(I also posted this on the technical group's site but wanted to hear other's views on this topic.)

My husband and his best friend were planning on moving a Yamaha upright themselves on a UHaul and driving it about 350 miles. Has anyone done this themselves and what would you recommend we do to protect the piano? It's in excellent condition.

(It belongs to my parents and they are giving it to me but my mom thinks that 2 guys wouldn't be strong enough to do it.)

Thanks,
Gisele

It's not as easy as it sounds, I think you'd want at least 4 people if you are doing it yourself. Piano movers use special "trucks" to manoeuvre pianos around, plus they have a hydraulic lift to get the piano from ground level up to the tray level. You will at least want a U-Haul truck with a large enough hydraulic lift. It you don't, I sense damage and injury might be around the corner. Keep in mind that a Yamaha upright will weigh up to 520 lbs. Without special equipment, that means 4 big strong men.

When you think what could go wrong, it might seem cheaper to hire a piano mover.

I helped do it a few years ago with a big old upright. We had four guys. We were able to lift it sufficiently to maneuver it out of the house, including navigating a short staircase, but it was definitely an effort.

One word of caution: we thought we could roll it up the ramp into the truck rather than having to carry it. Bad idea. The little non-slip ridges on the ramp provided more resistance than we expected, and we ripped a caster wheel off the bottom of the piano.

The other piece of advice is to tie that sucker down inside the truck as securely as possible with extremely strong straps and lots of them. Consider the possible damage to be done by a 500+ pound missile crashing about in the back of the truck if it should break free. That didn't happen to us, thankfully, but I'm just sayin'.

Once it's in the truck, put a blanket over it. Then get a strap that attaches to the side of the truck and string it between the legs and the body and tighten it (I think U haul has some ratcheting straps made for this) Be sure to put a blanket between the strap and the body of the piano.(u haul has these, also) If the legs don't lift off the floor of the truck after tightening the strap, put a long board under the piano to lift it up. Don't stack anything near the legs of the piano.

I have moved quite a few pianos and having more than two people is usually useless. (four people can't fit through doorways or stairwells, for example.) If you can't get a truck with tailgate lift, u haul has low riders with ramps. Use a LARGE four wheel dolly, preferably with 4-5 inch wheels, to maneuver the piano. The size of the wheels makes a huge difference if there are any bumps or irregularities in your path, or if you have to push it up a ramp. If you get a tailgate lift, put the piano on the lift without the dolly.
Don't park the truck on an incline.

I'm more concerned about your husband than the piano! Try to recruit a couple extra bodies for help. Please please use legs for lifting to avoid back strain/injury. I also suggest using a caster dolly instead of relying on those useless wheels on the piano. Those things are a joke. As others already said, just make sure to cover all surfaces with some furniture padding, and strap that guy down securely, especially if it will be the only item in the back of the truck.

Good luck!

-Daniel

Two guys, with a good plan that they both understand and agree to, are better than four guys with a lot of muscle and no plan at all. Think about it. What are these four guys gonna do? If the piano needs to be lifted, it must be lifted from the ends, and there is only room for one guy on each end to lift in a well centered manner. Four guys, two on each end, in awkward positions, and of varying strengths, will result in tipping problems.

As the piano tips, all four muscle men will be red faced and bloated, and there will be a goodly amount of huffing and puffing. As the language is apt to get rough, ladies should be kept out of earshot, and only allowed to watch through a window. Even then, watching her beer-bellied, baseball cap wearing hubby get a hernia, may be more than a lady can stand--a feinting couch should be kept nearby.

The trick is to think through in advance every problem you're going to encounter.

How do you get the piano onto the dolly? Can one man lift one end as the other slips the dolly under? Does the piano have to be lifted over the curb to the sidewalk? Look around for a drive-way curb cut. Even if it's a block away and around the corner, it may be better than lifting it over the curb. Are there cracks in the sidewalk? If so, you definitely need a dolly with large wheels.

A flight of stairs would be insurmountable for a couple of guys, but four or five steps going from the street level to the first floor may be not be. In my case, moving the upright out of my home, I was able to back the truck up close to the steps, and bridge the span with the ramp which comes with the truck. After two of us got the piano onto the dolly, it was the easiest part of the move.

Moving the piano into its new home was quite a different story. It was all carefully planned out and doable, but two heavyweight neighbors came over, and seeing two guys of about 165 pounds who said they played piano, insisted on helping--they were very muscle bound guys, and they pretty much took over before we could stop them. The whole thing got out of hand, resulting in damage to the piano casing and the door jam of the house.

That's the kind of situation you have to avoid.

Tomasino

I'll never forget the day a guy came to move my mother's 600lb Steinway upright on his own. He had a fancy swivelling dolly with brakes. He had no trouble at all, including some steps, steep hills and sharp corners. It's all in the technique - but not many people have the technique.

Thanks for all the advice. My husband and I are now pondering all the different paths in the house that the piano can be moved and measurements we'll need to take. Like you said, we have to think of every option and take it from there.

I just moved a Yamaha M1 in a Uhaul trailer. It's important to note that this piano is only 42" high and only weighs about 350 lbs or so. We did it with 2 guys and a piano dolly. However, there were no steps involved. Remember when you lift it, it is heaviest toward the back.

We strapped it to the side of the trailer, keyboard facing the wall. I got this advice from piano movers. If the piano falls, it won't go down on the keyboard. Use plenty of high quality straps. Avoid the $10 1" walmart straps. I had a motorcycle fall over on a trailer once becuase I used cheapo straps.

Please be careful if you try it yourself. This little Yamaha was heavy for two people. Any piano is heavy enough to kill a person.

There is one special tool that is essential in moving any piano, in my opinion.

It's called a telephone.

Call a piano mover - save yourself some grief.

So, after reading everyone's suggestions, I called movers in both cities. In the Canadian city, I found a piano mover who will charge us $175Cdn to move the piano from my parent's living room into the UHaul. That will involve 2 steps and a path to the driveway.
On the American side, I found a piano mover who will charge us $125USD to move the piano from the Uhaul in our driveway to our living room. They promised that the piano will never touch the ground. He and his brother have apparently moved about 5000 pianos (!)
My husband is perfectly okay with this. As one mover asked me, "How much is his job worth?" I guess chance of back injury is very high from moving these pianos.
Thanks everyone!

Excellent choice, and totally worth the money!