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Dissmantling and Moving Bins

3K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  farmerdave 
#1 ·
Hey Guys, I am new to the forum and would like some feedback from you pros. Here are the specifics:

Westeel Roscoe about 20yrs old. 32" rings. 8 rings high. 19' dia.
Bolted to concrete slab. Approx 5300 Bu.

I have a small farming operation but am expanding a bit and need to dissmantle and move and set up on my farm. I am in the process of looking at bin movers but am being told that it is too far to travel to new location. So, I am looking at other options. If you know of movers in the area that would be great but if I strikeout I am going to tackle this thing myself. I have 4 to move...all the same size.

What I would like to know is any helpful hints you can give me...from dissmantling to moving to reassembly ideas. And ANY help hints or tips on these processes. I am in the Northeast ND area. Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
It depends on what you have at your disposal to lift with and how far you have to go, across what, etc. We moved two ~7500 bushel, 24' diameter with aeration floors last year. Only had to go about 5-6 miles through back roads, no narrow bridges etc. so we disassembled as little as possible, enough to keep below power lines and utility service drops across the road.

With two former power co boom trucks to lift we were able to break them about 3 rings up and swing the top over and remove 3 rings worth of sheets from the bottom of it and then load the remaining 2 rings plus the roof onto a flatbed trailer. A couple of 16' 6x6's bolted across the 8' trailer bed kept everything round, centered and supported.

The bottom 3 rings with floor in place was reinforced with a couple of 3x3 steel box tubing 20' long across the floor "planks". These were bolted into the sides at floor level and screwed down to the floor with roofing screws in about 5 or 6 places (more and larger 1/4" screws would have been better) on each side of the tubing to support the floor when the bin was lifted. Other than having to break the bin loose from the tar seal that had been poured around the base on the slab, we didn't have any real trouble lifting it all once we got some spreaders in the lift rigging so the lift was straight up from the 4 angle iron brackets bolted into the vertical seams between sheets. Without spreaders (16' 6x6's again) the lift sling connected directly to two brackets each, will egg shape the bin, becoming worse when rings are removed and make it hard to even set it down without bending the bottom edge. Found this out the hard way. Easiest way to handle the top would be lifting from the center, but our boom trucks would not reach to the center of the bin at full height.

These perforated floors were supported on cinder blocks with 2x6's across the top, so we just picked them all up and put them down on the new slab in the same pattern, and carefully set the bottom section down over them. A picture and diagram drawn of the arrangement would have been well worth doing, but we figured it out in the end! We had a few 2x6's shift and had to crawl in the fan hole and fix what we could from there and also pry up a few planks of flooring to fix another spot.

Reattaching the 3 dismantled rings was the most time consuming part of the whole business, I'm glad we didn't dismantle the whole thing! One boom truck could handle the whole top with a bud wheel in the center of the roof, so that made it easier to work around it attaching the sheets since it hangs perfectly true from the single point. A couple of line-up punches and impact wrenches will make this part go well. We usually had 3 people on the job, two to lift the sheet and the other to start bolts etc. I've still got a case of ribbon caulk rolls CHEAP if you need some!

Reattaching the top to the bottom was tricky, but leaving most of the vertical joints unbolted on the top ring of the bottom section allowed us to use prybars to guide the sections together and line up holes to get bolts started. Get all the bolts in and then tighten in even sections so you don't work all your slack around to a certain point and have trouble tightening some bolts without bending the sheets.

Use what you have and do it the way you're comfortable with if you have to do it yourself. You may end up taking them all apart, but I would sure look at moving them in large pieces or even whole if you could swing it.
 
#3 ·
We moved 2 3850 westeels 19' by 6 rings high. We did similar to above but only moved them 10 miles. We used a 20' car hauler and a bin crane and 2 tractors with loaders. We lifted bin onto trailer with bottom angles on then split the bin @ 3 rings leaving the bottom on the trailer. We were able to use bolt holes in bottom angles to attach to stake pockets, moved them and used the tractors with loaders to unload by hooking chains on top ring angled out from bucket and lifted about a foot to drive trailer away and then lowered. Went back for top used crane to lower onto trailer, had some old bottom angles around so used them as support and to fasten, used rachet straps on inside to form an X to stabalize and had the 6x6 metal in the center with 2 4 x4 pieces attached inside to allow for height similar to trailer @ edge. Unloaded the same way. I have pictures somewhere if I can find them I will post.
 
#5 ·
I dismantled a 3200 18' Diameter bin and moved it. We used scaffolding that We set up in the center and broke the roof into sections. 4 of Us took the whole thing down in about 4 hours and loaded it on a truck. I piled it up at home and didn't put it up for about 10 years. Took about 3 days to put it back up with a Skytrack starting from the top. We assembled the roof and put 3 rings under it put the other three ring up off the base. If I had to do it again I would put 4 rings under the roof. easier to reach while bolting it together. I kept the bolts in a bucket with oil poured over them Reused the bolts with new washers. Paid 160 bucks for the bin on an auction. It was a lot of work but I have a nice bin now. I put a full drying floor in it plus an unloading auger. I probably have about $3500 in it altogether.
 
#6 ·
I moved a 6000 bu, 21' dia bin but I disassembled it completely. I numbered the sheets inside with a Marking pen so that I new that the sheets would all line up. I also drew a vertical line on all the sheets for a reference line. My local elevator had some grainery jacks that he let me borrow. Just me and my dad tore it down in about 6hrs. Set it back up with me and my kids. Wife helped for a little bit but said I was to dang grouchy to work with:)
 
#7 ·
If you put it on a hopper they will be able to move it. If you dismantle it you should put in new bolts. I wouldn't recommend dismantling them. I moved a couple of bins(19 footers) 80 miles this summer that the roofs where both shot on by just placing them on a low trailer and going down the road with them, so I just went down the back roads and took it slow. I assembled the roof at home and put on hoppers.

Just reading through the posts and yeah what keystone said should work.
 
#9 ·
Hey dave just curious are these the bins that were for sale in the Carlyle Sask area? Just Curious. There is a guy in Estevan that moves bins withour floors. He just runs cross braces and lays them down.
 
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