How to ship a motor?
 

So, I sold my parts car motor and need to ship it. I've got a pallet for it to rest on, which I was planning on turning into an all-out crate. But, I'm not sure how to affix the motor to the pallet, what points on the engine should be bearing the weight, etc.

Can one of you guys who has shipped one before give me a bit of a "how to" for shipping the motor?

Thanks!

Mat

If you have access to a "Banding machine" you need to "band" it down to the pallet, it can rest on it's oil pan, but it'd be best if you cut some wood blocks to hold it level, mounted under the heads or motor mounts.
If you don't have access to a banding machine, buy a cheap set of ratchet straps to tie it down with....you can hook to any substantial part of the motor, but try to NOT strap across easily bent items.

Also, make sure you drain the oil, and antifreeze out of it (and make SURE the new owner knows you drained the oil)

Making it a actual “crate” is not necessary, and will only add to the weight, so shipping will be higher….strapped down well to a pallet is a very standard way to ship a engine.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Huck :)

About the crate...my understanding is that it's cheaper to ship via crate because the shipper can stack other boxes on top of your crate to avoid wasting space. True or no?

What shipping service do you guys use?

http://www.freightquote.com

Go in and enter different options to see if a crate is cheaper than a skid. They'll give you a list of different shippers then and quotes.

For what it's worth: We had a commercial freight hauler stop here awhile back that was carrying an uncrated transmission strapped to a pallet. It was plastic wrapped, though.

dcb

Most freight companies will require not only the engine be strapped to a pallet but completely convered with no protruding items... Best thing to do is strap it down to a pallet with some cheap ratcheting ties downs... Then find a big box and slide it overtop the engine. Continue to secure the box to the crate via either brads or some kind of twine/rope

Tom