Moving a grain bin

Any ideas on how much it would cost to move a 14' diameter x 12' high eave height grain bin from one farm to another one 100 miles away. Take it down, transport it, put it back up?

I have no idea, but we once sold several grain bins, can't remember the exact size.

A fellow bought them and he and his brother disassembled them and moved them about 30 miles and reassembled them. Afterwards he told me he'd never do that again.

I"ve moved a half dozen bins, that size and much larger. That size would be intact, max intact was 21 feet wide, some others were split at the middle and trailered. Max about 40 miles. For 100 mile move I"d consider dismantling and hauling. Unless the route was really good. Maybe hire a dismantling crew in the area, and put it up yourself? Another thing to check.....hex bolts vs round heads? Round head is very old bin, miserable to dismantle.

Typically one does this themselves over a few miles, or a good country route with lots of room and plan out the overhead for clearance on the path. Set it on a car trailer, pull it down tight, and go.

100 miles, oy. Taking the roof apart and back together is to be avoided, lot of labor there.

Split it in half a out 1/2 way up, open up a seam on the bottom rings and set the top with roof over the bottom, tie it down to the car trailer, and go. In my state you get in trouble if you are over 13.5 feet high, but you can do farm stuff on county roads up to 20 feet wide if you don't make a nuisance out of yourself....

Think you will get into a lot of labor per bu trying to hire it done otherwise.

In theory one should use new bolts and washers to put it back up to seal well; that is a lot of extra if you take it totally apart. And the roof is just a lot of work no matter what...

Paul

A rough labor estimate would be that it will take the same amount of labor to disassemble it as it will to re-assemble it, or to assemble a new one.

How many bushel capacity is that, around 1500 bushels? Price some alternatives. The cost to disassemble and transport the old one might be more than buying materials at the new location.

Remember that the metal from old one will also be worth close to 10 cents a pound at a salvage yard.

Buy a new bin. I'm not trying to be a smart Alec. What will it cost you to make a 200 mile round trip with a trailer plus a support vehicle? What will it realistically cost you per mile? When you are done moving that bin and reassembling it you will still have a used bin and it will leak. I have moved three 16' diameter bins that were six rings high five miles without disassembling them but they would not be in very good shape if they were moved 100 miles that way. Jim

Would be easy to move. Just borrow 3 bin jacks. Local coop probably has some old ones. Take one ring off. back car trailer under it and strap down good and take off. Stay off of interstates. I moved two 16 ft bins that way but not that far. But take it slow and easy, distance should not matter. Vic

If you're going to take it down, clean the old sealant off buy new sealant, bolts, etc. You need to find what it'll cost for jack rental. Otherwise you just need somebody with a little mechanical aptitude basically holding a rachet with a socket to help you take it down which will be a short day with an impact. My daughter that was a hs sophomore helped me on my last one. Mark the sheets for which ring and position in the ring. my experience with used bins is that they're slightly out of round so if you can put the sheets back in the same place the bolts go in easier. The position of the door in reference to the sheet above is important too.Also mark the position of the roof sheets.

The best way to move it would be hiring a bin mover that can lay it down on his trailer. There's a few outfits around here that move bins that way. I've had a couple moved - one a hopper bin, the other would be almost identical to the one you're moving. The guy that did mine said he can move up to 19-ft. diameter bins. Some makes, like Westeel, he could move without wooden floors. Others, like Butlers, have no stiffeners that'll flex more if there's no floor.

I have moved three 18 foot bins. One was a 5 ring which I added 2 more rings (40 miles). One was a 7 ring (73 miles) and the last one was 6 and 1/2 (43 miles). Moved them all on my 16 foot car trailer. I preferred to take most all of the rings off leaving the roof and two rings. That way I was for sure I was not going to rip down someone's power lines. Down to two rings allowed me to focus just on the width, driving a more consistant speed and not stopping to check for height. Fourteen foot would be a breeze. Eighteen foot wasn't all that bad. I plotted the course to the farm everytime I went to dissassemble the bin. I tried to use gravel roads where ever possible. Paved county roads are good too. Had to go on a couple state highways for short distances. Even with 18 foot bins you could always stay on your side of the road. Had a red flag on each side. Moved them on early Sunday morning. No one is on the road. Eventually you will see the early bird church ladies. First time I had someone ahead of me or moved them behind me depending on the road. Second and third time I trailered them myself. Never tried dropping the top half into a seam openned bottom half. It would work. I just found it easier to make two trips. After the bottom rings are off and the bin is still in the air some, back the trailer underneath with two big bridge planks across it. Crawl in underneath the bin and pull in down with ratching cable pullers. Put in four eye bolts in the place of bin bolts spaced around the bin. Use some good washers on the outside. Hook the cable puller to these eye bolts and the trailer. I have probably moved at speeds approaching 40 mph on a good county road. When a car approaches pull over and slow down. When there are no other vehicles around I go down the middle of the road. Each bin holds about 4500 peaked into the roof with floors and fans. I have larger bins and personally I don't think I could move them. 18' is about wide enough on a car trailer. One bin I used new bolts and washers and one bin I used the old bolts with new washers from Fastenal.

I appreciate all the responses. The reason I am asking is because mine was totaled by a drunk driver and insurance company will only pay what a used one costs. $1800 or so. I told them "yeah you can buy one for that, but it has to be moved to the new location and set up". Now I want to put a price on that. I figured a crew of three one day to take down and transport, and a day to set up. Plus a boom truck or Skytrak to lift with.
I think you confirmed that for me, but I am really not sure what labor costs might be; that is the big unknown. Would $25 a man-hour buy a competent crew or not?

At a rate of $25.00 per man hour.....the contractor would have to be paying right about minimum wage......that should answer your question on the "competent" part....

Way more than the cost of just putting up a new bin. I would just get price on a new bin and take them to court.

A rule of thumb is that employers need to charge three times an employee's hourly wage as a labor charge. That covers employee benefits, training, company tools buildings and other company overhead, and a reasonable profit.

If you don't plan to replace the bin, then I would think a partial payment for a "the price of a used bin" is actually fair to both parties.

If you need a bin and will replace it, then I would get three estimates for new bins and hold out for a new bin. When was the last time you had grain in the bin?

I had my neighbor move three 18' bins and he set them on pads I poured for them. He had two pipes with a tire on each side with cross braces curved so it would fit the bin. The back end had wide runners that were curved. The front had a hitch. The truck was about 20' long so it would cradle a bin. He would take a loader to pick the up and place it against the bin, then cable it to the truck and place a X brace inside. Take his loader and pull it over. Hook it up to his tractor and down the road he would go. When he came to a ground electrial wire, he would put a board on top of the bin so it would not catch the bolts. He had it made so the roof did not hit the pipes, maybe he had it doubled piped. But he only used it for 18' bins. He moved a lot of government bins. I have seen helicopters move them also.

I think I would take the insurance money and down the road I would go. Either buy a larger bin or none at all.

OK, here is the latest on my grain bin. They will pay for a new bin, but depreciate it, which I kind of expected.
However, I did not expect them to depreciate any labor to install it, whether new or used!
Because it is a 40 year old bin, it doesn"t cost as much to install?
Does labor to fix a 10 year old car cost less than fixing a new one?
Any advice? I appreciate all your input