I would not buy new 8-frame equipment just to get around a "weight"
issue. None of us is getting older, and at some point, none of us will
be able to lift even a full 8-frame or shallow super.

My father is getting smart about avoiding heavy lifting as he gets
older, and, like me, deploys 9-frame mediums with Stroller spacers
for extracted honey.

His approach to pulling a super is a creative way to deal with the
"weight of a full super" problem, and should work well with any
super configuration:

a) He removes frames from the on-hive super 2 at a time, and
    puts them in an empty super that is sitting nearby on the
    tailgate of his truck, covering the super with an outer cover
    or piece of plywood between trips.

b) When the super on the hive is empty, he then removes it,
    and slaps the breeze board on the next super down.

c)  He then takes the (now empty) super, and places it on the
     truck bed, or atop one of the other supers in the truck bed,
     ready to accept the next set of frames he will pull.

d)  He also has a cute little fold-down step-ladder attached to
     the tailgate of his truck, which eases the strain on his knees
     (his knees gave him problems until the shop cleaned out the
      calcified junk, and greased the bearings)

e)  Lather, rinse, repeat.  At no time does he lift anything "heavy".
     Sure, it is slower, but who said pulling supers had to be a
     frantic race?  He's retired, and can take as long as he wants.

f)   When done, he drives the truck to my farm, where we unload
     with a handtruck, and roll the supers right into the honey house
     for extraction.

                jim

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