Shipping a Transmission

[bishir]

I need to ship a transmission and since I had never done it before I looked around for some pointers. My search was in vain. I called the shipping company and they said to just drain the fluids and strap it on a pallet. This is what I did today. It's pretty simple, but may help someone.

Picture 1:

I got a free pallet from my local garden supply store that I frequent. I cut the pallet to fit the transmission and screwed a cut 2x4 to it. Then I used two lag bolts and washers I had laying around and used the rear transmission mount holes to bolt it down. On the front I just used a tie down strap I had laying around.

Picture 2: I has an old rubber maid container that fit perfectly over the transmission and just barely cleared the width of the bellhousing. Once I cork up the transmission tube hole etc, I'll use some screws to screw this down as a cover.

My overall cost was free since I had all of this stuff laying around the garage and the pallet was donated.

 

[quickt]

Very good job for a first timer.

 

[bishir]

Thanks, any improvements you suggest before I ship this thing?

 

[quickt]

Nope you got it handled. I probably would not cover it and leave on the open skid so they are not tempted to stack on top of it. But the cover works to.

 

[blackmonte]

I would bolt a piece of plywood to the bellhousing to protect the ears.use 4 bolts through the plywood & bellhousing then screw the plywood to the pallet.

 

[bishir]

Nope you got it handled. I probably would not cover it and leave on the open skid so they are not tempted to stack on top of it. But the cover works to.

Thanks, I'll write "DO NOT STACK" on the outside and hope it works.

I also thought about writing "Transmission Ambulance" on the outside.

 

[turbofrank]

great info

 

[bishir]

What company do ya'll use to ship? I was told that if I were to ship this myself it would be over 400 dollars, but since the shop I'm sending it to has an account it's only going to be ~170 to ship to NY from Pensacola. What's crazy about that is that I was quoted ~520 to ship a CAR to Indiana from here...

 

[jakeshoe]

170 sounds about right.

It has gone up over the last 6 months. It used to be $125-150 and it's pretty much hovering at $170-90 to ship a 200-4R or similar trans lately for me.

I've been flat-rating them at $150 for the last couple of years. If it was a bit over, I just considered it would even out with the ones that came out a bit under.

If they stay up I'll have to raise my shipping costs to the customer.

I do mine a bit different.

 

[jakeshoe]

 

[quickt]

Try R&L Carriers with residential pickup and delivery $125. Thats Using my account. They do not deliver to Long Island.