Moving 16x12 shed on car trailer.

[Ryan03]

I have the opportunity to purchase at a very cheap price a 16ft long x 12ft wide and 10 1/2ft high nice used wooden shed. Problem, no towing companies want to move it due to the combined height of the slideback bed and shed being over 13.6 ft.

I am pretty confident that I can carefuly haul it the 2mi to my house on my 18ft car hauler. My tentative plan is to jack up one end and block it up high enough to get the dovetail on my trailer under it, slide a couple schedule 40 4 in pcv pipes under it, and winch it up on a wooden 2x8 platform 7 1/2in high the length of the trailer between my trailer fenders to allow the shed to just clear my fenders.

The trip would consist of a slow drive just under 2mi of rural township road with very very light traffic. I would have my 27hp 4x4 tractor with FEL to assist with loading where needed. I am not interested in the legalities, just the feasability of doing this. It would cost me 2k to build one like it, and I can purchase this for under $500, so I have room to pay a few hundred dollars in traffic fines if needed.

 

[SPIKER]

If you do I would say plan it for very early morning on a Sunday or Saturday at just past sun up to start the move. maybe have some one driving a chase car or two...

Mark

 

[DanD78]

You don't say what kind of botton the shed has if it has skids or if it was stick built on a slab. I have moved both on my goose neck trailer. The one on runners we rolled it up the bever tail on pipes and pulled with a come a long. I tied the shed to a tree and drove the truck away to pull the shed off. The one off a slab was a 14X20 grage. I took out the other end and backed my trailer thorugh the door and out the other side. I put several 2X10across the deck nailing to the studs on the walls. I jacked it up and put blocks under the cross boards to get it off the ground. Moved it acorss town early on a sunday morning. This kind of stuff is not usually an issue in our small community.

Dan

 

[irwin]

I'm not so sure your 27 hp tractor will lift the shed very high or very easily.. a shed that size weighs about 3000lbs. I can lift an end of mine with my 35 hp L35 but it wasn't a snap.
I'm very surprised no one will tow it..However it might be doable with your trailer..here's a link describing a across the yard move. Moving A Small Garden Shed Across The Yard With A Pickup Truck

and here's Connecticuts rules for moving sheds .Answers to common questions about moving sheds by Green Mountain Transport

I hope you'll find someone that'll move your shed, those professional shed movers make it look very easy and some are cheap..less than $500.

Good luck

ps: here's a picture of mine 12x16'..it was moved 30 miles through connecticut back roads and highways..the driver had to pick a route that had no overpasses that were less than what was needed..worked out fine.

 

[beenthere]

Have a pic of the shed?
Sounds like, if done right, moving it on the car trailer should work.

Question is just how you plan to go about it...which may just work fine.

I think I'd jack it all up straight, block it. Then move the trailer under it, and lower it straight back down on your decking, or on timbers. Pulling it up that high onto rollers may cause it to rack and fall into pieces. Keeping it straight and with braces inside will be helpful, IMO.

 

[Kernopelli]

I don't see a problem with doing this, if it has skids the pipe method works well although we always used metal. Sched 40 pvc is strong but if that's all you have be sure to use plenty to spread the load on them. In the early '90's a friend and I built quite a few portable buildings and moved them on a 20' flat bed trailer w/4' dove tail. We would use the same method to load them...jack up the front and push the dove tail under the skids, used pipes as rollers and a come along to winch it up. To unload we would use a tree or stakes as an anchor ( all pretty much as DanD described)and drove out from under it to pull the building off. When the end of the building got close to the end of the dove tail we would block it up and pull the trailer clear then jack the building down. We would get permits for oversized buildings but that was a different scenario than you are describing. If traffic is of any concern, get a buddy to drive a chase vehicle.

 

[2manyrocks]

Have you driven the route and looked at overhead power lines just to be sure?

I had a 12 x 16 shed moved on a rollback with no problems other than a few tree limbs hitting the side as it went down the road. Some of the rollback drivers are more fussy about the height than others.

 

[Mousefield]

Good luck with your move. Please take and post some pics for us. Good or bad we'll look at them.

 

[Reg]

Couple of things we found bringing a shed down from Maine on a car hauler.
They are very WEAK, due mostly to the big hole(s) aka DOOR opening(s), so brace those.
The other strength issue is that they CRUSH if you try to tie them down with 27 ft 3 inch cargo straps.
Just a big hollow box, we should have seen that coming (-:
12 ft wide is going to hang WAY over the wheels {think PERMITS} and have to be on top of the fenders.
It WILL be high, very high.
We were very close in a number of places, though I don't remember our total height.
Start by measuring the height of the tops of your fenders, then SERIOUSLY consider dismantling the whole thing and packing it flat.
You will still have side walls that are 8ft or more, but for the hassle we went through to jack that thing up and get the trailer under it, then position the damned thing and unload it, if I had to do it again I would DEFINITELY take it apart.

 

[magicheater]

I moved one at work a few years ago. Did not take it on the road though.