Harbor Freight Moving Dolly

[nafterclifen]

I used one of my HF moving dollies to move (aka drag) a small pile of Trex decking about 6 feet. Lesson learned - be home when your contractor has a scheduled delivery. Anyways, one of the casters broke in the process. It was the sacrificial price ($12) that I had to pay so that I could get my tractor out of the garage to cut the grass.

The "fix it" in me is now looking for UPGRADED replacement casters. I want to get better ones but keep struggling with the thought that I could buy 4 new HF dollies for the cost of 4 good swivel plate casters.

Should I just stop looking and buy a replacement dolly?

 

[darkzero]

I would just buy a new one if it's the little one, they're cheap. Then save the broken one for parts the next time you break one. And get the bigger one for heavier stuff. Edit: Missed where you said $12 so that is the bigger one, which is still inexpensive.

They just came out with a new one.

 

[jkesselr]

Kinda seems like trying to rinse toilet paper so you can reuse it...

 

[evintho]

They just came out with a new one.

Really? $25 for that? Same exact casters as on the $11 & $12 dollies!
Screw some scrap 2x4's together and mount the casters off the $11 dolly. Now you have a $25 dolly for $11!

 

[darkzero]

Really? $25 for that? Same exact casters as on the $11 & $12 dollies!
Screw some scrap 2x4's together and mount the casters off the $11 dolly. Now you have a $25 dolly for $11!

You know people will still buy it, because it's HF, they think it will be a deal!

Heck, I don't even believe the weight capacities they rate their dollies. Still I have 3 of their little ones & one of their blue plastic ones.

 

[Cryptic1911]

surprised you broke a caster.. we've abused the hell out of ours and they've worked fine for the most part. Move my entire 4 post lift on a couple, a 1400lb lathe, had a few engines on them, even as recent as earlier this week I had a motor and trans from my car on one

 

[zendriver]

Seems to be a common theme here.

Abuse a harbor freight product and if it doesn’t hold up, then the quality of The product is scrutinized.

If it was 1000 pound dolly that’s 250 pounds per castor wheel,Which IMO looks like they could hold up just fine normal use. I cut those dollies in Half and mount under steel shelving. Quite a bit of weight on them but I don’t know if it’s 1000 pounds. Move around just fine on smooth concrete surface.

Maybe the “Milwaukee” brand at Home Depot sells are higher quality.


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[lardy1]

My girlfriend has two of them that have survived a fair amount of use over the last three years. They have been incredibly useful and we have loaded them pretty heavily at times. I have little doubt that the quality level varies from one unit to the next like a lot of HF items.

 

[CoogarXR]

I have had two of them for quite a while, never an issue.

 

[Hammer1963]

Just like anything else, somewhere along the line it's going to happen to someone. It doesn't mean they are junk. I've had zero wheel issues with the casters. the wood well that's another story but its from abuse. Buy another and let her rip!

 

[Bretny]

Both of mine have at least one caster that dosnt pivot. Making the whole thing more of a sled.

 

[esvee]

I was going to build a rolling platform - cut some wood, buy 4 casters, hardware.

Then I realized it was way cheaper to just buy a HF furniture dolly. Even came in the right size. 20% coupon makes it a no-brainer.

 

[reynoj3]

I have 8 of them, only have ruined one doing something I should not have (put them under my f150 front tires to bleed the air out of the PS pump system as I turned the wheels lock to lock). Spit all the ball bearings out of one caster..

I’d just replace it.....not worth the money to put decent casters on it.


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[dogdog]

they have these things for vehicles... maybe get two or four? 5200LBS each.. that is over 2.5Ton you gotta be hauling a whale to break it maybe.... maybe a HF whale.

https://www.harborfreight.com/5200-lb-max-vehicle-weight-ultra-mobile-self-loading-dolly-64601.html


I have their larger fold-able platform thing... it is ok... definitely doesn't hold up to 440LBS but works OK for the price moving stuff.
https://www.harborfreight.com/24-in-x-36-in-folding-platform-truck-68894.html

 

[SeisMec]

From that page's copy.

Lifts wheel weight to 1300 lb., combined vehicle weight of 5200 lbs

 

[rsanter]

Don't bother.
The HF moving dollies are great but they are also consumables.
Go buy another one.

They are good for what they are good for, but if you want to buy better casters then also build a better platform.
I have several moving dollies. They range from the the HF ones to custom ones that will handle 2-3000 pounds

 

[ducksface]

Consumable.
I read somewhere a while back saying hf dollies are sometimes made of maple wood.
Mine aren't pine I'm pretty sure but I'm not sure what they are.
I've never broken one and no ****, I probably have 15 if them. They're stuffed under anything that might need moved ever.
And
They make a great low ride seat when you're sitting there dicking with wheel bearings and lugs and such.

I have one blue one. It flexes really easily. Not a fan of them.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

I moved my 36" Pexto shear using two of the small HF dollies. One of them snapped like balsa wood but the bigger HF dolly stepped in and did the job. Sucked that it broke, but it was a lot of weight.

 

[driftpin]

I've broken a couple of the larger wood ones. I had a < 250 lbs motorcycle engine on one, and over the course of a year, it became swaybacked and began coming-apart. Yes dry, inside storage.

Another one ended up withsome bug infestation, tossed into garbage. No sign of the bugs in other material in the same space. It was relatively-new. Dunno if they came free with the dolly.

I've removed the casters and used 2 x 4's and 2 x 6's to make more-sturdy ones, which have held-up better.

Anything < $20, I'd classify as a 'consumable,' if you got it to do one job for you, where it saved your back, and allowed you to move sonething heavy.

I find them useful for placing things upon them in the shop, easy to maneuver.