How to Move Heavy Objects With Simple Tools

Big loads don’t always call for big machines. Basic know-how backed by simple tools can move almost anything. Here’s how to move boulders, lift fences and haul logs without relying on heavy machinery.

The human race is industrious, but we don’t like to work any harder than we have to. The details are lost to history now, but somebody, somewhere, noticed that sliding a mammoth haunch was less tiring than carrying it. (In fact, I’m willing to bet that he noticed it slid even better fur side down.) Whether you’re bringing home dinner or tearing up a concrete sidewalk, easier is still better. And while some jobs might require a backhoe or a winch, you can do a lot with basic levers and rollers, built in a few minutes using some hand and power tools. The crummiest 2 x 4 stud, properly applied across a fulcrum, moves a 150-pound rock with about 10 pounds of force. The improved version of this lever is even more capable. We’ll take brains over brawn any day, and the basic methods we show here will help you easily move the rocks, slabs, stumps, rubble and tree branches that you’re likely to encounter.

Sleds and Ramps

Slippery Slope (top):
Sure, you can buy nice ramp hardware that mounts to construction lumber, but you can easily make your own from steel flat stock. Use carriage bolts to attach it to 2 x 12s.

Problem Solver (bottom):
Somewhere between ramps and steps is the step ramp. Just face-nail short pieces of 2 x 12 lumber to create a versatile load mover.

Sleds and ramps are simple to build, and they are often the best way to move heavy stones. A stone sled is a plywood platform bolted and screwed to a pair of 2 x 4 runners. Its low stance allows you to easily roll or pivot the load onto it. To get big stones off, pivot a bar against the side rails.

Good-quality aluminum ramps are widely used to get ATVs in and out of pickups, but rough loads can wreck them. After all, they weren’t designed to withstand tumbling rocks, stumps or chunks of concrete. Instead, consider building stout ramps from 2 x 12s. The lumber needs to be a minimum of 10 feet long—this will produce an angle of about 17 degrees, for a typical pickup-bed height. That doesn’t sound very steep, until you push a loaded wheelbarrow up it. Improve traction by applying some paint to the ramp surface, preferably stuff you would have otherwise thrown away. Sprinkle dry sand on the wet paint or use antiskid paint additive ($7 to $15 per container). Improve traction by stiffening it with a 2 x 4 spine nailed vertically on edge to its bottom surface.

A “step ramp” sounds oxymoronic, but it’s well-suited to its name—a hybrid between ramps and steps. Build a pair. Each consists of extremely shallow steps made from 2 x 12 chunks face-nailed together. They nest together nicely and tuck unobtrusively into the corner of a shed.

In rare instances, a load forms its own transport. Years ago, the owner of a tree company showed me an old-time Yankee trick. To move a big pile of brush, place a Y-shaped branch on the ground, curved side down, and stack the brush on it. The branch’s stem forms a convenient handle, and the curved trunk acts like a sled runner.

Rollers

The Can, Can:
Any round trashcan rolls on its bottom edge. Plastic ones also slide nicely.

Dolly, Wood:
Bolt a piece of 3/4-inch plywood to four heavy-duty dollies. No plywood? Use construction lumber and cross cleats.

Pipe Line:
PVC pipe (Schedule 40) and construction lumber team up to move heavy loads. This technique is particularly well-suited to soft or wet terrain.

If sliding is easier than carrying, rolling is easier than sliding. Tip a rubble-filled garbage can onto its corner and you’ve created an effective way to move rubble around a remodeling job. The can’s large diameter lets you apply a surprising amount of torque.

Everybody knows the trick of rolling a heavy load on pipes. The method works better when you roll the pipes over lumber, not on ground. Also, putting the load itself on lumber makes for a smoother action.

If you need to move a big load like a chest freezer over a smooth surface, make yourself a four-wheel dolly. Moving companies are likely to own varied dollies—with raised ends, raised sides or flush platforms. For a homeowner, a couple of smooth-platform dollies are the most useful. You can always make riser blocks as needed to suit the bottom surface of the load you’re rolling. Use swivel-plate caster wheels, not the pin types designed to be installed in furniture legs. The casters should be rated for at least 150 pounds each. That might strike you as overkill, but keep in mind that the caster rating is based on an evenly distributed load moved over an ideal surface. That almost never happens. So the real-world carrying capacity of the caster is much less. Large wheels (4 or 5 inches) roll more easily over rough surfaces than 2- or 3-inch wheels, though they are slightly more difficult to load, since they make the dolly a couple of inches taller.

Levers

Bar Exam:
A heavy-duty shovel’s back forms the perfect fulcrum for a wrecking bar. Face the two tools in the same direction, and get the bar tip under the load. Then just step down on the bar.

Rock, Roll:
To get the most from your fulcrum, keep it from moving by staking it in place with rebar.

Lever Lift:
It’s easy. Use hefty wood screws or even bolts to attach a bent piece of steel flat stock to the end of a 2 x 4.

Simple levers are all around us, from wrecking bars to pieces of lumber to shovels and tree branches.

The chisel-tip (or pinch-point) wrecking bar is one of my favorite load movers. To get the most out of it, pivot it against a firm, angular fulcrum—the best is a piece of 4 x 4 staked in place with 2-foot-long pieces of rebar.

For hands-free prying, the bar teams up nicely with my other favorite, a heavy-duty shovel. The shovel's back forms a curved fulcrum for the bar. Lay the shovel face down in the same direction as the bar, then get the bar tip under the load. You can step on the bar's end to lift the load, leaving your hands free to work.

A Johnson bar is a wheeled lever. It's a favorite among movers and millwrights, and one of the best contraptions for moving stuff ever invented. The one I made lacks wheels, but it's no less useful. Take a 1 1/2 x 48–inch piece of mild-steel flat stock and clamp the end in a machinist's vise. Then put a stubby 30-degree bend in its end. Bore a row of countersunk holes through the flat stock and attach the metal to the edge of an 8-foot-long 2 x 4 using No. 10 wood screws. Now cut a fulcrum radius on the bottom corner of the 2 x 4. Hook the end of the flat stock under a load, and when you pry back you'll be astonished at the way the load just floats off the ground.