Restoring a shop creeper...what?

[Mickm]

Hi guys,
Well, I found what I thought was a very cool shop creeper at a swap meet last year. I have only seen one of these before and after doing some research I now know why. I'll explain later.
Anyway, the condition as I obtained it look pretty crappy so I thought I would make a few modification to the creeper then simply have the frame sand blasted, power coated and then recover the seat with some left over material from an old truck interior project.
What makes this creeper cooler than any I have previous had was it has an infinately adjustable cylinder in the back.
If your wonering why take the time and money to restore a creeper, research into this particular unit showed a new one runs in excess of $900!!!!!!

So, if your interested you can follow along as I try and make this project even cooler.

This is the unit as I purchased it for $75.

Here is everything unbolted. This took about 30 minutes to do.

Next, I will be drilling and welding in some sleeves into the side tubes to hold magnetic treys for holding tools (while you work) and a drink holder.

Cheers!
Mickm

 

[NastyNate]

Very cool indeed. Cant wait to see the finished product.
If the gas prop doesn't function as it should I would suggest the brand "suspa" as a replacement. From the lettering I can see it sort of looks like an old suspa gas prop. Great company to deal with. If you need any further info on gas props feel free to ask me I deal with them every day.

 

[illmatyk]

Looks pretty cool.
How does the gas prop work exactly? Do you adjust it to the position you want it to be in and then lock it??

 

[Mickm]

illmatyk
The rear horizontal tube has a plug inside with a aluminum handle pinned to one side of it. You can see this "handle" protruding from the right side of the tube in picture # 2 of my original posting.

This is a picture of the assembly out of the tube.
The gas prop threads into the plug. The handle depresses the button on top of the gas prop whereby allowing the cyclinder (which controls the backs position) to be retracted or extended infinately. The opposing end of the prop is attaced to the back of the seat.
This is a very cool set up.
Cheers!
Mickm

 

[Mickm]

Hi Guys,
Well, sometimes I just can't leave well enough alone. While this creeper is heads and shoulder above any I have seen, there is always room for improvement.
With this being said, I decided before it goes to the blaster and powder coaters, I thought it could use some handy tool/hardware treys on each side.

I bent a couple pieces of 1.50"-.120 wall tubing to be added to the sides. My initial plan was to have the rear bend continue into the bend of this added tube but all I have is a 5" CL radius bender.

I cut the tube at the inside quadrant of the bend and welded it to the outside plate.
In an effort to make it look as good as possible with this bend, I ground the weld down. After doing this is just seemed like a good idea to grind all the welds down.

Well, that's it for now. About to see if I can uphoster the cushions. This could be interesting lol.

Cheers!
Mickm

The tool treys are cut from 20 ga. mld. stl.-12" long with a lip turned up in the rear. I would have liked to have them run the entire lenght of the rails, but it would be hard to reach the rear portion and it will be necessary to be able to reach between the tubes on the right side to release the hydrolic ram.

 

[lilredex]

I too have had problems with those tight bends. A simple solution is to look for a chair or stand, etc. that already has all those nice bends. In the picture you'll see a rear bike rack standing up that was pieced together from a waiting room chair that I found. The black one is the beginnings of a trailer, from a road hockey net.

Nice creeper BTW.......may just make one of those.



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[bluebolt]

Hey MickM, where you at in Louisiana?

 

[Mickm]

lildredex; Thanks for the idea on the tubing, I'll have to give that a try.

bluebolt; I'm in Calhoun. Calhoun is just before you get into West Monroe, on I-20.

Cheers!
Mickm

 

[twincam00]

wow thats a really cool creeper design, should be great when its done

 

[NUTTSGT]

Thats a different looking cheaper, a design that might work quite well. 900 bucks for a new one ? That's a heck of a mark up.


different looking creeper oops.

 

[Mickm]

Hello all,
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I used the afternoon to assemble the creeper now that the frame and back are back from the powder coaters.

I thought I'd share a couple pics of the finished product.

I used some left over leather pieces from the interior of my car.
I powdercoated it black and added a small nametag I made to the top. I used these in my car so I thought I would make the creeper mimic the coupe.

I added the same leather to the floor of the tool sections and machined some aluminum caps for the seat bolts. I thought it looked unfinished so I machined an aluminum plug for the left side of the rear tube.

All aluminum parts were polished.

I realize this is a bit overkill for a shop creeper but I get carried away on all projects so this one is no different.

Thanks for your interest,
Mickm

 

[larry_g]

Very nice job. I find it hard to understand $900 for that yet compared to some office chairs its a buy. Who is the oem on that or a vendor?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[jhn9840]

Looks fantastic. Very unique creeper, never saw one like it.

jhn9840
John

 

[DanCo]

No such thing as overkill. Its your creeper and you put your own unique touches to it. Looks awesome and i hope you get many years of comfortable use out of it.
Dan

 

[NUTTSGT]

It came out looking nice, great color combination. Have you nodded off in it yet ?

 

[Mickm]

Very nice job. I find it hard to understand $900 for that yet compared to some office chairs its a buy. Who is the oem on that or a vendor?

The original vendor is eidos ergonomics. This is their web site http://www.eidosergonomics.com/
The model # is 112 and you will have to call or write for a price quote.

Mickm

 

[thesk8nmidget]

nicely done! best creeper i have seen!!

 

[Mmfh]

That has got to be the coolest creeper I've seen! Sure not going to get your hair caught under the wheels on that one

Nice Job!

Mm

 

[Mickm]

Thanks for the kind words guys, they are greatly appreciated.
I cannot raise my car (on the lift) high enough to be able to stand under it and work so this creeper is absolutely perfect. The fact it can be infinitally adjustable makes is so easy to get where you want and the large casters get you around with ease.

I am in the process of making a few of these and offering them for sale. If anyone is interested let me know. I don't know the exact price yet but they will be priced much lower than this one.

Cheers!
Mickm