Tips and advice for shipping Bronco parts???

[BigO]

Just looking for any helpful tips and advice for shipping Bronco parts.

• How to estimate shipping costs

• Advice for packing very "heavy" items

• Any "lessons learned, won't do that again"

• Any other words of wisdom.

Thanks!

 

[thegreatjustino]

FedEx, UPS, and the post office all have tools on their websites that allow you to get shipping quotes based on zip codes.

I have shipped transmissions and transfer cases through FedEx several times. Either get a water heater box or line the bottom of a cardboard box with a piece of plywood cut to fit. Put the item in, pack the heck out of it with more cardboard and as many wadded up paper bags from the grocery store you can stuff in.

Wrap the heck out of the box with black gorilla tape - use the four inch wide stuff. I've had things get cross country before like this without issue.

For really heavy stuff like engines and complete axle assemblies, strap them to a pallet and ship through fastenal or a freight company. Fastenal is quite reasonable.

Greyhound also has a package service that works well for large items, but they limit you to 100 pounds.

 

[70_Steve]

I don't ship a lot of stuff, but I do have UPS, USPS, and FedEx on-line accounts. It doesn't cost anything, and if you ship stuff using your on-line account, it's cheaper. I don't have an accurate scale at home so a lot of the time I just guess at the weight. I've never had a shipper question the weight of a package.

The most expensive is to go to a generic shipping company. That is, one that ships UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. They will be about twice the on-line cost. Next is the shipper specific stores, like the UPS Store. Having them do the shipping will cost you somewhere around an extra $2.00

 

[Apogee]

Both FedEx and UPS will be limited to 150# for their parcel service, however each has their own LTL freight services as well. I ship heavy parts every day (I sell calipers and rotors for a living), so it is all about the packing. Make sure the boxes you're using are rated for the weight. Boxes are rated with an Edge Crush Test (ECT) score, with normal single-wall being ECT-32, slightly heavier duty single-wall being ECT-44 and then you get into double and triple-wall construction. Not even the best packing job will save the contents within a box from damage or loss if the box isn't rated for the weight. If you saw how these things come out of the FedEx/UPS trucks and fly down the slides and conveyor belts, you shouldn't leave anything to chance. Possibly more importantly, insurance will only cover loss or damage if the items were packaged per the shipper's recommendations. Many claims are rejected due to insufficient levels of care with packing and inadequate packing materials for the item(s) being shipped.

As for palletized shipments, my words of wisdom here would be to not trust the pallet unless you built it yourself. I've received more than my fair share of LTL freight shipments over the years and seen a lot of damaged shipments, crushed pallets, etc, so don't assume anything. My NV4500 came from a rebuilder in the midwest and took a nose dive off of a loading dock because the pallet failed...don't let that be your transmission. Sheet pallets with OSB or plywood if the weight or parts call for it. Make sure the banding is through structural components of the pallet, otherwise once the pallet crumples, the bands will fall loose and whatever they're holding is free to exit stage left on the next freeway off-ramp.

 

[Bradsp8]

If it contains, or once contained fluids, it's surely going to leak in transit so wrap it up with a trash bag as the shipper may not deliver it if it's leaking. For example, a radiator, power steering pump, power steering box, etc...

 

[gddyap]

Fastenal has a shipping service too. I think it's store-to-store.
The USPS flat rate boxes can be a good deal if you can get it to fit. I got a manual steering box in one.
I used Forward Air once to ship a PTO winch and bumper. It was relatively cheap. I had build a custom pallet from two pallets and drop it off at the local terminal. The buyer had to pick it up at his closest terminal. I only had the bumper strapped to the pallet. The guy told me it had to be completely covered so he gave me some cardboard and I had to tie that down over it.

 

[EB70]

All good advice. I am walking out the door to work now but I will say these things:

Plan on it taking more time to pack, costing more and being a bigger hassle than you planned. You'll be good then.

It isn't hard, but accurate measurements, weights and so forth go a long ways. It is criminal what shipping costs now.

I actually ship about 10% of what I used to.

FWIW-off to work.