Grain bin removal/disassembly?

Ive been off here for a while, couldnt use my old handle (KYGarrett) for some reason so I broke down and made a new account, with yet another password to forget. Any way I finally found and purchased some grain bins fairly close(180mi), and now I have to get them apart. Actual bin jacks are out of the question, so Dad and i were contemplating taking a road tractor tire up through the middle and lifting them like that so we can take it apart. I havent had any luck finding a boom truck to rent, but there are several rental places that have shooting boom fork lifts(telehandler). My concern about that is it will be very hard/impossible to get a straight lift. When i put them back together at my place i can use my excavator, but hiring it hauled that far is out the question. Would you guys attempt to do it with a telehandler or breakdown and rent a excavator? Also should one leave the door frame in or take it out at the start? I was planing on taking the ring right above the floor loose/out first then working my up until the roof is left? Any tips on the roof? Any thing special to know about the perforated floor and unload augers? As you can tell this will be our first time fooling with bins so any advice is greatly appreciated. There are 4 bins. Two are 12'hx14'w, the third is 12'hx15w, and the fourth is 14'hx15'w. Thanks in advance for the help!

Why are bin jacks outta the question? I'd rent a set before I tried lifting and entire bin through the roof hole. I got three 18X18 bins given to me a couple years back. I rented the jacks pretty cheap from a bin builder.

If they are the round steel bins check with any company that builds or sell bins, you can move them in one piece, no need to take them apart. I sold five of them to my neighbor and he rented a bin mover, pulled it behind his pickup,

that was your neighbor though. the bins in question are "fairly close".

moving them 180 miles in one piece is gonna be a challenge. i took down and moved 2 - 14k bushel bins and an 8k bu bin. dropped em down with bin jacks and dismantled the roof. air floor and unloading auger come out first. then pull the cement blocks. air floor snaps together from one side, across the bin. when the air floor comes out, before you start to dis assemble the bin, mount three angle iron legs inside the bin 120 degrees apart and bolt them to the floor. they should be about 5 or 6 feet high. (they will look kind of like a huge carpenter framing square. ) keeps the bin from moving sideways when you unbolt it from the pad. mark all the rows of rings so it goes back together the same way. i put all new bolts and caulking in when the bins went back up. when pulling the air floors, tie your pantlegs with baling twine. the fines will be full of mice!!!

yes, bin mover is the answer. it just tips them over and away you go. disassembly is totally nuts and time consuming for nothing.

My coop rents out bin jacks, real cheap. For your size bins the A frame, hand crank work fine, only need 3. Cheapest route for you. Just have to find someone...

I've seen beefed up augers used as bin jacks, you wouldn't want to use a good auger, but again, for your size bins, it could work. This would take a bit of study, so you don't create a bad accident with a folded auger - what I've seen thay have a heavier steel pipe in place of the auger....

Take an electric DeWalt gun with you, spins those nuts right off.

If you had 180 miles of country roads, no towns to deal with, sure would be tempted to take 2 rings of, put on a car trailer, and haul them. So much less work if you can keep the roof together. But that is a long ways to go, likely not find proper roads to do it on.

--->Paul

he's gonna have a height problem going down the road. smallest bin is 14 feet wide, add a foot for the low boy, he is at 15 feet. traveling 180 miles sooner or later he will take down phone,utility lines or get stuck under a bridge.

The point of marking each row of panels is important. Generally, upper levels are made with thinner panels than the bottom. For that distance, that many, I'd look to a local dealer to dismantle there. I've moved a half dozen or so, fairly intact, up to 35 miles. It gets rather involved.

we use a sky track to take down and load and unload
in one piece

Here is my 24 ft dia bin going back together using a Gehl squirt boom fork lift. Hauled the bin about 10 miles in two pieces, the top and bottom you see here. Used an old house trailer frame with some cross beams to catch the right and left sides.

Made some lifting brackets to pick the bottom rings out of some 4 inch channel iron, split some 2 inch pipe in half and welded to the channel where a bin ring corrigation would be. Drilled some holes to fasten the bin ring to the channels. Used 4 channels with some long 3/8 spreader cables (wire rope for the correct police)to pick up the bottom rings. Used a combine tire to lift to roof and rings.

Since a RTF does not have a winch at the top, built a bracket to clamp a boat winch and used it to pull the combine tire up into position and to lower it down once the bin was up. Did not use the winch to lift the bin but transferred the sling to the lifting latch on the fork lift boom.

I have moved and erected several bins using a tire and crane. But I never moved a bin over 5 miles. We always left 2 rings with the roof together. Just made sure we had a good route to use.

You have to watch the roofs to make sure they will support the weight.

Yours should be okay for diameter verus height.

Found out 21 foot high on a 18 foot diameter bin was all the roof would stand.

Gary

Question,what is your Ht.,bin wall or top of roof??If it is top of roof(peak)then you could maybe take bottom ring of and move it standing up.But 2 of us took 3 full ht.18Ft.bins down in less then a day with impact wrench.Too move any thing 180Mi.you do not want any thing over 13-6 or 14Ft.high.,you might miss Elec.wires but tele.and cable tv line will get you every time.I'am only talking new type of bin walls,if some of the old style walls or Behlen or Silver Shield,then maybe all bets are off.

180 miles, I'd take them apart. I have moved 2 for myself, a 21' and a 18' and helped a bin crew move many bins. Take a can of spray paint and paint a line straight down from the roof to the floor. Then mark the sheets in each ring, 1-1,1-2, 1-3 etc, then 2-1,2-2,2-3 and so on. Number the roof sheets so everything goes back just the way it came apart. Makes the job a whole lot easier. We take the roof apart in 3 sheet sections, not that heavy, they stack OK like that. Before you start putting them back up, find center of the pad and mark it. Measure out 1/2 the diameter of the bin from center and make a mark every 3' in a circle. When the bin is erected, just line up the edges of the bin with the marks and you are round again. We ALWAYS use new bolts!! The washer on the old ones will be shot when you get it apart. If they have unload augers under the floor, the fan and transion need to be almost straight across from each other to keep even air flow under the floor. If the sheets are rusty inside, clean them up good and use a GOOD rust preventer paint on the bad spots. You didn't say if they have stirrators in any of them. If they do, pull the down augers and leave it hang in the bin until you are down to where you can remove it standing on the cement, put it back in the same way. Consider upgrading to larger unload augers, the old 6"ers are real slow unloading unless you are hauling the grain out yourself. When I moved the 18' bin, I didn't put a unload auger in it, the trucker has a grain vac and uses it to unload. It ain't rocket science, just be careful and try to think ahead to when you go back together. Everything you mark when dismanteling will make reassembly that much easier. You definately need a electric impact wrench and some long tapered punches to line up holes and hang the sheet to start bolts. The punches are handy to carry the sheets also.A man on each end, stick a punch in a top hole, pick it up and go. When reassembling, put a whole ring together with the bolts loose. Start anywhere and tighten all the bolts in the ring.On the vertical seams, put your punch in the bottom hole and keep it lined up as the other guy tightens the seam. If I think of anything else, I'll add it later. Chris

Forgot to mention the drying floors. Paint a line across the floor from one side to the other. Number the pieces, makes reassembly so much easier. When you unload them, you will have a big pile. Lay the floor out in order on the ground before putting it in so you just need to have someone hand in the next piece instead of hunting for one the might work. All the floors we put in started at the back wall and ended at the door. The floors snap together, can be a boogger until you figure out the secret to getting them apart. When reassembling, fit each piece into the next one and then take a block of wood and a BIG hammer and go down the seam driving it into place. Check on the price for metal floor supports, so much easier to work with instead of cement blocks. Questions?? E-mail me and I'll send you my phone number and try at answer any questions. Chris

not that tall. should be able to dismantle using
short extension ladders and step ladders. i took one
down that was 12 high and 14 wide that way. no
problems at all.