Moving a pinball maching down stairs

JamBurglar

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This is my first pin and my first attempt at moving one down stairs. It's a 1993 Williams and I don't believe the head comes off. I'm definately removing the legs.

The stairs are a little wider than normal and are a straight shot down. Carpeted too.

I did some google searching and it seems like I've got two realistic options.

1) Use a hand truck with inflated wheels and rollers on the back. Once we get down the first few stairs then try to lay the hand truck paralell to the stairs and slide/inch down stair by stair. I'm hoping this will avoid the "thump, thump, thump".

2) Wrap the bottom of the game in carpet or cardboard (maybe overkill). Attach heavy duty straps to where the leg bolts go and use the straps to do a controlled, very slow, slide down the steps. This would seem to eliminate all thumping.

Anybody have any input or tips?
 
Hand trucks and a friend (if you can get a volunteer) in front are the best way to go have your friend in front help ease the game down each step to minimize the thump just make sure you shrink wrap the head to the body so it can't move.
 
moving pin downstairs

Strap pin to cart and strap head to game, use card board. I would remove the backglass, remove the balls. Get strong friend
 
i bet the head comes off, you might just have to unplug more connectors than you wish'd. (label everything well)

I moved an Eight Ball Deluxe down stairs.
and just the body of the pin will get crazy heavy when you are in odd positions and odd leverage, assuming they are typical steep narrow basement stairs.
Even with strong people you can quickly get in a dangerous situation so make it as light as possible.
 
This is my first pin and my first attempt at moving one down stairs. It's a 1993 Williams and I don't believe the head comes off. I'm definately removing the legs.

The stairs are a little wider than normal and are a straight shot down. Carpeted too.

I did some google searching and it seems like I've got two realistic options.

1) Use a hand truck with inflated wheels and rollers on the back. Once we get down the first few stairs then try to lay the hand truck paralell to the stairs and slide/inch down stair by stair. I'm hoping this will avoid the "thump, thump, thump".

2) Wrap the bottom of the game in carpet or cardboard (maybe overkill). Attach heavy duty straps to where the leg bolts go and use the straps to do a controlled, very slow, slide down the steps. This would seem to eliminate all thumping.

Anybody have any input or tips?

no other entry option? Like a bulkhead?

is this a staircase from the inside of the house? Can you attach a winch or any other mechanism to the doorway frame to keep the pin from sliding out of control?
 
As have others, I've moved quite a few up and down stairs.

Hand truck with inflatable tires; treads are optional but not necessary. Ratchet straps. One good friend who's no wimp. Beer. Smokes (if you're a smoker). That's all you need!!!

Take backglass and balls out of machine. Put cardboard down where the backbox folds onto the rails. Ratchet it to the hand truck: Once around the bottom and once at the top to hold the head in place. Take one step at a time. Get the routine going: "One, two, three." My late friend and I had such a perfect routine down that it got to where we never even had to count because we knew what each one was going to do. It is important that you and your helper know what each other is going to do at ALL times. Surprises on the stairs won't end well.

Once it's down the stairs and on solid ground, chuckle and laugh that it's finally over. Crack open cold beer to celebrate. If a smoker, enjoy a smoke with said beer. :)

After it's inside and you set it up, do NOT plug it in and turn it on until you open up the backbox and check it out. A screw could fall and land in a bad place that would cause a wicked light show when you turn it on. (Fortunately, I haven't had that happen... Yet.) It also wouldn't hurt to take off the playfield glass and check out the playfield to see if there's any screws or crap that fell onto it. Lift up the playfield and take a quick look there, too. Those 5-10 minutes of checking it out could end up saving you from hurting a working machine.
 
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Good stuff. Thanks for all of the advice everyone.

I actually just found a place that rents a stairclimbing handtruck. It's $75.00 but seems to be the safest way to do it (both for us and the pin). It feels like a wimpout but I just messed up my knee last Friday and this pin is so pretty. I want to be as gentle as possible.

The backbox will be shrinked (the seller recommended this and said he'd do it) and I will add cardboard between the backbox and the rails (good idea). I will also give a very thorough once-over before plugging in. Very good advice there.

I'm super pysched about this!
 
Take the legs off and "slide" the machine down the stairs. Works fine for me.

i agree! if you use an old smooth/slick quilt under pin while its in the clamshell position, one guy on bottom the slowly ease down while another up top holding part of the momentum with the other end of the quilt!

easy to do, done this several times. oh, and rememer the back goes down first so you can stand up on its end down at the bottom of the stairs when finished.
 
The head does come off, but you need to the label the connectors that you pull of the boards. I have done this many times and it's not that bad of a job, but does take the better part of an hour to do.

Every pin I have ever owned (over 30) has gone either up or down a flight of stairs and my advice is:

Do NOT do this by yourself, even with a stair climbing hand truck. I have an Escelera stair climber and it is still very strenuous to use, even with 2 people. If something goes wrong, or your body gives out, one (or both) of the following things will get destroyed:

1) You
2) Your Machine

There's nothing better than that moment when the stairs have been cleared and it's just a matter of setting up the machine! Good luck! :)

-Brendan
 
Take the legs off and "slide" the machine down the stairs. Works fine for me.

+1

I always fold the head down and strap it down, or remove it if it doesn't fold. I just get it at the top of the steps, and my buddy will either lay the pin down on its bottom or just lean it back. I start pulling on the bottom and just slide it down. When it gets to my landing we spin it so the bottom is facing the next set of steps and repeat the process. Once it's at the bottom of the steps I put the legs on, put it on some furniture sliders and slide it into place.
 
Sliding does make a lot of sense to me. I just don't want any of the thumping with each stair. What about damage to the bottom of the cab? Bourbor carpet would seem scuff up the base (my main concer would be the edges). I think this thing has a sub-speaker in the bottom too. Is there a danger of that getting jacked up?

I've got the electric stair climber/decender on hold. I've heard that's the safest method. When I posted this I was under the impression I wouldn't find a place that rents them, but I got lucky.
 
I don't have burbur carpet, so I can't comment on that, but my carpet has never done anything to my pins I have moved. I have moved 5 of them down my stairs and 2 of them back up (up is worse than down). My pins have left marks on the stairs though the color of the bottom of the cab, but I just live with it till we have the carpet cleaners out again. I am guessing but I bet they would come out with a regualr carpet cleaner or a warm soapy rag.
 
All of my pins are in the basement. I have tried moving them many different ways and found one sure fire way. First unplug and remove the playfield carry it down by itself. Remove legs, backglass and playfield glass; carry them down by themselves. Fold/ remove head carry everything else down and reassemble. No one part of the machine is that heavy alone but is a beast assembled. This method takes a few extra minutes but saves busted pins, trips to the chiropractor and your friends won't dodge your phone calls. I moved another pin into the basement arcade using this method yesterday.
 
That's easy, you can do it all by yourself - just reach down, pick it up (don't bend your legs) then pull.

Ha ha! Just kidding, I would never want to see a pinball machine get damaged.
 
All of my pins are in the basement. I have tried moving them many different ways and found one sure fire way. First unplug and remove the playfield carry it down by itself. Remove legs, backglass and playfield glass; carry them down by themselves. Fold/ remove head carry everything else down and reassemble. No one part of the machine is that heavy alone but is a beast assembled. This method takes a few extra minutes but saves busted pins, trips to the chiropractor and your friends won't dodge your phone calls. I moved another pin into the basement arcade using this method yesterday.

One thing that actually takes literally 2 minutes to take out of the machine is the power transformer in the cabinet. This removes like 30 lbs from the game immediately and is just 4 screws and 2 plugs.

-BB
 
Just rent or buy and industrial appliance/vending machine hand truck. As long as the head is down and strapped. You can strap it to the hand truck and with another to help be able to get up or down steps easily and safely. As you approach the first step, tilt the machine back so it slides down the first step. Just take each step slow and it's no problem.

I have one from Wesco and I've used it to get pins up stairs, down stairs, a refrigerator up stairs, vending machine downstairs, washer and dryer upstairs etc etc etc. Works great. - Barry
 

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