Moving A Shipping Container By Yourself

Thanks for watching everyone, have a great week!

Music in this video: I Know I'll Get There - River Run Dry, Feels Right - Cody Francis, Flying out - Northside

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Video Equipment and Misc.

[sborton]

When i was still in my teens I learned that by helping others I would then know what they know. When all of my friends were running away when a buddy needed a hand with something, I was stepping up and volunteering. Looking back at 72 years of age, I surprise even myself at the breadth of things that I have gained knowledge of. Some of my friends saw me as a sucker, I saw it as free education.
Now days I am still watching videos like this, adding to my store of knowledge. Thanks for the post.

[paintball]

you really start to appreciate the compressive strength of little wooden blocks on jobs like this

[CrossroadToCountry]

Makes me miss my daddy. That man could rig anything to work. Just took a little time to think about it. Sometimes after days he'd say with a big grin "AHA! i got it!". Nobody else would know what in the world he was talking about but he'd get right to it and get the task done. Thanks for not quitting. Thanks for the memories. Blessings to you sir.

[ZNA_Productions]

I love that drill lever. It's exactly the kind of thing you'd find clearing out your grandpa's garage and forever wonder what he used it for.

[nemo]

That’s some FINE farm boy engineering.

Work smarter not harder.

[remoteequipmentrepairs]

"The key to being a productive person, starts with being curious about tools." Truer words have never been uttered. Thank you sir.

[brentjenkinsdesigns]

I have a real fascination for watching master craftsmen at work. Normally it's their chosen field. However, some fellows are just amazing at everything. Thank you Mr. Scott for taking the time and effort to teach the rest of us.

[johnking]

45 year old carpenter here, if you are adopting I wanna throw my hat in the ring 😂

[joebacklas]

Engineer who works at MSU here, love the channel and thought this was a really fun way to refresh my statics knowledge. The answers to your questions are as follows.

In a scenario like this one, you need to balance all of the forces in the X and Y planes, as well as the moments of inertia, for the shipping container. In an ideal scenario, where everything is level, there are no forces in the X direction. The forces in the Y direction are the weight of the container, the force exerted by the trailer (Ft), and the force exerted by the wheel (Fw). Summing all of these up to equal zero gives us the equation,

Fy = 9000 - Ft - Fw = 0

We also need to balance the container's moment of inertia, as on their own each of these forces would make the container rotate. We can do this calculation at any point along the container, and doing so at the trailer hitch makes things convenient by eliminating the force of the trailer from the get go. The individual moments of inertia are calculated by multiplying the force by its distance away from the pivot, which as I just stated we are assuming to be the trailer. Therefore, summing up the moments of inertia to equal zero gives us the equation,

Mt = 9000(40/2) - Fw(x) = 0

Rearranging the terms of these equations gives us a way to calculate both the force on the trailer and the force on the wheels which are,

Ft = 9000 - Fw
Fw = (9000(40/2))/x = 180, 000/x

So for any distance 'x' that the wheels are placed from the trailer, you can calculate the forces on the wheels and trailer.

For example, if you put the wheels 24 feet from the trailer (60% of the distance), the forces would be as follows.

Fw = 180, 000/24 = 7500 lbs
Ft = 9000 - 7500 = 1500 lbs

One small caveat is that these equations only apply if the wheels are placed beyond the midpoint of the container. Some signs change if you put the wheels inside the midpoint, but intuitively I'm sure you would see that doing this wouldn't work too well. You'd have a good chance of flipping your equipment.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

[tonybreeze]

You have the spirit that enables you to conquer any problem in life that you face … you do not need the praise of any of us.

[mrrepurpose]

Appears to me that you had yourself a really fun day or 2. Finding solutions can be enormously mentally uplifting.

[Bobtip]

Had a half dozen of those containers years ago on customer site. Only had to move them 15 to 20 feet. Used a bunch of scrap 2 x 8 laid flat with 2” pipe to roll the container. Used a couple railroad jacks to lift them high enough to slide the pipe and planks under. Only took a few guys to push them around

[mattphillips]

At the end of the video productive an idea! What a concept! This, is exactly what is missing in America today. The desire to be productive. Keep up the great videos, EC!

[randyrodriguez]

Hydraulics are like a super power. Watching you jack up the end of that box with the toe jack and an 8 inch lever arm had me 🤩

[fredfred]

Rory moved a container to a tighter spot with a small tow truck and winches - "Can Trailmater replace a crane?" - on Youtube. Both yourself and Rory have great practical intelligence. When you started jacking up the end of the container it reminded me of Wally Wallington who used similar principles to move 20 tonne stone blocks by hand. Great video.

[klogsdon]

With a support 13’ from an end, the center of mass being in the middle, the reaction at the excavator end is: 9000 lbs * (20’-13’)/(40’-13’) = 2333 lbs. (ignoring friction and wind resistance, of course!) The equation is derived from structural engineering statics. The same equations that are used to design all types of buildings.

[jon]

An old saying "a worker is only as good as his tools" . Well to add to that the worker has to have the experience to understand and know how to use the tools as well . Great job man !

[pqzcucm]

Scott, I believe I have some skills you don't. However, I also believe the skill ratio is about 90/10 in your favor. The main skill I'm referring to is ingenuity/creativity. Thinking outside the box has never been my strong suit. Watching you successfully overcome an issue is inspiring. Thanks for continually teaching an old dog new tricks.

[p.a.jacobs]

This man can and will do what he sets out to do, and he has a great voice!!!!😊

[justinriley]

Alot of good things going on here. i hope the young guys are watching this on how you drill the holes upside down without hurting yourself! this is an important skill to learn. your ribs and wrist will thank you !