DIY wheel dollies

[BorisMD]

Hi all,

I was looking around at wheel dollies, and anything that looked reasonably priced looked like cheap you know what. So, I figured I'd make my own. I mostly wanted them to place a '59 Corvette that I am going to restore on, so that I could move it around more easily.

I started by locating casters that would work well. That seems to be the limiting factor. I found a fellow on ebay who sells all manner of casters, and emailed him. He cut me a deal on sixteen of them. They are very heavy duty yet have nice non-marring wheels. They have grease ******* on the axle and on the raceway.

I then decided to use 3/4" plywood for the platform. I cut pieces 12x18 inches, and glued two together with construction adhesive, and nailed them with my trim nailer.

After than, I drilled the holes, and attached the casters with hardware ordered from boltsonline.com. The quantity I needed for this made the online order more cost effective than buying them locally.

In retrospect, I wish I would have bolted them right after gluing the plywood together, as the bolts compressed the plywood much tighter than my spring clamps.

I also think that going with plywood slightly larger would work better -- perhaps 18x24. In addition, it may make sense to add a 2x2 on each end to keep the wheel centered.

The cost was around 170 for casters and 47 for hardware (with shipping on both).

Here are some photos:

 

[Eddie 70]

That's pretty darn cool. I have wanted a set of those for years but like you I thought they are too much money. It is not too late to add something to keep the car from rolling off of the casters.

I have a 70 convertible that I have been working on for several years. These would have helped greatly when I needed some extra room working in a two car garage.

 

[e-tek]

Both Vettes are cool.
The StingRay is beautiful!!!

The car dollies I buy are 49.95-a-pair on-sale. Not too expensive, esp. when good casters are 10bucks a piece.

 

[Torque1st]

The cheap Harbor Freight wheel dollies have worked for me. They do the job. You can get them pretty cheap with those 20% off coupons. The cast iron wheels don't develop flat spots like the plastic or rubber wheels do when they sit for a while.

 

[BorisMD]

I read too dang many reports where people said once they got their car on the cheap dollies, they had a heck of a time getting the car to move -- bad bearings, etc.

Also, I had just epoxied my new garage's floor, and the idea of scraping poorly made wheels across the finish rubbed me the wrong way (pun intended).

Boris

 

[mad57]

i have a set of roll masters ... they work great for my 57 convert.. one hand i can move it.. bought a bunch of sets of h f casters with my wifes bug on them i can barely move it by my self let alone with a full size chevy on them.

 

[Keep]

Only thing I would add would be some wedges at the fronts to prevent the car from rolling off.

Other then that, pretty stout pieces.

 

[Keep]

Oh yeah, any more pics of that engine dolly?

 

[Torque1st]

The problems with getting the dollies to move with hard wheels usually is from dirty or uneven floors. Clean smooth floors == easy movement.

 

[BorisMD]

Oh yeah, any more pics of that engine dolly?

I can get some for you. Any particular angles you'd like?

Unfortunately, I don't yet have the doors on the garage (they are on order), and the local power company has not yet (despite 6 months of phone calls) installed electricity to the garage. So, I can't do any night shots right now. Also, we are experiencing our first blizzard right now, so I may not get out to take any shots for a day or two.

I will get some and post, though.

Regards,

Boris

PS -- I'm probably going to do the resto-mod thing, and the engine dolly and motor/****** will eventually be up for sale.