75: Adventure – Part IV

Okay, so how are we going to unload this 600 lb monster without a forklift. Simple, we take it apart and remove one component at a time. The belt guard comes off easily, and weighs maybe 20 lbs. The motor comes off next. It’s about 80 lbs. But that requires me to disconnect all the wires inside the electrical panel. Fortunately, there’s only six wires to remove and I think I can remember where they all go. These first two items are light and I can hand carry them. Now, it’s time for the compressor pump to come off. This thing is BIG and it looks like it’s solid steel. The pulley wheels are about 16” in diameter and about 3” thick. I’ll bet the wheel weighs 100 lbs by itself.

A week or two ago I buried a ½” x 7” lag screw most of the way in a telephone pole in my front yard thinking I would need it eventually. Now, all I had to do was back the truck up to the pole; hook up my homemade block and tackle (see post #68) and hoist away. It’s all I can do to lift it with the block and tackle. Fortunately, my neighbor comes by to help lay it down on the furniture dolly and help me push it into the garage. Now comes the tank. It’s right at 5 ft long and 20 inches in diameter. It’s not as heavy as the compressor, but it’s close and it’s a lot bulkier to maneuver around. The neighbor comes back over and helps me get it off the truck and into the garage. As written here it doesn’t sound too difficult, but all this disassembly, unloading and moving into the garage took about 6 hours.

So, now I’ve got to put it all back together, which wasn’t too hard. The biggest issue in reassembly was having to reinforce the garage roof truss that I would hook the top of the block and tackle too to lift the pump. I did that by wedging a 2x4 vertically under the truss close to where my lift point was. I had forgotten to ask the sales guy how to wire it all up, so I emailed him a picture of the inside of the electrical panel and he told me where to connect up the wires, 10-2 with ground and a 30 amp double breaker.

About $80 later I have wire, breaker, conduit and fittings, so we’re ready to get this thing running. My electrical panel is about 15 feet away from the compressor, so hopefully the wiring will go smoothly.