always had the engine owner ship freight and bill to my account. I then just passed that amount on to the invoice. You will normally want to ship as class 085 and your palleted engine should come in at about 225 lbs.
As mentioned here, freightquote (and others) will save you a bunch off of tariff, but your builder can probably do better.

Jim

Thanks Jim,

That explains why the return shipping was significantly less than the outbound shipping cost. I will remember that for next time.

Dan

[csingletary01]

I shipped motors back and forth to Jim using his method and it was very reasonable.

[Daryl DeArman]

Edited my previous post as I shouldn't have named names as the carriers to avoid. Those carriers are clients of my employer as are the ones I suggested you do use. Don't need that endorsement or lack thereof coming up in any search engine results attached to my name.




That being said, I spend many, many hours of every week on the various docks of most every LTL carrier out there. I certainly have my opinions as to who to avoid even if the shipping charges were free. Once it does get lost or misplaced there are some carriers out there with much better tools/methods/procedures utilized to find that missing shipment than others.

Claims getting proper attention are strong points of some carriers, not so much others.

Discounts....nobody should pay full boat. Shop around. 50-60% discounts are not considered great in the LTL industry...that being said the largest, highest volume engine builders in the country won't ship out in their lifetime what hundreds, perhaps thousands of clients ship out in a single day. Companies like Freightquote.com have negotiated very good rates and pass a portion of their discount on to you. You will notice there are carriers that don't do business with Freightquote.