I took my J head Bridgeport through a 30" doorway with 4" walls
complete. If the machine is on the level when going through the door
then you should be able to do it as well. I just cranked the table all
the way over to one side, rotated the mill so I could crank the table to
the other extreme through the doorway then pushed the mill through. No
problems. The head was rotated down to clear the top of the door as well.

RoyJ wrote:

Looking at a getting a Bridgport mill, '73 vintage with 42" table and
variable speed head. Unit it sitting in a garage with easy access,
need to transport it 20 miles, then get it down 3 steps into the shop.
I presume this thing weighs in at about 2000 pounds with a ugly top
heavy weight distribtion.

Plan is to lower table, tilt head upside down to get some clearance
and to lower the center of gravity. Then jack it up and bolt it to a
4'x6' skid made of 4x4 posts 6' long and 2x12 cross pieces. With some
beveled ends, I can easily skid it out of the garage and up onto a low
trailer. (9000 pound winch on the Jeep is handy)

To get it into the shop with a 36" wide doorway I need to pull the
table. Unbolt the power feed and cranks, unscrew the lead screw, and
slide it out sideways. (??? Am I missing something here?)

How bad is it to unbolt the head and handle that seperately? I have a
hoist to make it easy to grab and lift it off. Getting it back on
would be a bit more challenging. How much does the head weigh? Does it
lower the top heavy weight enough to make it safer to do the 3 steps
down?

I have plenty of ropes, chains, straps, 3 come alongs, timbers,
planks, 1-1/2" pipe rollers, 1/2" pipe rollers, etc plus a healty
respect for heavy objects so I'm just looking for comments specific to
a Bridgeport.

Cheers.