You should be able to unload a 1,000 lbs lathe from a pickup using a
"shop crane", a.k.a. "engine hoist". You can make this even easier by
removing various parts from the lathe. It is not really a "big
deal". You have to be careful and make sure that the center of gravity
of the lathe is inside the perimeter of crane legs and everything is
properly prevented from moving. As a precaution, I always throw a
couple of bags of soil on the back of the crane when lifting heavy
stuff on a driveway.

I loaded a Clausing 8530 mill on my pickup using my crane. See

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/packing/clausing/

Observe proper precautions, that is, go slow, do not stand under load,
keep things as low as possible, think about what can go wrong, etc.

i