I am ready to ship out a trans for our friend NICO, in Spain. Another forum member was kind enough to receive it thru his military shipping privliges. I need to ship a 200 lbs wooden, palletized crate, presumably to New york, then to Germany. My questions are, Is the germany APO address enough to get the job done, or am i overthinking it? Also, what is the best shipping option. UPS wants me to make a 3 hr drive to their drop off center. I would like to minimize my aggrivation, and do not know where to begin. The ups and fed ex web sights simply run me round and round with no apparent answers. ANY input would be appreciated. Pete

 

Is is making a stop in New York? Also is the final destination Spain or Germany?

Joe

 

Pete, i might call mad dog transmissions they ship their tranny's all over the country and some time overseas, u never know u might end up in a soultion or idea.

 

LOLOL Oh my It's 2:15 am and I just had a reality check on how tired I am. I read "Transmission SLIPPING??" and pondered for a good 30 seconds why Pete of all people would post a thread on such a subject. LOLOL.

I need sleep.

 

I figured I would post as I figured things out. It may help the next guy.
US Postal service will not ship over 70 lbs.
The address I have is an APO address. UPS and FED-Ex will not ship to a APO box. They need a physical address and a closest airport for drop off.
Sami, I am afraid to call Mad Dog Lou, I never met or spoke to him. Because I am "competition" so to speak, I assume he will not want to help me directly.
My head hurts

 

Final destination is Germany. Nico will go there to pick it up.
I presume it will go to new york to load on the boat.

 

Nico, if you see this, I am going to see if fed ex will ship torque converter and trans in 2 seperate boxes to satisfy the weight requirements. Trans weighs 125 lbs and torque converter weighs 40 lbs. packaging would add, of course. Pm your shipping address(no po box) and i can persue that other option. They are unwilling to help without a street address. Maybe if Mojo see's this he can chime in.

 

http://www.dhl-usa.com/home/Home.asp
I had parts shipped from China for an ATV took 4 days with these guys.Hope it works for you.

 

plus DHL started in eastern europe (Germany?) right?

 

Thanks for the link. As soon as I get a firm street address from Nico, I will plug it in.

 

Wow dhl only wants $1,546 bucks to ship it
Boy, I hope I hit the wrong buttons.

 

wow is right, from my house to berlin for 200 lbs was $1200

but hey, it only takes 2 days

 

Look in the yellow pages under "Freight Forwarder". There should be several there that can help you out.

 

Will do. Thank you.

 

I don't know if Forward Air does overseas, but I just had an LT1 block shipped from Vegas to NC with them for only $120. I sent three boxes totaling about 150 lbs. to a forum member in Croatia a while back. UPS and Fed Ex estimates were one to two grand! USPS got them there for under $400. Down side, one package showed up in a few days, another in a couple of weeks and the last one took two months. They were all sent at the same time. Apparently, in talking to a postmaster, some overseas packages are selected at random for checking and can be warehoused for quite a while until they are. Apparently that's what happened to the third one. He and I were quite relieved when it finally showed up!

 

Freight Forwarders specialize in overseas freight delivery. They take care of all the paperwork and customs forms. I think they can even handle the payment transaction (set up an escrow) for you so you don't have to worry about getting paid.

Dang... Should have said that in my first post.

 

 

The guy who started it, supposedly graduated from my university and started the company there. Then sold it for a bundle. The new owners are the ones that took it to international shipping. That's what I hear anyway.

 

Note that UPS won't ship to FPO or APO as well as PO boxes.
If you have a physical address, then UPS may be a good choice. As stated above, it won't be cheap.
I haven't read teh entire customs book, but Germany doesn't allow any used goods to be imported, so the duty will be as if the trans was new.
Something else to think about.
As far as the packaging, definitely want to be sure it's done well. Make sure the trans and converter are completely drained. I had a trans in a box(didn't know until I delivered it) the guy didn't drain it and there was trans fluid all over the inside of my truck.
I've seen trans and differentials strapped to a pallet and shipped that way, but if it were me, I'd do that and build a box around it. Naturally with the weights we're talking about, the cost of shipping will not be cheap.
This is an unknown secret, if the item is shipped UPS next day air, there isn't a weight limit(I would doub;e check to be sure) I only know this because some idiot tried to ship a 52" plasma TV and it was oversized and over weight but yet we still accepted it, and no it don't not arrive intact. The thing was destroyed. UPS simply can't handle things that size.

The trans isn't as hard to handle as a giant TV, so I wouldn't be too worried about damage. About the only way it will get damaged is if someone drops it, and for something of that weight it will require two people to lift it(union rules).

 

Thanks for the Help Frank.
I am still thinking that 2 boxes are going to be the way to go. If need be, I may be able to disassemble the trans into subassemblies, and turn it into 3 or 4 boxes if need be. I do not know if this would change the shipping cost or not. This would require Nico to have a local reassemble it though . Although Nico is the one paying the shipping, I want to help a brutha out as best as possible. I am waiting for him to provide me with an actual shipping address in Spain. Hands are tied without it.
I was hoping the 125 lb box can be shipped for $200 or less and the 40 lb converter for $80 or so. We will see.
I feel sick
Lots of good info, thanks guys