After the problems we had with UPS shipping a Engine I figured it was time to give some tips on shipping a Engine, I have shipped enough and received enough I figure I can offer some tips. Mudbogger went the extra mile and built a CRATE to enclose his Engine in and they still managed to damage it.

Keep in mind shippers like UPS will DROP your package off the dock so once you have it boxed up ready to ship if your not willing to throw it on concrete from the height of 8' and expect it to NOT be damaged then you have NOT properly packed the Engine for shipping, they will beat the shit out of your package, its not that they don't care its a human nature thing, after moving a few thousand packages they become numb to the fact your package might be special, how much you pay or person or no matter how well a person is paid to carefully transport your package means nothing, grow up, get over it, regardless what you might think they are going to ABUSE YOUR PACKAGE again you might as well wake up from la la land and face the facts of shipping in the real world.

Going into battle with the delivery system....

Use a OVER SIZED BOX again KEY words are OVER SIZED, look at the pics I use 1-1/2" or 2" thick foam board to make a envelope around the Engine, then put card board between the Engine and foam board, you can either spray foam in or PACK the peanuts around the Engine, if your not willing to PACK and STUFF the peanuts in don't bother using them, if you just pour in the peanuts without PACKING them in TIGHT your wasting your time, if you suspect your going to have OLD PARTS like a cylinder or crank shaft that will need to be returned then you need to allow EXTRA room for the parts when you pick a box, ideally a crank shaft or cylinder needs about 1 CUBIC foot of room to be properlly packed for shipment.

No matter what box you use you need to use at least ONE FULL ROLL of clear shipping tape to mummify the box so it don't split at the seams.

EVERY Engine I receive the box is damaged and has at least one seam split where their was no tape, after you put the tape on you need to spend at least 5 minutes rubbing the tape, the tape is PRESSURE SENSITIVE it only sticks if you rub it in good, I use a squeegee design just for this.

Others need to kick in here and give us your ideas tips and tricks to shipping, I know Bill Keefe is a EXPERT at boxing up stuff for battle with the shipping system, he long ago realized they will beat your package to death regardless of who you use, how much you pay for shipping or insurance.

Mudbogger's crate, the inspiration for me to write this, I was at work when UPS delivered his Engine, my son called me on the phone and described to me the best he could the whole side was missing from the crate and it looked like the head had been rubbing the crate, he was not sure if it was damaged he has no clue what he is really looking for damage wise, I talked to the drive he was unsure of damage, not being able to inspect it for damage I told the UPS driver I had to refuse the package until I could view the contents myself, the driver was suppose to come back the next day and deliver before 4pm but for some reason they shipped it back to Mudbogger's house after a few day delay and they repaired the crate, whole deal pisses me off I hope they refund his shipping charges for the first round trip to my place.




















http://pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopi ... 8041#18041

Those a-holes at UPS still have yet to call me on the damage claim, I sent in paperwork for the "exception" as UPS calls it and await a call from a supervisor-they are incredible hard to get anything from, I am hoping I can recoup the shipping fees, the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) appears to be undamaged, I closely looked at the head, etc and to the naked eye can't find anything wrong, so it got repacked today in cardboard and will go out to Hoser.
I still have a hard time listening to them tell me that the damage was my fault due to "packaging errors"-I mean look at the crate, it is 1/2 thick plywood and you can see the 2x4 construction(made by a union man-in the USA btw)they are full of it but what can you do?, this time I followed Hosers thread on packaging and went cardboard, used the same foam padding you see in the pictures underneath, on all sides and on top on the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )), wrapped it in a garbage bag and sprayed some foam into the sides to shore up the sides of the box, then I wrapped the hell out it woith tap, rubbing it to insure it sticks, hopefully it will not go the route of the last crate.
Now what really gets me pisse off is this, After Hosers son notified Hoser of the existing damage and they decided it was best to refuse the shipment, I was never notified by UPS at all the package had been refused-they just re-entered it into the system for reshipping back to me without a email, phone call, etc that's a bunch of shit-and to add insult to injury-once it is "in transit" you can do nothing with the package-it must be delivered back to you or your claim for damages will be closed and you get nothing in return, they really now how to get you the customer--
I called every day 3-4 times a day got the run around each time, told everything was ok,BUT WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING UNTIL THE SHIPMENT GETS RETURNED TO YOU-crock of shit if you ask me.
Whatever happened , the box was broken into by someone, they IMO took the packaging out to inspect the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) then just renailed the side back on -they arent being honest and it sucks, the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) could have been rebuilt by this time today by Hoser now I am behind the 8 ball, Hoser has plans to go away for a spell, that makes his job that much harder to complete the rebuild before going away, it just makes it hard for everybody due to somebosy at UPS who didnt like the wieght of the crate-or just was a busybody.

That's why you should only ship with USPS! They are little women delivering your stuff not big men that like to practice the "shot put"! I'm sure sometimes no matter what you do in shipping things will get damaged but I know that things are always shipped faster, safer and 90% of the time cheaper with the United States Postal Service. On bigger items they get costly but for 10 pounds and under USPS cannot be beat.

Tom

Oh I totally agree Tom, after this debacle I will not use them anymore-I will wait till my $$ comes in from the" exception" as they call it and cancel my account they arent going to abuse me as a customer no more.

I went to walmart and bought a plastic container, simular to a trash can with a lid, that was alittle bit bigger than my 350 and then bought 4 or 5 of the 5.00 dollar pillows and suffed everything into this plastic container, then took it to the local shipping store and she wrapped a box around it with some peanuts...

When you shipped, how did you make out, did the plastic break during the shipping??

I never heard any complaints from atv racing??? They shipped back in a 3/8 thick cardboard box with 1 inch foam around the edges...

"Others need to kick in here and give us your ideas tips and tricks to shipping, I know Bill Keefe is a EXPERT at boxing up stuff for battle with the shipping system, he long ago realized they will beat your package to death regardless of who you use, how much you pay for shipping or insurance."

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I've done my share of battle with the shipping morons. I try to take care in packaging stuff for shipping because the hassle of shipment damage is definitely not worth the extra five minutes it takes to pack the stuff right. The materials I have on hand at the time have a lot to do with how I pack the item, but I do the best I can with what I have. I recycle all the packing materials I can and always save boxes, Styrofoam, peanuts etc. but If I don't have the right stuff to pack an item properly, I will go and get it rather than ship with inadequate materials. Also, I think other peoples half assed crappy packaging can damage your stuff as well, say like when Billy Bobs Samari sword comes poking out of its tissue paper container and carves into your box. OR Joe Smo's lead filled cinder blocks fall off the fork lift and land on top of your box. But hey, there is only so much you can do to try and prevent shipping damage.

Heavier items take special care. When packing heavy items I try and imagine the box being tossed around and dropped and what it would take for the item to tear its way out of the package, and I pack it in a manner to try and prevent that. With heavy stuff it is better to have a double box set up with a buffer zone of sheet Styrofoam just like Hoser showed for the Engine. The inner layer of cardboard spreads the load out against the foam, and the foam spreads the load against the outer layer so they would have to really beat it up in order to get the item to tear its way through the box.

So I start with the item or items going into the box. Tape heavy items securely and tightly together with cardboard cut offs in between the items or sometimes in their own separate little box. That will keep them from clanging against one another. You can place the items in plastic bags before taping together so the tape is not stuck to the item when it reaches it's destination. They can simply tear the bag off. Wrap any sharp ends with cardboard cut-offs and tape. Motorcycle cylinders, cut the center out of a plastic two liter bottle and tape the ends on to the top and bottom of the cylinder. Also stuff like exhaust pipes or anything with holes, bag them or tape the holes shut so the peanuts don't go up inside the holes. The peanuts that go up inside holes during shipping reduce effective packing inside the box and make loose space inside the box. I hate having to dig peanuts out of holes in cylinders or whatever when I receive them. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has had to do that. So I wrap cylinders in a bag to prevent that from happening.

Place the heaviest items at the bottom of the box and lighter items toward the top of the box. This keeps the light items from being crushed by the heavy items. It helps to make an effort to weight the bottom of the box heavy. That way the box is kind of self-leveling and the handler will naturally tend to pick up and set the box down in the correct orientation heavy end down. Also try to place the items towards the center of box so it has the maximum amount of packing material protecting it.

Peanuts will compress during shipping, so use as much solid Styrofoam sheet as you can. You can chop or break pieces of Styrofoam board to use for filler instead of peanuts. Just keep wedging pieces in there. Then fill the small nooks and crannies with peanuts. Fill all the dead space. You want to fill it enough to have to press the lid down to tape it shut. Any loose space in the box = less available padding for the contents when being smashed around against the sides of the box when dropped or thrown. Don't use wadded up newspaper for packing material if you can avoid it. It does not pad well, and weighs more than you would think if you fill a box with it.

Use a double thick cardboard box if possible. I'm talking about boxes constructed from two corrugated layers instead of one. Also take care that the box lid and corners are square to one another and pulled together snugly when taped shut. If the box corners are misaligned, it can get squashed easier. If I cut a box down to size by shortening one end or make a box bigger or whatever, I overlap the cardboard and use wood glue on the overlapped ends to compensate for the reduced strength from chopping on it. Spread the glue on, then tape shut so when it dries it will be stronger.

Heavy stuff gets "This side up labels", and sometimes "fragile" labels. They don't always help, but will sometimes improve the handling especially if you have strategically weighted the box to sit in an upright orientation. If I don't have any ready made labels, I take a red sharpie and make my own out of white paper and tape them on the box so they stand out. The white paper back ground makes them stand out. If you just write it on the box, it tends to blend into the box.

Shipping labels get two layers of clear tape over the top of the destination address. If the label gets torn off during handling, the package will never reach its destination. It's OK to tape a second label somewhere on the box with the destination address only. When I ship UPS and they put the label on at the counter, sometimes I forget to bring tape so they don't get tape over the labels. Oh well, but they usually have a second address label that is taped on here at the house. But USPS labels I print here at the house always get taped over. Don't tape over any bar codes on the labels because it makes it hard for the guy to read it with the scanner. Also be sure and completely remove or scratch out any old labels.

And the number one rule is lots of tape. I rub each layer as I put it down. The tape is the first line of defense from the outside world, and if it is to thin or breaks, the items will come out of the box. The box may get there, but the contents probably wont.

That's my tips on packing stuff. I do make the exceptions from time to time, but it works for me. All you can do is work with the system.

My two cents worth.....

A trick I learned a long time back from a junkyard is to put the Engine on an old tire. Big Engine, big tire, small Engine, small tire, most of the time, the tire that goes for the vehicle is pretty much what will work, most of us have at least one junk tire. This works for hauling one pretty much without anything else, set upright in the hole in the tire, I have hauled them a long ways without any bracing or strapping. In a wooden box, it can go on the bottom, it all adds to weight and package size, but will go a long way in cushioning the Engine.

pictures of my Engine shipped from Hoser to me in NJ.