moving vertical 3-legged air compressor missing motor

[metalmagpie]

I picked up an old Kellogg American compressor with a vertical tank. The motor had blown years ago and was missing entirely. The tank sits on 3 legs. I'm sure everything is solid and stable with a motor up there to balance things but let me tell you - the combination of 3 legs and top heavy and off balance proved too much for me today and I dropped it off a low dolly moving it the last few feet into my shop. It is amazing how awkward it becomes with 3 legs and a heavy pump off to one side with no motor to counterbalance it.

Moral of the story is be very careful if you have to move a 3 legged vertical air tank. They go over way way easier than one with 2 skids or 4 legs.

I'm sure the tank is still fine. Don't know yet if the air pump is scrap now or not. But I bought it for the 60 gallon vertical ASME tank.

metalmagpie

 

[PoorUB]

When I moved my 5 HP 80 gallon, I stripped off the motor and compressor. It takes maybe 5 -10 minutes to strip it, and a bit longer to reinstall. Tons easier to handle.

 

[Zeke]

When I moved my 5 HP 80 gallon, I stripped off the motor and compressor. It takes maybe 5 -10 minutes to strip it, and a bit longer to reinstall. Tons easier to handle.

Hindsight=20/20 eh?

 

[Citation]

Yeah, pulling the motor and pump makes moving things so much better. My brother self installed an 80 gallon, pro-sumer compressor by stripping the pump and motor off the tank. Two of us could easily carry the tank itself. One person could move the tank out of the van into the shop and then install the pump and motor. If you are ever moving the compressor by hand this is the way to do it.

 

[Wrench97]

When I moved my 5 HP 80 gallon, I stripped off the motor and compressor. It takes maybe 5 -10 minutes to strip it, and a bit longer to reinstall. Tons easier to handle.

Yep that's how I moved mine too, much lighter when doing it with one person and no fork lift.

 

[ZRX61]

I got wedged into the front corner of a box van by mine. Van was parked on a side slope. Luckily I wasn't alone & the other guy helped get it off me, altho he wasn't in the van when it happened.

 

[evintho]

On my IR 5hp 80gal compressor, I drilled a hole in the motor/pump mounting plate and installed an eye bolt. When/if I need to move it I just hook up my engine hoist and wheel it wherever I need to go. Simple, cheap and functional.

 

[txvwnut]

They're just as awkward with the motor and pump.

 

[bb29510]

mine is still on the pallet from the factory 35 years ago, I just use the pallet jack

 

[metalmagpie]

They're just as awkward with the motor and pump.

I don't think they are as likely to tip sideways, though. Mine was on a flat dolly rolling on nearly flat asphalt. Over she went, no way to stop it, no time for heroics. Remember, this one was on 3 legs, which made it much worse.

 

[txvwnut]

I don't think they are as likely to tip sideways, though. Mine was on a flat dolly rolling on nearly flat asphalt. Over she went, no way to stop it, no time for heroics. Remember, this one was on 3 legs, which made it much worse.

They're still tippy as the pump outweighs the motor or vise-versa. I've moved mine five or six times with a dolly, after about the second time I got smart and strapped it to the dolly. Still wasn't a walk in the park but strapping it to the dolly made it a easier for one person. The fun part is trying to figure which way it wants to tip then not counter-correct it too much and end up going the other way.

 

[Norcal]

Removing the pump to move it may be the easiest, I have a 5 HP horizontal tank compressor that has a cast iron 2-stage pump, & a TEFC single phase motor, removed the pump & motor then hauled the parts to the new location & reassembled it, since was working by myself plus my 310 Bobcat could not handle it,that was best for me.

 

[whateg01]

It's a lot of work to remove a biggish t-30 pump and 5 hp motor without a hoist of some kind of some help. When I've had to move top-heavy machines, I've built skids to attach them to. Sure made moving the 80 gal compressor easier as well as the Bridgeport.

mine is still on the pallet from the factory 35 years ago, I just use the pallet jack

Seems I recall when I bought the 60 gal compressor, there was a tag or something somewhere that said remove from pallet before use. Unless it's being bolted to the floor, which none of mine have been, it seems a lot more stable on that pallet!

 

[Metal-Marc]

Seems I recall when I bought the 60 gal compressor, there was a tag or something somewhere that said remove from pallet before use. Unless it's being bolted to the floor, which none of mine have been, it seems a lot more stable on that pallet!

My 60 gal. compressor is still bolted to the original pallet. So far so good?

 

[metalmagpie]

I have a followup to my original posting. I burned a lot of calories figuring out how I could concoct a lifting frame that would allow me to pick the machine straight up with my shop crane. Then I realized - duh! - with the tall compressor up off the floor the overhead arm of my shop crane won't fit into my shop door. Back to the drawing board.

I scrounged a sheet of 3/4" plywood and cut 2 clean 30x30" squares and glued them together to get one piece 1.5" thick. I used a variety of methods to lift one leg at a time and slide the plywood under my compressor. I was able - just - to skid the compressor around a little on the board to get it pretty much where I wanted it, then lagged the 3 legs down to the board. Now the board makes it much stabler. If I had to now, I could roll it in on pipes. But I won't need to because I made a machinery moving dolly that will be able to move the compressor by holding the board up off the floor 3/4".

The root problem here is that I took a big wide saddle from a 120 gallon horizontal tank and welded it onto a vertical tank in place of that tank's much smaller saddle. There's lots of room up there but the mounting bolts for the air pump are much farther from the tank's center of gravity, making it much less stable. In retrospect I would not have used the larger saddle.

metalmagpie

 

[metalmagpie]

Here it is on the board on the dolly. Once there, the move was uneventful. I need to make a place for the big vertical compressor in my shop.

 

[lynnbilodeau]

Motor and or pump just make it MORE top heavy.
I moved an 80 gallon 5 horse by myself. Pull the pump off. I laid the top of the tank on the tailgate of a pick up; then grabbed the bottom of the tank, picked it up and shoved it in the bed. If you have a helper, it is even easier. Surrounded it with tires. if you don't have tires, then strap it down. Once you have it in your garage it is really easy to tilt it and just walk it on any two legs until it is where you want it. Set her down, and bolt the pump and a new motor on it.

 

[bb29510]

on three legs , I alway rock it back on two legs and then walk it where i need it

 

[whateg01]

.

The root problem here is that I took a big wide saddle from a 120 gallon horizontal tank and welded it onto a vertical tank in place of that tank's much smaller saddle. There's lots of room up there but the mounting bolts for the air pump are much farther from the tank's center of gravity, making it much less stable. In retrospect I would not have used the larger saddle.

metalmagpie

I'm very surprised anybody would hydro test that for you after you weld it on a pressure vessel. Doesn't seem like a very smart move.

 

[metalmagpie]

on three legs , I alway rock it back on two legs and then walk it where i need it

This one's about 800 pounds. If you can walk that as you describe I sure don't want to meet you in a dark alley.

 

[metalmagpie]

I'm very surprised anybody would hydro test that for you after you weld it on a pressure vessel. Doesn't seem like a very smart move.

Well, we'll see, won't we? I did the hydrotest myself, though, didn't have to talk anyone else into it.