How to move 550 pound gun safe 120 miles

**free** · August 4th, 2022, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by Will3212

My wife and I just got a place in Chester county PA. We have a 550lb Liberty USA series gun safe right now anchored at our place in Honesdale PA. What's the best way to move this 2 hours to our new place? I was thinking of renting a truck with a lift gate, and a dolly.

I moved my 1000 lb safe with a harbor freight trailer towed by my Jeep.

It took 3 of us to tip it into the trailer, so it was on its side. I strapped it down.

To unload, it took three of us to tip it out of the trailer, so it was standing straight up on the ground.

I used a hand truck to wheel it into the garage, where it sat for a while until I was ready to move into the house (which was its own pain in the ass process, I can detail here if you want).

Overall: moving it from the garage in one house to the garage in a different house was very easy. A safe half that mass should be a piece of cake.

**DukeConnor** · August 4th, 2022, 12:38 PM

pay somebody to move it. cost me 300 bucks to get a 900 lb liberty moved. well worth it.

**VooDoo1VooDoo1** · August 4th, 2022, 12:51 PM

You kind of have to think through step by step, but it usually does not end up being that bad. Sure, rent a safe dolly, a small box truck with a lift and drive it to the new place. What is the current site like as far as getting it out of the house? any steps? level, garage or driveway or what do you have to navigate to get to the truck? At the destination, same thing in reverse. Where can you unload, what do you have to navigate to get it to where it is going to stay?

That's the way to do things with minimal assistance and relatively easy access. Like many have said, though, you're transporting it empty and the easiest way with a pickup is to get it to the end of the bed, lean it back and with a few lifters, get the back flat on the bed and push it into the truck bed. It's pretty easy at that point. A large dolly for appliances or better, one for safes has a folding support leg and wheels that flip down once it is up on pivot, so that heavy safe does not need to be balanced while tipped. I recently moved a 36-gun (400 pounds) from the place where I picked it up to a garage that is at street level and had no steps to navigate at the destination. A pair of lifting straps can also help someone up in the truck bed to get a lift as well. Have fun, don't get hurt.

**OwnTheRide** · August 4th, 2022, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Walleye Hunter

You could also call around and you might find a moving company that will do it. I'm older and less poor than I used to be and I wouldn't rule that method out if I was doing it.

This. I had to move a piano once, the $200 I spent was well worth it. Be sure to call around as price will vary a lot. Some places wanted to charge 3x what I ended up paying.

**free** · August 4th, 2022, 01:49 PM

FWIW.....I bought a 1000 lb rated hand truck specifically to move my 1000 lb safe. I had serious difficulty getting it tipped back and maintaining the balance point over flat and level ground, let alone anything else. I found the better way to do it was use a 1000 pound rated yard cart, and move the safe on its side.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-6...d-Cart/4363253

Screen Shot 2022-08-04 at 1.47.34 PM.jpg

WAY WAY WAY better than this:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...SABEgILhvD_BwE

Screen Shot 2022-08-04 at 1.49.03 PM.jpg

The hand truck was useless.

**Jkinpa1** · August 4th, 2022, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by Walleye Hunter

You could also call around and you might find a moving company that will do it. I'm older and less poor than I used to be and I wouldn't rule that method out if I was doing it.

Originally Posted by Walleye Hunter

The safe and the house can be repaired...or not if you don't want to but blown-out spines are forever.

Originally Posted by DukeConnor

pay somebody to move it. cost me 300 bucks to get a 900 lb liberty moved. well worth it.

Originally Posted by OwnTheRide

This. I had to move a piano once, the $200 I spent was well worth it. Be sure to call around as price will vary a lot. Some places wanted to charge 3x what I ended up paying.

Yeppers, you can connect the dots on what me thinks

**Dlish** · August 4th, 2022, 03:16 PM

welcome to Chester County. The place where the local GOP ran itself into the ground and paved the way for bat-shit crazy liberal women candidates to sweep offices in response to Trump.

I have nothing to add to the conversation that hasnt been said yet. But every R vote we have is appreciated.

**Will3212** · August 4th, 2022, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by DukeConnor

pay somebody to move it. cost me 300 bucks to get a 900 lb liberty moved. well worth it.

How far did you move it? I need to move it 2.5 hours away.

**gnbrotz** · August 4th, 2022, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by Walleye Hunter

You could also call around and you might find a moving company that will do it. I'm older and less poor than I used to be and I wouldn't rule that method out if I was doing it.

The distance will likely drive the price up pretty good. I few years ago I had my Liberty Fatboy (900+ lbs) moved 20 miles, no steps involved. That cost me $500. I'm not sorry, but it wasn't cheap.

**oldengineer** · August 4th, 2022, 04:45 PM

I had a ~663 pound Liberty Franklin Series 25 gun safe trucked by pickup to my home and installed on the first floor. It took 3 contractor type sized men to unload it onto an appliance dolly and get up a ramp, into the house and positioned in the corner of the room where it sits. The location was chosen because it backs on an outer wall and there is a steel beam in the basement which supports it. The floor load of safes that size and dimension may cause problems if they're not supported properly.