Newbie First Pinball Purchase - Transport Advice

[jsm174]

Hello all.

I'm a newbie to pinball and RGP. Growing up, I never really had the
opportunity to play. Last March I "rediscovered" pinball when I
started to build a visual pinball machine. Since then, I've read and
watched countless videos, webpages, articles, books, dvds, etc you
name it. I wrote some Yahoo Pipes to convert Mr. Pinball Classifieds
into RSS feeds so I could start monitoring prices, etc.

I finally decided to take the plunge and buy a real, really nice IJ
located in Chicago. I am super excited.

The only issue is I live in NE Pennsylvania. The seller prefers not to
ship it, so I'm going to make the trip out sometime soon (~700 miles
one way). I have a pickup without a cap, so with the weather being who
knows what between here and there, I probably don't want to put it in
the back. I was thinking of renting an enclosed 5' high Uhaul trailer
($160 one way) but I'm not sure how much abuse that thing will give to
the machine. I do have an SUV it would probably fit in, but from what
I've read you don't want to transport them flat.

Does anyone have any advice or links to articles on the best way for
me to get IJ home?

Thanks,
Jason

[Joe S]

Putting it in your SUV would be the best way to transport it. Or just
have NAVL bring it to you. The seller doesn't really 'ship' it, NAVL
comes in, preps it, and takes it. Think of them as furniture movers
more than 'shippers'.

[Pin_crazed]

You may be just fine putting it in the bed if you wrap it in shrink
wrap, then wrap in blankets, then another layer of shrink wrap (this
will also create a padded bottom for the machine). Do not skimp on the
shrink wrap, use many many layers over layers in opposite directions.
You just need to keep the water out really. A large roll of shrink
wrap is about $15-20, much cheaper then the trailer rental. Make sure
you put cardboard or some padding between the head and cabinet when
you fold it down, I would pull the balls and put them in a bag in the
coin box and the same with the leg bolts(before you fold the head
down). I am sure someone here has documented the process they use :)
Good luck on the move and Grats on the pin, nice choice :)

[tomdotcom]

If you don't have a cover on the pickup just wrap it in plastic wrap
and tarp it, that's what I've done many times. You can also put some
2X4's or something similar under it in case it rains to keep it off
the truck box floor.

Best way of course is to have it covered. So a cargo trailer or truck
with a cover, or SUV that it would fit in, is your best bet by far.

[tomdotcom]

Transferring them flat is totally fine, and how you would normally do
it. Only reason to stand it up is for space constraints....

[seymour.shabow]

jsm174 wrote:
> Hello all.
>
> I'm a newbie to pinball and RGP. Growing up, I never really had the
> opportunity to play. Last March I "rediscovered" pinball when I
> started to build a visual pinball machine. Since then, I've read and
> watched countless videos, webpages, articles, books, dvds, etc you
> name it. I wrote some Yahoo Pipes to convert Mr. Pinball Classifieds
> into RSS feeds so I could start monitoring prices, etc.
>
> I finally decided to take the plunge and buy a real, really nice IJ
> located in Chicago. I am super excited.
>
> The only issue is I live in NE Pennsylvania. The seller prefers not to
> ship it, so I'm going to make the trip out sometime soon (~700 miles
> one way). I have a pickup without a cap, so with the weather being who
> knows what between here and there, I probably don't want to put it in
> the back. I was thinking of renting an enclosed 5' high Uhaul trailer
> ($160 one way) but I'm not sure how much abuse that thing will give to
> the machine.

If you're going to rent something rent a van and move it in that - most
minivans would take a machine.

> I do have an SUV it would probably fit in, but from what
> I've read you don't want to transport them flat.
>

Why not? Any advice re: transporting flat would relate to shipping via
common carrier - NOT moving it yourself. Transporting the game 'flat'
yourself is the preferred way to do it IMO.

Your SUV is fine, as long as the game will fit in it.

Your pickup would be fine too, but gotta ask, were you planning on
transporting it with the back to the bed and the coin door 'up'? You
would have had a lot of wind resistance adding directly to your gas
bill, plus you'd have to strap it down really well as you'd be moving
the center of gravity on it 'up' a lot. The straps make a nice wind
noise that will drive you nuts!!

-scott CARGPB#29

[Butterflygirl24]

Welcome!
Congrats on your first (of many) pin(s)!! ;-)
Your SUV should work just fine (depending on what you have just to be
safe you might want to measure first), I haul them in my Explorer all
the time.. remove the balls from the game for transport, fold the
head down, wrap it up, take the legs off...dolly it to your SUV load
it up most likely head toward the back door.... don't forget your legs
and bolts (both leg and head) and balls...(not that I speak from
experience or anything!!) ;-) and you are good to go. it is safe and
dry for the trip to it's new home. :-)

Phoebe
CARGPB#38

[jeffC]

all good ideas by phoebe. I take off the tilt bob too or jam a small
rag into its ring. Otherwise the rattling drives me nuts.

jeffC

[Bob]

What I like to do with my minivan is strap the machine to my moving
dolly then put the whole works in the back. Leaving the pin strapped
to the dolly makes it much easier to remove when I get home. Then I
add padding to the front and back so the machine can't roll around.

I transported my ToM in the bed of my truck from OH to VA in a freakin
thunderstorm. Luckily I had shrink wrapped the heck out of it, tarped
it then shrink wrapped the tarp. Dry as a bone! Of course I didn't
realize that until I actually got home which made for a tense ride.
Definitely prefer the enclosed transport...

[jsm174]

Hello all. Wow. I can't believe all the responses. RGP is awesome!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the extremely helpful information. I really thought they couldn't be shipped flat from some of the online stuff I read. It does make sense that was just for shipping.

> Good luck on the move and Grats on the pin, nice choice :)

Thanks! My wife used to play IJ at a place she used to work at growing up, so it didn't even have to do any convincing. :)

> Your pickup would be fine too, but gotta ask, were you planning on
> transporting it with the back to the bed and the coin door 'up'? You
> would have had a lot of wind resistance adding directly to your gas
> bill, plus you'd have to strap it down really well as you'd be moving
> the center of gravity on it 'up' a lot. The straps make a nice wind
> noise that will drive you nuts!!

I checked out the SUV and everything will fit! The third row out, second row flip flat, so I'll get to keep it inside and not worry about the straps.

> Congrats on your first (of many) pin(s)!! ;-)

Ha! I keep reading that all over the place. Hmm. I do have an unfinished basement with free space. :)

>all good ideas by phoebe. I take off the tilt bob too or jam a small
>rag into its ring. Otherwise the rattling drives me nuts.

Fantastic. I will be sure to do that!

>What I like to do with my minivan is strap the machine to my moving
>dolly then put the whole works in the back. Leaving the pin strapped
>to the dolly makes it much easier to remove when I get home.

That's a great idea too. I will check it out.

-- Jason