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Safe moving

2K views 22 replies 19 participants last post by  cal44 
#1 ·
Not sure where to post this.

My sister passed away a three weeks ago.

She and I were joint owners of a house in Phoenix.

She occupied the house, and now I'm sole owner.

I need to empty the house in order rent it.

She left a big safe -- and fortunately I have the combo.

It's a Fort Knox Guardian 6637. It's essentially like a gun safe, but has shelves so wouldn't work for long guns.

I looked it up, and it weighs 1575 lbs according to the Fort Knox catalog.

How does one move a safe like that? It looks like I would need two elephants and a 20 mule team.

Second question is, does Fort Knox make good safes? How can someone sell a safe to get its value?
 
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#2 ·
Cal44, yes Ft. Knox makes good safes. When we had our safe delivered (not as big as the one you describe) it took three guys and an electric dolly. Are you sure the shelves can't be removed? Most safes come with shelves that can reconfigured.

Moving a safe can be an expensive proposition.
 
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#4 ·
Yes the shelves can be adjusted up and down and removed.

If I wanted to put long guns in it most likely the company would sell me a shelf with slots in it to hold the guns upright standing on their butts. Or I could make one.

I'd like to move it to my home in Northern California, but it might be cheaper to buy a safe there rather than move this one.
 
#3 ·
You wouldn't have any problem selling it in AZ. If you did want to move it, I have had good luck using piano movers. [ I have bought and sold a few safes]. they could load it in a U haul truck for you and have another mover unload it for you. The door should lift off to lighten it while moving. Fort Knox is a good brand. They usually sell used for 50 to 75% of new price. And the shelfs inside are removable to install a gun safe interior. you can get them from Fort Knox or have them custom made. The last one I had moved cost $300 plus $1 a mile to move. Sorry to hear about the Sister. DR
 
#6 ·
Yep, that's a decent safe.

Used safes (and pianos) can frequently be bought cheaply from moving and storage companies because their weight makes a long move cost-prohibitive. The used safe market typically favors the buyer, big time.

Being in the greater Phx area, if you'd like, I can float the idea of a used safe being available among my gunny friends. PM me with details, pics if available, and asking price, and I'll put it out there.
 
#7 ·
Golf balls.

Open the door, tilt the safe back and place golf balls under it. Get a few dozen. They'll act like ball bearings. Go slow and add more to the pathway of the safe to where you want it to go, but be careful because it'll move very easily and you don't want it to get away from you.
 
#8 ·
You might just leave and make it a selling point for the house. Even if prospective buyers aren't gun owners, everyone has valuables to lock up.

If you have to move it, I know there are moving companies set up to do it. A good buddy just had to have his big safe moved to a new house. It is probably costly, but that's the choice.
 
#9 ·
Sell it to a local Phx buyer & let them deal with the moving logistics a part of the sales terms.
 
#10 ·
I am sorry to hear of your sister. Godspeed.

Sell it with the house, or without, in Phoenix. Other than being a real nightmare to move and ship, it will be a horrendously painful PITA.

If you want to proceed and at least review your options, you can try these folks: Ship Freight or LTL Freight Quotes

Here are some more: LTL Freight Brokers

Do not pay an upfront brokerage fee.

I'd expect the minimum fee to be $1,700 up to $2,000 or more.
 
#11 ·
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#13 ·
Had a cousin pass away in Florida about 1-1/2 yrs. ago. Dealing with his home, found a very good Liberty safe, found his file with original sales receipt and the combination, so good to go. Market value about $1600 new, so maybe $800 value as used.

We had little time to deal with it, advertise, sell, etc. So I put up notices on several internet firearms-related forums offering the safe free to first taker in Palm Beach County, move it yourself. Received a response in a couple of hours and two days later a moving company showed up to take it to the next county. Their invoice indicated $600 moving fees (no stairs, straight out a patio door onto a paved patio, then down a sidewalk to the curb for loading on the truck).

Someone got a good deal on a good safe, and I didn't have to deal with it anymore. House sold in a day, full price cash offer. Car had a loan against it that was very close to market value so we let the bank repo it (it later sold for $300 more than the loan, which they sent to us).

Even after all of that it took a year to get the estate closed in court so the remainder could be distributed to the heirs.

The OP will have plenty to worry about throughout this process and I hope he doesn't concern himself overly much about a used safe. Give it away to the first person willing to take care of moving it, or leave it in the house for the next owner.

Condolences to the family.

Off topic, but I also found out that even the best used golf clubs have very little market value. My cousin being a golf fanatic (3 sets of high-grade clubs, hundreds of balls, etc), I found a local club with a youth program and donated everything to them for use by young folks learning the game. All of his furniture, clothing, and household goods were donated to a local shelter helping people get back on their feet after some setback in life. I am entering this post on his laptop, much better than my old one. My brother-in-law is enjoying his Cuisinart kitchen machines.

It would have taken weeks to liquidate everything, I was 2000 miles from home and wanted to get back to my own bed.
 
#14 ·
@cal44 My condolences for the loss of your sister. As others have said, it can be troublesome dealing with estate issues, even the more so when you are away from the local area.

My step-father passed away a year or so ago and he had two gun safes, located in two different houses. No one in the family wished to have them, so we ended up selling them as part of the contents of the houses, which we sold as two different lots all inclusive after we had removed family keep sakes, including his firearms. His safes were not as nice of safes as your sister's Ft. Knox Guardian, which from what I see on-line is currently retailing for over $5,000.

I like the suggestion of making an attempt to sell the safe locally with the buyer responsible for moving it.
 
#16 ·
I've moved large safes quite a few times. The method we used involved getting a pry bar under a corner, and lifting it enough to get shims under it. We would just go around to each of the four corners, lifting a little and adding shims/blocks progressively, until it was high enough to get a pallet jack under it. You can rent narrow pallet jacks for getting heavy things like that through doorways and such. A few long, skinny pieces of plywood to lay over thresholds, so you don't hang up there, and away you go!
 
#19 ·
A piece of carpeting slid my 800-lb safe right across the garage floor.
 
#22 ·
I agree with Old Man. A new one, including cost of delivery, would run close to $5k. Phoenix is a large market, and I'm sure there are people there who recognize a high quality safe and a good bargain. I'd attempt to sell it locally at an asking price of $1200 with buyer responsible for moving it. Even if they have to pay a safe moving company to relocate it, they would still be getting a great safe at less than half the price of a new one. It's not like a safe is going to wear out. I'd snap up a deal like that in a heartbeat if one were to come my way. Internally it can reconfigured by the buyer to meet their specific needs if they desire to put long guns in it.
 
#23 ·
Thanks for all the suggestions.

My sister was something of a packrat and left our jointly owned Phoenix house filled to the brim with stuff (a polite term),

Also, she had another home in Bellevue Wa which she solely owned.

But I'm the only close relative, so I'm involved there too with the probate. That house is even more packed with stuff.

I'm probably going to end up hiring an Estate liquidation company for both houses and let them deal with all the junk including the safe (and two pianos plus about 50 years worth of clutter).
 
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