Hi, can any of you good folk recommend any reasonably priced, large mechanical item friendly courier services? I’ve agreed to buy a gearbox from a fellow late bayer, and need to get it from Suffolk to West Yorkshire to meet its new bus. Any help appreciated
Thanks, it seems that they’ve temporarily suspended their pallet service. Will check again next week. Have you used them before, any idea of pricing? Cheers
I emptied mine put it in a tote crate and used one of the internet based services, UPS showed up to collect.
Just type in Pallet track or Pallex, West Yorkshire or your nearest large town, a lot of hauliers are part of the pallet networks.
About £30 from memory, but I don't recall who it was with, it may have been parcel2go, but I'm not 100% on that. It was a Bug box , so slightly smaller, but with the nose cone off, it fitted perfectly into the crate.
I use the Pallet Force network through H Young's in Burton but it's a commercial service for gearboxes either from me or to me so I don't think it would be sensible for me to arrange a third party collection and delivery. As others have suggested, prob best getting a quote from one of the pallet network services. You are looking for a 1/4 pallet rate up to 70kg. Personally I'd go for an insured service as they do get dropped and you have no control over how it's secured. The gearbox will need to be empty of oil to avoid additional costs in the event of a leak
I used DHL Express at the recommendation of Bears (they said Fedex or DHL .. ) . With collection from my address it was £58.32 last October for a 37kg package. And I packaged it very securely. On the way back it came on a 1/4 pallet using some other network freight service involving trucks from different companies, and it got dropped hard somewhere, fortunately only smashing the bell housing, and the corner of the pallet. Looks like it rolled off something onto concrete.. . At least I now have an engine-starter jig for starting the engine out of the bus..
Yeah, should have clarified a 1/4 pallet is a standard pallet footprint but up to 25 cm high. So make sure it's loaded into the centre of the pallet to minimise any droppage damage. Thats one that illustrates a 1/4 pallet There's a syncro gearbox inside that carton, which are about 1/3 bigger again than a bay box, and we could tip the pallet on it's side without the carton moving!
The return delivery was not so well packed , covered in shrink wrap and held on by a ratchet strap that became loosened as the pallet started to break up ... But Bears very quickly sent another bell housing , this time solidly packaged in a box.
