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Gun safe

5K views 45 replies 21 participants last post by  Jeffrey Blaisdell 
#1 ·
So, I'm not sure why yet but I bought a $50 stand up safe off of craigslist. It is an old safe with the concrete sides. It is also fairly heavy, by that I mean when they picked it up with a 763 bobcat it picked the rear wheels off of the ground but they were able to carry it like that. I'd guess 1000 pounds or so. What I would like to do is move it into my basement. It is not a walk out basement so that means manhandling it down the stairs, this does north worry me since I have a window opposite of the stairs so I can run a chain/cable out to a tractor and let it slide down the reinforced stairs on a couple of planks. It also should be fairly easy to get into the house single he stairs are next to the garage. The problem is this. The safe needs to be standing up in order to negotiate the corners to get it to the top of the stairs, but it has to lay down to get down the stairs. How do I safely lay it down ? There is no room for a gantry crane lol and I'm not sure I have enough friends to do it manually lol. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I'm kinda new to posting. Gas
 
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#2 ·
I wish I could give you some advice but have nothing to offer. When I had to have my safe moved, my friend who owns the LGS where I buy my guns from moved mine for me. He had some kind of jack / forklift like thing that had wheels on it. This thing could "walk" up and down stairs with ease with the safe on the forklift part of it.

If I were you, I would contact some gun shop that sells and delivers safes. They should have some kind of contraption to move the ones they sell. See if they will move it for you and of course it will cost you!!
 
#6 ·
That's going to take some serious thought and rigging or it could kill someone. Those old concrete filled safes are a pain to move. My wife's company has one on the 3rd floor, it's twice the size of yours, they offered it to me free if I'd get it out. No way would I attempt it and paying someone would be the cost of a modern gun safe.

Looks like you'll be into some fun. Get 4 or 5 friends and a couple cases of beer, it'll get to the basement, one way or another.;)
 
#9 ·
The importan
Looks like you'll be into some fun. Get 4 or 5 friends and a couple cases of beer, it'll get to the basement, one way or another.;)
the important thing here is make sure the 4 or 5 friends show up, cause you won't be in any shape to move it if you knock down the 2 cases of beer by yourself!:rolleyes:
 
#11 ·
Heavy safes and machinest tools (think lathe, milling machine) are dangerous to move yourself. It is not uncommon for a home owner moving large object like this to get hurt or even killed (local guy moving a lathe). Get professionals to move it or leave it in the garage. If it is not in a heated area of the house or garage then be sure to add a de-humidifier to it to avoid condensation and rusty guns. I learned the had way that blowing a swamp cooler at a metal safe 20 feet away during summer months can lead to rusty guns so bad as to be unsalvageable junk. I lost two guns that way. Fortunately neither was all the valuable. I rescued a Ruger 77 243 bolt gun and a Savage 99 lever gun from fine surface rust then bought them from actual owners. One was stored in a wood shed near the ocean and the other was just left unattended for decades. Neither today show any signs of that surface rust. My swamp cooler guns were left rusty and became wall hangers in a friends Old Western town on his land.

LDBennett
 
#12 ·
My oldest son was in a similar situation a couple years ago in that he wanted his safe in the basement. His remedy was quite simple, perfectly safe and more than adequate....he put his in the garage. A safe heater of the Golden Rod or some other variety solves the humidity issue.
 
#14 ·
Ya but Bruce, Bob and Budweiser can provide story's that'll be reminisced on for a lifetime.:D
 
#18 · (Edited)
Step 1: OPEN SAFE.;)
Step 2: TAKE THE DOOR OFF! (Door is on hinged pins, just knock the pins upward- bet that door is around 200lbs!). :eek:
That should eliminate a good chunk of the weight... that is what we did with our old safe we bought from a antique dealer. ;)

Now that it is in 2 more movable parts it should be a little easier reassemble in the basement.

HOPE THIS HELPS AND GOOD LUCK!
 
#25 ·
Step 1: OPEN SAFE.;)
Step 2: TAKE THE DOOR OFF! (Door is on hinged pins, just knock the pins upward- bet that door is around 200lbs!). :eek:
That should eliminate a good chunk of the weight... that is what we did with our old safe we bought from a antique dealer. ;)

Now that it is in 2 more movable parts it should be a little easier reassemble in the basement.

HOPE THIS HELPS AND GOOD LUCK!
Kippy THANKS, i'll have to give that a try next month when i try and get mine down in the basement. The weight is 400# with door on. Maybe i'll put the safe on the dolly and have my wife carry the door down!:rolleyes:;)
 
#19 ·
When we moved from the country into town, we moved my safe with the two of us. I wheeled it to the trailer, laid it down, hauled it to this house, removed a basement window, used a couple of 2x6's for ramps, tied a rope onto the safe, wifey held the rope to ease the safe down the ramp while I guided it through the window. Now that it's in the basement, I should probably figure out a way to get it back up in case we should ever move away from this house. :D
 
#22 ·
In my opinion, moving a 1,000 lb. safe, even with help going down stairs will kill or injure somebody. I helped a guy move a fairly large & heavy (500lbs.) safe down a steep flight of stairs to a basement. There was barely enough room for 2 of us on the stairs below the safe, and the owner was on the top end handling the dolly. It got away from us and slid down the stairs and halfway across the room at the bottom. We were damned lucky to jump clear when he let go of the dolly. I'd take the advise given above. Leave it in the garage and get something manageable for the basement, about half the weight, I'd say.
 
#23 ·
Yeah, it has the potential to be real dangerous. No way I'd let anyone work below it. I grew up on a farm so I'm used to moving heavy stuff when needed but I'm not used to trying to shift such a heavy load in a limited area. One of my best friends does crane rigging for a living. Actually the stairs is simple, but not ruining the floor is what concerns me.
 
#29 ·
Joe, the locking lugs keep the door in place even with the hinges off. A good safe will have multiple lugs on all four sides of the door. The hinges just give the door something to swing on.

The hinges on my safe are inside the door, you can't take the pins out of the hinges unless you unlock the door and open it first. ;)
 
#34 ·
+Plus + there should be a back plate on the back of the door itself, it comes off, you can clean and spray something like WD40 in there and then the wheel will spin like brand new!
**Note: if you ever have a chance to buy a nice safe (little or big) that is old and open but they do not have the combo for it.... take the plate off the inside of the door, and you can watch as you spin the dial and figure out what the combination of the lock is! We bought a great little safe that was OPEN with no combo, we removed plate figured out combo, sprayed the inside of the spinning combo with some silicon spray stuff and now it works perfect like new every time!! We got it for a great price too. :D HAHAHAH we traded a brick of 22lr for it, when 22 was still kinda hard to find!
 
#42 ·
If you want to keep it forever in the garage, you could stick it into a corner, get some bricks or retaining wall blocks build a little wall in front of and along the side bottom... next fill in bottom with cement. But it would be there forever.... don't fill cement in past the bottom of the door so it is still can open and close it.
- sorry of this idea is silly, working doubles and over tired, but I think it could work.
 
#43 ·
Get a come along and a tow strap from your hardware store , you should be able to lower it to its side with the come along, and using the strap to wrap the safe so you don't scratch it, then use the tractor or truck to slide it down the stairs , controlled, and slowly, then use the come along to stand it back up , you just need a secure. anchor point ,
 
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