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Moving a MEP 805A

Cobergas

New member
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Location
Houston, Texas
Thinking about getting a MEP 805a genset mounted on a trailer. I can back it into our driveway but there is a very tight turn to get it into it's home. What is the best way to move the trailer with the gen loaded on it? I was trying to find some pintle hitch movers and I am not coming up with many options under a couple of grand. Does anyone have an suggestions?
 

Chainbreaker

Well-known member
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Location
Oregon
Once you get it backed into your driveway up to the tight turn how much further does it need to go? Got a picture from beginning of turn to where it needs to go?

I have moved my generator trailers into what would be considered a Jackknife turn (if using a truck) with a tractor hooked onto the pintle hitch. I had to jerry-rig a hook up to my tractor's quick hitch but there are pintle hitch's made just for tractors. Of course you have to have a friend or neighbor with tractor willing to lend a hand or hire someone. If your drive is on level asphalt or concrete there might be a way to use a jack and put the trailer's front landing leg of trailer onto a steerable dolly with a couple of people to push it rest of way. But with a Generator that heavy you have to be able to do it 100% safely.
 

robertsears1

Active member
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Near Apex/NC
You do realize that it is a 3 phase only generator ? Yes, you can finagle and get some single phase out of it but it was not designed for that. If you have a shop or some other business that needs three phase, it may be a good fit. For a house not so much. That is a 30 kw generator where most houses do fine with 5 or 10 kw. Search “wet stacking” on this forum.

Robert
 

48cj2a

Active member
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Location
Central, IL
All you need is a power distribution panel (PDP) to split the the phases and then use them evenly.



This is our SOP in the military. We run tent lights, power all of our IT equipment and an ECU with a MEP 5 in pairs for redundancy.

Then set up a routine schedule of loading the generator to about 75% capacity for a few hours to raise the exhaust temps to burn off the built up wet fuel.

If you don't have a load bank an easy solution is some electric heaters perhaps an old electric home furnace which are typically at least 15KW (have to see what there specs are). Before we actually found some portable load banks we used to use a bunch of 1500w space heaters.

We have a couple suitcase style Load banks like this that we use:

 

Cobergas

New member
5
1
3
Location
Houston, Texas
Once you get it backed into your driveway up to the tight turn how much further does it need to go? Got a picture from beginning of turn to where it needs to go?

I have moved my generator trailers into what would be considered a Jackknife turn (if using a truck) with a tractor hooked onto the pintle hitch. I had to jerry-rig a hook up to my tractor's quick hitch but there are pintle hitch's made just for tractors. Of course you have to have a friend or neighbor with tractor willing to lend a hand or hire someone. If your drive is on level asphalt or concrete there might be a way to use a jack and put the trailer's front landing leg of trailer onto a steerable dolly with a couple of people to push it rest of way. But with a Generator that heavy you have to be able to do it 100% safely.
It is literally a 85 degree angle so it would be a jack knife angle as well. The driveway is straight then it hooks left. I am in a city setting on not in a rural setting and the fence is 8 inches off the driveway. I will snap a picture of it today.
 

Chainbreaker

Well-known member
1,740
1,810
113
Location
Oregon
Thinking about getting a MEP 805a genset mounted on a trailer.
Let's back up a bit...So you have not purchased this unit yet? If so, why are you wanting to purchase a MEP 805a? What are you trying to use it for? If for a house the 805a is the wrong genset. If for a shop that uses 3 phase equipment that's another story.

If this is for your home and for emergency power backup and you haven't already done so, you need to do an analysis of the loads you expect to run when power goes out as it is important to size the generator to the job. Bigger is not always better and can be problematic if generator is oversized for the load, Wet-stacking and fuel consumption play an important role in matching the generator to your anticipated electrical load.
 

Cobergas

New member
5
1
3
Location
Houston, Texas
You do realize that it is a 3 phase only generator ? Yes, you can finagle and get some single phase out of it but it was not designed for that. If you have a shop or some other business that needs three phase, it may be a good fit. For a house not so much. That is a 30 kw generator where most houses do fine with 5 or 10 kw. Search “wet stacking” on this forum.

Robert
Our house is not a normal house. Our 10k gen could not handle the loads we put on it so we had to reduce the draw and only run the super bare basics. Which did not include any comforts for the house. It was basically all power to the shop. I am more interested in it to be able to run our shop and house. We have a business that requires constant uninterrupted power and the shop will draw most of the power.
 

Guyfang

Moderator
Staff member
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Location
Burgkunstadt, Germany
I may be slow here. When I was much younger, I had 3 of my soldiers help me roll it by hand into tight positions. Are you going to be moving it a lot? If not, simply invite some folks over with strong backs, and give them beer when you are done.
 

Cobergas

New member
5
1
3
Location
Houston, Texas
I may be slow here. When I was much younger, I had 3 of my soldiers help me roll it by hand into tight positions. Are you going to be moving it a lot? If not, simply invite some folks over with strong backs, and give them beer when you are done.
I do not imagine us moving it once it is in its place. It will be fairly permanent unless of course we move which I highly doubt.
 
115
7
18
Location
Miami
It is literally a 85 degree angle so it would be a jack knife angle as well. The driveway is straight then it hooks left. I am in a city setting on not in a rural setting and the fence is 8 inches off the driveway. I will snap a picture of it today.
What if you use those little wheels with the jack that the tow trucks have on them I think they are called tow dollies I’m sure I can handle the weight on a short distance and you can maneuver it anywhere you want


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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