Brain storming???

[r.morrison]

Well an old dilemma has surfaced again. It's probably surfaced a number of times on this forum. Problem being.....how to get a C8A (91 inches high) through a garage door opening of (87 inches) high. Had a look at mine today, deflating the tires just to see what I could achieve from that. Maximum 2 inches, just short of possibly doing some damage to the tires or having it come off the rim. Open for suggestions from anyone with the same problem.

Many thanks.....Robert

[Robin Craig]

Buy a set of vehicle skates, jack the vehicle and remove wheels and sit on skates, shim as required with dunnage to achieve clearances on under chassis if any exist. Put good plywood under each skate and project a ribbon of ply in front of the skates unless you have a good smooth floor onto which you will roll, repeat at the rear. shunt the vehicle in. You may want to think about a hard point inside the shop to which to winch from or use a block and tackle or some mechanical advantage device, I like the Tirfor style wire rope devices, control in and out. My suggestion.

[Tony Smith]

Is the vehicle a project going into the garage for restoration? If so, removing the wheels and using skates might be viable. If the vehicle is complete and driveable (ie "Daily Driver" condition), then removing wheels each time to get it in or out of the garage is impractical.

Consider if the problem is not the vehicle, but the opening. What is the garage constructed from? Timber, Steel or masonry? Is it a detached building or a part of the house. And what is the surface of the driveway?

It may be an option to enlarge the height of the opening, or deepen the depth of the floor.

[Jordan Baker]

First gear, transfer case engaged and dont let off the gas pedal until into the garage.

[pauldavies]

drop down wheels and they come in all sorts of bolt hole configerations. They are used for caravans with the same problem and yes I have some for sale.
Paul

[Russell Boaler]

It's a dangerous game doing something temporary to get your truck into the garage. The day you forget to do your necessary mods to get in or out of the garage with be the day you wreck your garage door... or worse your truck. However, my air portable RL has factory fitted angle brackets fitted to the side of the chassis over the springs which enabled clamps to be fitted to compress the springs (so that it could fit into the appropriate plane). Perhaps some sort of spring compression tool could be fabricated to load up your springs... or maybe just loas the back of the truck up with a bunch of sandbags?

[Lynn Eades]

Well it seems all the options have been covered? What's next?

[charlie fitton]

Dig the floor of the garage out

[gjamo]

Have you considered detaching the roof and moving back and down?

[David Dunlop]

Robert.

I think the key is how frequently are you expecting to go in and out of your garage. If a lot, then best leave the vehicle alone and look at options for the garage. Really only two options, lower the floor or raise the door header. Either of these options will likely end up with the added expense of a special order sized new door for the garage, however, lowering the floor greatly increases the risk of flooding your garage should you experience heavy rains or quick snow melts in your area.

David

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Robert

Had the same problem when I got my HUP many moons ago, my solution was add a garage bay that was taller. Only problem was that a few years later I got a 3 ton C60S which would not fit in the new garage bay with the cab top on. Solution well you can guess.

Glad I have an understanding wife.

If getting it into the garage is a limited solution, do you have any wheel rims which are not good enough condition to mount tires on?

Keep us posted on how it works.

Cheers Phil

[Lang]

Robert

Just looked at your figures.

You need 4 inches. Your tires are around 9 inches high off the rims. It seems to me that you did not let enough air out to only gain 2 inches.

We run the 9.00 both CMP and Dodges at around 12 psi on the beach sand which I am sure drops them well past 2 inches. Just to get in the door you could drop to 5 psi (just enough to not have the rims actually riding directly on the sidewalls) and I am sure this will give you your 4 inches plus. Pump up or put the vehicle on jacks once inside. You are not going to damage the tire in a couple of vehicle lengths and certainly won't be rolling it off the rim with a tube as you could do with tubeless tires.

Lang

Just dropped my 9.00-16 Dodge front tire to 5psi and it fell slightly over 6 inches.

[r.morrison]

Well, as always with this forum, some great practical answers to the dilemma have come forth. I phoned Jonathan Moore in Wales this morning and we had a llllooonnnnngggg discussion over this one. Anyone who can build a German Panzer Tank from the ground up..... has got to know something!!!Both of us came up with the same ideas as all you fellows have put forward. Jonathan was for first, relocating the beam, which according to the prospective buyer could not be accomplished. After throwing ideas around we decided the Paul Davies idea would be the best. Smaller rims and tyres. We didn't know that you could already buy them pre manufactured. AND Charlie....your idea was kindly declined (I thought of that too!) And as for Lang, well I may have to take another stab at it and throw a wee bit of caution to the wind! Now, as of tonight the prospective client is looking at building a car port to house the C8A. Would sooner see it in a garage out of the damp.
Any how I'll keep you posted to the final out come and thank you one and all for your input. And Phil, the person in question does have a very understanding wife! That's 75% of the game........Robert

[maple_leaf_eh]

I oversaw the deconstruction and separation of a 70-ton printing press for extrication from a basement pressroom summer before last. The auction winners subcontracted a rigging crew to get it out of the building and loaded into standard ISO containers.

The basic manoeuvering tool was a 10-ton forklift with hydraulically adjustable forks. With a 13-ton component, the forklift was really just pushing things around. To support the tip of the fork, the riggers had two four-wheeled skates about 10" square, and about 3/8 or 1/2 inch steel plate, and less than the overall height of a standard 4x4 lumber block. Amazon will sell a set of four four-wheel 5-ton load car dollies for about $240.

Jack up the component with a bottle jack, block with timber, drive the forks underneath, secure the skates, bottle jack down and onto the forks. Very simple sequences repeated again and again.

[gjamo]

You could always ask this chap for his advise.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

...then there's always this option

Originally Posted by Stewart Loy

Just Keep Your head Down When you drive in ...