Consulting, Publishing, Engineering

Operation Moving Monkey

Though it’s exciting to me, I was a bit surprised at how exciting this operation has been to lots of other people. We made the newspapers (Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen) and I’m told the monkey was also on tv last week. The big move was Saturday. Just in case anyone else ever needs to move a 17-foot tall cement monkey with attached palm tree, here’s how we did it!

MovingMonkey_1_small
First we had to brace the separate pieces.
MovingMonkey_2_small
Then a concrete-cutting specialist got up on a ladder with the biggest old circular saw you ever saw.
MovingMonkey_3_small
There was a bit of settling, but nothing too drastic!
MovingMonkey4_small
Once separated from the monkey, the tree needed to be separated from the ground. It was fairly narrow, so the circular saw worked just fine.
MovingMonkey_5_small
Up up and away! The tree was lifted over the fence…
MovingMonkey_6_small
He looks kind of sad with his arm missing like that, doesn’t he? He was hanging off that tree for about 40 years!
MovingMonkey_7_small
And onto one of the waiting trucks. Sometimes it’s good to have a friend who happens to own a truck that can carry 5,000 pounds!
MovingMonkey_8_small
Before cutting, we hooked up the crane to a halter around the monkey. That way, if anything unbalanced, we’d have a safety backup in place.
MovingMonkey_9_small
This part was tricky. The feet were too wide to use just that circular saw, so we had to have a jack hammer and multiple people clearing away debris until we loosened the monkey from his base.
MovingMonkey10_small
The big heavy crane lifts him over the fence. Estimated monkey weight=4,000 pounds.

MovingMonkey11_small
We had to lay him down for transport, but he didn’t lay flat and required even more bracing. And ropes. And strapping. Good thing we had a couple of engineers on hand!
MovingMonkey12_small
Good bye, Magic Carpet! We had our own mini-parade heading down Speedway – two trucks, the crane, various helpers, and even a couple of newspaper photographers.
MovingMonkey13_small
At the new location, we do it in reverse. Well, not the cutting part, just the lifting. First we pulled into the driveway…
MovingMonkey14_small
Then lifted him onto the side yard. This part wasn’t quite as dignified as the first lift.
MovingMonkey15_small
And there he’ll rest for a bit, waiting until we can arrange to set him upright again.

In case you missed it, here’s my post on the purchase!

One Response to Operation Moving Monkey