advice on moving games using a trailer

Arthur Dent

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I have a flatbed trailer that is 6.5x12ft of usable area with 1ft sidewalls. Trying to decide ahead of time what the best way to haul some games will be. I am assuming off the top of my head that I will line the bed with furniture blankets, lay the games down either on their back, cover them with blankets and tarps in case it rains, and strap them down tight for the drive. This of course after I have removed any obviously loose items from inside the games and checked that things like the monitors are actually bolted in properly, etc.

Anyone have suggestions for me that has done this a few times as I have no experience with hauling arcade games.
 
I have a flatbed trailer that is 6.5x12ft of usable area with 1ft sidewalls. Trying to decide ahead of time what the best way to haul some games will be. I am assuming off the top of my head that I will line the bed with furniture blankets, lay the games down either on their back, cover them with blankets and tarps in case it rains, and strap them down tight for the drive. This of course after I have removed any obviously loose items from inside the games and checked that things like the monitors are actually bolted in properly, etc.

Anyone have suggestions for me that has done this a few times as I have no experience with hauling arcade games.

1st check the weather closely! lol
I was hauling 6 machines. no sign of rain....
1 hour into my trip drove into a really bad storm cloud that happened to be about 7 miles wide!. games were soaked...
if this happens dont try to turn em on! put fans on em and wait!
id be scared to haul machines w/a 1 ft side tho!...strap em down really good
 
As already stated, check the weather! I have moved games on a flat trailer with no side walls. If you strap the games correctly you will be fine.

You can also wrap each game plastic just incase of rain, it works!
 
moving

The worst things I ses people try to do when moving stuff are:

Using rope or bungies instead of straps.
Not spending the time to secure everything from front to back and side to side.

When you get all the machines loaded strap them together as a group.
Place a tarp over the whole unit.
Then Strap from side to side
... and front to back
Anchor the straps on the metal of the trailer and be safe.
Take your time.
 
Sounds like you are pretty prepared. If you want to be extra sure, get a roll of the packing shrink plastic wrap and do each game individually before loading. Then add the tarp on top, you'll stay nice and dry.

I'm always amazed how many people try to transport a game in an open vehicle with no tarp. It cost $8 and takes an extra 5 minutes, and potentially saves you a huge hassle and hundreds of dollars in damage. I bought a tarp a year ago, and now it permanently lives in my truck!

Just take it easy on the highway. Those trailers bounce around a lot at high speeds.
 
Unless they're cabs that are going to be parted/killed, I would wrap them in plastic wrap (you can buy a large roll at any storage place or possibly cheaper elsewhere) and then load them standing onto the trailer. Like everyone has mentioned the key is to ratchet strap the he77 out of them! I use a trailer with 1' walls and I've never had a problem. After wrapping the nice games in plastic I try to strap games together, and then strap them down front to back and side to side. After strapping them down like that you should be able to forcefully shake the machines in any direction (earthquake test :p) and see little to no movement. It also helps to have 2 to 3" wide ratchet straps as opposed to just the 1" wide ones.

If you don't wrap them in plastic be mindful of how the wind will travel. You don't want to lose a bezel or have anything blow out of the cab when you hit 50mph ;)
 
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Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I made the trip successfully without any losses! Luckily the weathr was awesome last weekend so rain turned out to not be a factor. I got the games in my basement Monday and it rained Tuesday.

The best suggestion I think is the plastic wrap. I will definitely do that next time. I probably went overboard for the most part but I really wanted to make sure everything got here perfectly. I bought a piece of 3/4 inch insulation foam from home depot and cut it into strips the width of the games. I laid down the foam and then a moving blanket for each game. wrapped them up with more blankets on the tops and sides, pushed them all together and strapped them all in taking care to try and avoid the straps running over plastic parts. Then I put a medium duty tarp from Home Depot over it all and bungie corded the sides and ran a couple of more straps over it.

The tarp was the problem. It was impossible to get it to fit so that there were no loose pieces and the wind utterly destroyed it because of the flapping. By the time I got home, 3 eyelets had ripped out and one side was completely shredded. Even if I had bought the heavy duty rated one I am sure it would have been the same as I felt both materials. I am going to look for a heavy canvas tarp for future trips. Military surplus maybe.

It was an awesome experience to be sure and I got to meet 2 fellow KLOVers who were both great.
 
it doesnt matter how you secure those tarps, theyre going to shred. The trick to using them is to keep them in the truck until you need them. See a storm cloud approaching, pull over and put it on.

What I do is drape a piece of regular sheet plastic over the machine, then shrinkwrap that. The plastic will keep the game dry, and the shrinkwrap will keep the wind from shredding the plastic.

I dont like the 1ft sides, so what I did was build another rail across the front of the trailer, 4 ft above the existing rail out of 1 in square steel. Welded it on top of the existing rail, braced along the side rails, and no more worry about how secure the load is. Wheel it up, strap it on and roll:001_scool:
 
Those are both good ideas. Not sure I will get to beefing up the trailer this year but I think I will definitely add it to my todo list. It would be much easier to be able to keep them upright. But the trailer was bought with the mower in mind, not the games. ;-)

it doesnt matter how you secure those tarps, theyre going to shred. The trick to using them is to keep them in the truck until you need them. See a storm cloud approaching, pull over and put it on.

What I do is drape a piece of regular sheet plastic over the machine, then shrinkwrap that. The plastic will keep the game dry, and the shrinkwrap will keep the wind from shredding the plastic.

I dont like the 1ft sides, so what I did was build another rail across the front of the trailer, 4 ft above the existing rail out of 1 in square steel. Welded it on top of the existing rail, braced along the side rails, and no more worry about how secure the load is. Wheel it up, strap it on and roll:001_scool:
 
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