A portable, manually operated shaft handling apparatus (10), supported by swiveling wheels (12), (13), and (14) having a carriage (60) capable of counterbalancing the weight of the shaft (18) using air springs (50), and (51). The carriage will receive the shaft from the hoist (16) of an unwinding machine, and will strip the core (19) of an expended roll from the shaft utilizing compressed air. The apparatus is able to transport the shaft and insert it into the core of a new web roll (17) without any manual handling of the shaft. The apparatus can be adjusted for use with a variety of shafts having different weights and lengths.