reson46
bio-buddies junior member
Posts: 4
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Post by reson46 on Dec 12, 2005 10:57:13 GMT -5
Thanks for the ideas. I eventually plan on building a utility trailer with a ramp on the back and a fairly low floor. Hopefully that will allow me to get it on a hand truck and safely get it off the trailer.
William Crawley
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txashurst
bio-buddies junior member
Posts: 43
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Post by txashurst on Dec 13, 2005 11:22:22 GMT -5
My father sold petro products all the while I was growing up, including drums of oil of various types. He had a 10K gallon truck for bulk deliveries to farmers and gas stations and there was a little bed in the back - big enough for 3 drums. As I remember it, the bed was about 5 feet above the ground. To load, he'd back up to the dock at his storage building. He had one of those nice hand trucks designed to handle drums and he could roll them right over to the edge of the dock and set them down so they were in the truck. To unload at farms and places without a dock, he kept an old truck tire in there. He'd put the tire on the ground and just roll the drum onto the tire like RESON46 described, but he wouldn't be down there to catch it. The truck tire broke the fall, but it didn't bounce the drum much. It just went thud. The thing is, a full metal drum is strong enough to take that kind of abuse - no worries. The liquid inside doesn't compress, so the metal doesn't crinkle enough to dent - it just wiggles like a water baloon and ends up same as it started. After he got on the ground, it was simple to roll it close to where you want it, then stand the drum up on end. Yeah, it weighs 400 pounds, but you don't have to lift it all. You just tip it up. If you have a drum truck and you're lucky, the drum will stay on the tire and you already have it a couple inches above the ground to get started. I was never famous for being strong, but I could lift a drum up on end when I was 14 and stupid. Two men do it easier and safer. Moving it around by hand after it's standing on end is fairly do-able, too, although you have to be careful of your back! You pull on it enough to tip it a little and roll it on the edge to where you want it. I guess you could tip it all the way to its balance point, but I always just tilted it a bit and rolled it a little before it went back down. But all that aside, at my age and after 35 years of computer work, my back is too tender to be wrestling with 400# drums! When I get a drum of methanol, my plan is to use a hand pump to move the liquid into another drum that's already where I want it. The original drum will go right back to Univar. I bought a rotary pump from HF - www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47664It will only take about 2-3 minutes to empty the drum if it meets its rated capacity. I'll have to figure out a way to vent the drum being filled. I'm thinking I'll connect a flex hose to the larger bung and run it to the PVC pipe that goes out of my garage and ends about 10' high and 3' out from the eaves outside.
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Post by Bio-Texas-DFW on Dec 13, 2005 14:13:49 GMT -5
But adding support under the bed to allow the crane to lift 400 lbs isn't that hard.
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txcas
bio-buddies senior member
Posts: 166
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Post by txcas on Dec 13, 2005 21:06:52 GMT -5
But adding support under the bed to allow the crane to lift 400 lbs isn't that hard. Some guys went that route too. They found that just a steel plate under the bed won't cut it. Whatever you do, you need to weld it to the truck's frame.
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Post by Bio-Texas-DFW on Dec 13, 2005 21:18:08 GMT -5
I am talking some major support, but not hard to do.
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txashurst
bio-buddies junior member
Posts: 43
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Post by txashurst on Dec 30, 2005 15:21:12 GMT -5
I got a revised quotation from Univar in yesterday's mail. Methanol is now $2.51/gallon. This is the second increase in the 3 months I've had an account there. I bought some methanol from Ian Tucker down in Waco last weekend. He's charging $2.00/gal or $100 for a 55 gal. drum full. He's trying to figure out whether it would be worthwhile to go into business as a methanol distributor. If he can move 3,000 gallons per month he can get a good price reduction that would make it worthwhile for him. Meanwhile, I really like helping out a fellow biodieseler and getting a great price in the bargain.
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txashurst
bio-buddies junior member
Posts: 43
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Post by txashurst on Feb 27, 2006 16:36:49 GMT -5
Now they are at $2.5951/gallon at Univar.
Wonder if they're upping my price because I haven't bought any from them yet? ;D
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Jeep CRD
bio-buddies junior member
Posts: 36
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Post by Jeep CRD on Feb 7, 2007 10:30:09 GMT -5
the way ive always unloaded the 515 lbs is to back the truck up to a ditch / dirt hill... roll the drum right out the back, then load it up on a dolly and away I go!
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Jeep CRD
bio-buddies junior member
Posts: 36
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Post by Jeep CRD on May 22, 2007 11:09:41 GMT -5
Uni is at 3.90Gal as of today 5/22/07
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