[TheForge] Re: 250# Murray (Was Re: test)

Sun Mar 26 20:41:24 EST 2006

The guy I bought my Little Giant 250#'er from delivered it himself, from New 
Mexico, to Uvalde, Texas.  He purchased the hammer originally from somewhere 
in California.  It had been bought originally by MGM Studios to make stuff 
for their props and sets, this verified by Keri, Sid's daughter.  Anyway, he 
and Robb Gunter (or Robb's son, Chad) went and picked up the hammer in 
California, for it's trip to New Mexico.  He brought it by himself to 
Uvalde, Texas .  He had it chained upright on the 4 wheel trailer.  It was a 
pretty heavy duty looking trailer.  I had a crane waiting at my place when 
the hammer arrived, and it only took about 5 minutes to lift it off, and 
place it in my building.  Earlier, when I had just bought the hammer, it was 
either Sid or Keri that told me it's better to leave them standing upright 
for transporting.  That's about all I can offer, hope it helps some.
Robert

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ralph Sproul" <brhlbsmt at mcttelecom.com>
To: <mspencer at tallships.ca>; "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 7:50 PM
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Re: 250# Murray (Was Re: test)

>
>
> Hi Mike, With an underpowered truck it may be wise to let the club deal
> with it.  These big old hammers seem to be getting harder to come by 
> lately
> though.
>
> Another avenue to persue besides logging and farm machinery is the car
> haulers.  6,000 lbs is a full size car of pickup weight.......so maybe one
> of those tilting ramp trucks that delivering up by this hammer - could 
> haul
> it home.  A one way pay would certainly be less than a round trip.  This 
> may
> mean you have to go jack it up off the bolts and make it near enough by 
> the
> door for them to deal with it on winches .......or stripping it apart to
> keep some of the weight off the top also helps.
>
> Around here I've paid anywhere from $1000 - 1200, for 50 lb mechanicals in
> rebuildable shape (which is the only one's I'll buy).  Going rate for a 50
> lber in good running condition is about $2500-3500.   I usually take the
> ones that need new shafts, new babbit, clutch and toggle rebuilds, etc. 
> I
> tinker and resell them. I won't sell a totally rebuilt hammer for less 
> than
> $3500-4000.
> You usually find most guys selling  hammers (or trying to for a long time)
> as "perfect working order" as they pitch them to me (and they have over 
> 1/8"
> play in the babbits with no shims left.  Your in for a go of it on those -
> but it is amazing what crap folks try to pass off as "in perfect working
> order".  Biggest sign of a bad bearing, is the hammer will not stop
> coasting, and the clutch usually fails to release as it goes into an
> eccentric wobble that won't allow it to.
> I'm finding many hammers (I've purchased 2) - that have had new babbit
> bearings poured - but no one took the time to level the shaft or better 
> put
> "squared it to the ram guides" before pouring ........so they shouldn't 
> have
> even bothered as it makes it a total waste of time.  After they've done
> this - the toggles will be all loose from running on an angle and again 
> with
> so much weight throwing out of balance - nothing in the clutch department
> works smoothly any more.
> They usually tend to sell it as "I totally rebuilt it - but this thing 
> just
> don't work right"........ well they rebuilt it alright - but the starting
> reference of where the shaft has to lie is what they missed - so the
> hammer's won't ever run right till you pick up the front of the shaft. 
> This
> is notorious for the novice to "leave the bottom" and pour the top cap 
> which
> is easy - but you end up with a shaft that's low in the front and a hammer
> that won't operate properly - be ware of this as it is a common mistake in
> buying a mechanical that someone has repaired.  Just put a framing square 
> on
> the shaft and eye it to the ram guides - it'll tell you what the real deal
> with the hammer is.
> So in answer to your question - the going rate is determined by the actual
> condition of the hammer.  It is up to you to recognize this condition or
> not.   I see this hammer size sell for $2500-3500 around here......if it 
> is
> truely in average or better n average condition.
>
> We made an axle that bolts to an air hammer on Bob Bordeaux's hammer - and
> he pulls it around like a trailer with a hitch that bolts to the
> top..........it may be a little hard to lay the Mouloch 250 down onto the
> hitch slowly though...........   :-)
> I've also seen guys take mobile home axles and tack weld em to the fab
> tables to move them across town......... people usually tend to send me
> pictures like this.......what they did and got away with kind of
> shots.......       :-)
>
> Ralph
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Mike Spencer
> Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 4:15 PM
> To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [TheForge] Re: 250# Murray (Was Re: test)
>
>
>
>> Mike, I never heard you sound so responsible before.........
>>
>>Congradultions on growing up, making wiser choices, and being so sure
>>of your priorities of late...........
>
> Jeez, Ralph, now I'm just gonna have to go out and do something
> completely off the wall, just to recover my self esteem. :-)
>
> I um... what's that word?  Yeah, I "mispoke" anyhow.  It's 200 miles
> each way or a 400 mi. round trip to fetch the Murray home.
>
>> Your 3/4 ton truck ought to pull a borrowed 5 ton tag along...
>
> Yeah, well, maybe.  But my truck is woefully underpowered with a 302
> engine. I might have to make half of such a run in 3rd at 30 mph.  I
> am looking around for someone who hauls farm or logging mchinery that
> might be deadheading back from up that way.  But I'd be just as happy
> to see MBA get it.  I think there's a committe or board meeting this
> weekend where they'll discuss it.
>
> What's the going price down that way for a 50# Little Giant or Jardine
> in average or perhaps a bit better than average condition?  I've found
> one but the guy wants more than my budget will support.  He'd come
> down a bit (or maybe a lot) if I could reasonably demonstrate that he
> was way off base.
>
>> ...when I read the bit about hauling it on your truck, what flashed
>> into my head was a picture of you converting the hammer into a
>> motorized vehicle, with pto for the hammer itself...
>
> Well, if there were a 10 or 20 HP stationary engine at the same
> location and a really heavy-duty freight dolly with 10" solid rubber
> and steel wheels....flat belt...tension pulley...yeah, it might be
> doable. :-)
>
> BTW, if any of you guys are keen on old stationary engines, here's
> something for your reference shelf:
>
>     http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/acadia/index.html
>
>
>
> - Mike
>
> --
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
>                                                           /V\
> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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