Shirley Fab shipping to SoCal

Sorry for the late post. Had mine shipped here in socal by Thomas at Craters and Freighters. I had a good experience with them. Only hiccup was on this side getting a truck with a big enough lift gate. You need to consider the crateing, it's a beast and Thomas uses enough lumber to create a deck. Most shippers won't crate.
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Shipping costs keep going up and seem to be a bit of a racket. I plan on driving from Colorado to Alabama to pick up my trailer rig.

toys4dlr said:

How big is your smoker. I spoke with Thomas, but his quote was the 1550. He told me that the freight was running 700. I think Thomas is a little gun shy about these smokers and is bidding it a little high or I got lucky at 850. I was really close to jumping in the truck and driving out to meet Paul and the family. It was the inability to secure the smoker for the one night I would need to sleep.

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Could you not find some one to go along, and ya'll take turns standing watch?

Thomas Glover of craters and freighters

205 434-2872 work

Jeffm827i said:

Do you have the demesions of the crate and the contact info for Thomas at Craters and Freighters? I have access to a dock so don't need a lift gate. :clap2:

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Here is Thomas's info. Sorry, I looked and I don't have the dimensions. The 52x42 with warmer and wagon wheel cooker weighs 1300 lbs and created it was 1800 lbs.

Here are the cooker dimensions
34 width axle hub to hub
75 length not including the removable wagen handle
65 height to the top of the smoke stack

Thomas Glover
Craters and Freighters of Birmimngham/Tuscaloosa
5541 Powder Plant Lane, Bessemer, Alabama
Phone-205-434-2872
Cell- 334-507-3650
Email – thomas.glover@cratersandfreighters.com

Maybe you can get some ideas of the dimensions from the pic below.

I finally got an answer from Thomas about crating or he could put it on a pallet and me arrange for a truck. Thomas said it gets to be a problem for the lift gate guys because the crate is so big. I have a quote from Freightquote.com and they will pick up only if it's on a pallet. The only problem I have with Freight quote is that their prices are extremely cheap, but they don't rank well with BBB, so it would be a crap shoot if I use therm. Thomas mentioned that he doesn't mind me arrange my own shipping because he has had problems with previous trucking firms delivering to residents, so yes he is gun shy. Has anyone here have any experience with Freight quote?

I ordered a 24x48 offset with insulated firebox (1,200 lbs) and they shipped it from Willis, TX to Madison WI for about $550. This included crating and insurance. LSG crated it up. They shipped via Estes and delivered to my residential location for that price.I'm on my phone on can't seem to upload photos of it crated but it was very solid. A little surprised that SF won't crate and offer shopping.

jjrkegler said:

I ordered a 24x48 offset with insulated firebox (1,200 lbs) and they shipped it from Willis, TX to Madison WI for about $550. This included crating and insurance. LSG crated it up. They shipped via Estes and delivered to my residential location for that price.I'm on my phone on can't seem to upload photos of it crated but it was very solid. A little surprised that SF won't crate and offer shopping.

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I agree with you about SF not shipping, but everyone that orders one knows the deal. I've had two smokers shippe, but both fabricators were high volume shops.

Search for guys that ship motorcycles, I had one shipped from Kansas City to the bay area for $300 as part of an Ebay sale about a year ago as a shared load with 8 others, has like a 30ft enclosed bumper pull trailer, roll it in out of the crate and strap it down. Doubt they would care if it wasn't a bike as that cooker looks about the same footprint.

rcupp said:

Search for guys that ship motorcycles, I had one shipped from Kansas City to the bay area for $300 as part of an Ebay sale about a year ago as a shared load with 8 others, has like a 30ft enclosed bumper pull trailer, roll it in out of the crate and strap it down. Doubt they would care if it wasn't a bike as that cooker looks about the same footprint.

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This sounds like a good option. The cooker at 1300 lbs is heavier that a Honda Goldwing at about 930 lbs though.

The guy I used via Uship kinda specializes in Motorcycles. Actually had two old classic ducati's on board.

These prices all seem to be in line. I paid about $750 to ship my Lang from Georgia to San Diego.....depressing initially but worth it in the end.

That does not seem too bad. I might have gone with Thomas if my quote came in around there, but he quoted 1550. With the tie downs I had Paul weld in, mine cooker was easy to secure in the transport trailer and came with no damage.

Best of luck with your decision, you will love the cooker. Just took two racks of ribs off mine tonight. She cruised well.

Great thread, I am trying to figure out the same thing. I cant wait to see what you guys come up with...

Fat Cap- when is your build scheduled to complete?

jjrkegler said:

I ordered a 24x48 offset with insulated firebox (1,200 lbs) and they shipped it from Willis, TX to Madison WI for about $550. This included crating and insurance. LSG crated it up. They shipped via Estes and delivered to my residential location for that price.I'm on my phone on can't seem to upload photos of it crated but it was very solid. A little surprised that SF won't crate and offer shopping.

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I must chime in here.... me and Tyler never dreamed we would be building this many cookers...... that being said... we are a 2 sometimes three man operation we like to compare ourselves to the old service stations.... that would check your oil... put air in your tires... clean your windows... and ask about your family.... but not rebuild transmissions..... we are the janitors.. welders... fitters... layout men.... accountants...painters...nurses... we try and keep our cost down and actually do not charge for a lot of things others do charge for.... on 24 inch cookers we offer 3/8 cook chambers at no extra cost and the list goes on and on.... I take no offense at all on what was said... but give us a chance in the future hopefully we can do that (offer shipping) I try and give my customers names of people who ship... but I do not trust a lot of people.... any customer will tell you I go above an beyond the call of duty to try and help all I can......we must be doing something right ... we currently have a 3 month backlog....again no offense taken... if someone has suggestions we certainly will listen to and consider them.... heck when people come to get a cooker I always offer them a place to stay at my house and they may get a belly full of collard greens... ham hocks and pink eye purple hull peas.... :icon_smile_tongue::becky::clap::grin: and the cool thing is we have been blessed to be able to give about 20000$$ worth of cookers away to wonderful causes...... one of the biggest ones is to people who serve our veterans....... already planning on one for the coming year...... but I assure you it will not be the only one..... not bad for a mom and pop shop in Alabama...... and a huge thx to the BBQ brethren....... to the mods and people who are on the site..... we got our start here..... and we gonna pay it forward as long as I suck breath on this earth!!!!!!!

Hey Paul, Why don't you give the name of the company that hauled mine, they just delivered it. Top notch driver and had the cooker very well secured.This is my first post on here even though I have been lurking on here for about six months. And the cooker oh my, I could not believe how nice, very much worth the weight. If any one wants their number let me no. Their not the cheapest but they don't need it palletized .

thx Rex the driver gave me his info yesterday and said I could go straight thru him... and yes I was impressed with him ... he will get some business from me for sure!!!!!!
Rex I am sure people would take no offense if you posted some pics of the cooker .... I must say myself.... it is Purdy!!!!!!! glad we could serve you.....

I bought my smoker from Paul and it was an awesome experience. I live in Maryland, and at the time it was complete, I was way to busy with work to driver to Alabama to pick it up.

With that being said, I went on uship.com and put out an auction to have it sent. I paid around $1000.00 for it to be flat bedded to Maryland (mine is a trailer model around 2300lbs). The carrier was a local guy and very responsive.

If you are not willing to drive and pick it up, you have to realize it is going to take some time to find someone to ship it for you. When I calculated out the cost of fuel, meals, and hotel room, I was pretty darn close to what I paid to ship the thing.

And for what I saved from buying a Lang......that more than made up for the cost of shipping!!!

Just my .02