Wheel dollies on epoxy floor?

[kinggsxr]

I purchased a set of the Daytona 1300lb wheel dollies from Harbor Freight (GoJak knock offs) for a good price thinking I can move my semi running project car around my 2 car garage to position it wherever and to make space for working on other cars. The videos all make it look pretty simple. Well tonight I set everything up and went to move the car around and...

I am left defeated trying to get it scooted just a few feet and wondering if I got a bad set or if I am just that weak after skipping the gym for the better part of 2 years...

I've been thinking hard about this all night and am now wondering if my fully epoxied garage floor is somehow making it harder to move with the basic plastic casters that came with the dollies. I just could not get them to turn in the direction I wanted to go...each caster seemed to want to go its own direction. I don't have a ton of space to get around the sides I want to push so that is working against me as well.

Could it be that is actually easier to move on bare concrete vs epoxy? Maybe the plastic faces more friction on epoxy?

I am going to give it another shot in the morning but if its this hard to move it myself I'm taking these back. The car is not even that heavy at around 3400lbs, well below the max capacity of the dollies.

Anyone face a similar issue with dollies on epoxied floors?

 

[kbuhagiar]

I purchased a set of the Daytona 1300lb wheel dollies from Harbor Freight (GoJak knock offs) for a good price thinking I can move my semi running project car around my 2 car garage to position it wherever and to make space for working on other cars. The videos all make it look pretty simple. Well tonight I set everything up and went to move the car around and...

I am left defeated trying to get it scooted just a few feet and wondering if I got a bad set or if I am just that weak after skipping the gym for the better part of 2 years...

I've been thinking hard about this all night and am now wondering if my fully epoxied garage floor is somehow making it harder to move with the basic plastic casters that came with the dollies. I just could not get them to turn in the direction I wanted to go...each caster seemed to want to go its own direction. I don't have a ton of space to get around the sides I want to push so that is working against me as well.

Could it be that is actually easier to move on bare concrete vs epoxy? Maybe the plastic faces more friction on epoxy?

I am going to give it another shot in the morning but if its this hard to move it myself I'm taking these back. The car is not even that heavy at around 3400lbs, well below the max capacity of the dollies.

Anyone face a similar issue with dollies on epoxied floors?

Well, I've got the real deal GoJaks, and it's no picnic with them either.

So basically you've got 16 wheels total, and if at least half of them aren't pointed in the same direction it's a ***** to get the car moving.

I learned through trial and error to make sure all of the caster wheels are pointed in the direction you want the car to move ***before*** you jack up the dolly. Then you have half a chance to get the car rolling. It's tedious but it works.

 

[WillyBoy]

Maybe this isn't the problem but I'm not a fan of Harbor Freight casters on anything. I have a bunch of their cheap furniture dollys for moving some power tools around the shop. The wheels spin fine on the axles but the casters don't want to swivel on the stem. No matter which direction I'm going, as kbuhagiar mentioned above, the wheels are never all pointed the same direction. I resort to tapping the wheels with a hammer to get them lined up. The full weight of "whatever" is on that little row of balls around the stem. The lower the quality, the more defects in the balls and the groove.

​

 

[wssix99]

These are all the issues: The Harbor Freight dolly use cheap casters to start with but anything is going to be hard due to the physics. Larger wheels will make bigger loads easier to push, but the nature of this beast doesn't allow them. Any dolly is going to take planning and brute force.

BTW - Just about every piece of equipment that comes into my garage gets new casters. (Manufacturers always use cheap stuff and I upgrade to materials that don't mess up my epoxy floor.) Depending on the application, I move to poly or rubber casters and life is much better all the way around. Companies like this have experts you can talk to and will make recommendations for the application: https://www.casterspecialists.com/

 

[kinggsxr]

So I tried again today and had better luck than last night. Turns out I may have just been a idiot before and not actually had all 4 dollies fully lifting the wheels. It looked like they were maxed out but one may have been dragging. Today I pumped each one almost to max height and it was MUCH easier to move the car but yes as you all have mentioned it still takes a good effort to get it rolling. At least now I was able to get it moved where I wanted more or less.

Changing out the casters or at least greasing the bearings up properly may help even more.

That said, I am still considering returning them but not because they are poor quality or bad per se. Turns out they may not be as useful for my case as I originally thought. My main issue is the size and layout of my garage. Another thing I overlooked is due to their design the handle and casters stick out a good bit limiting the space I can use even more. I just won't get the level of space I want no matter which way I position the car. I need a bigger garage!

 

[zkdiesel]

You should see what it takes to drag a locked yo 10,500lb Takeuchi across my epoxy floor. Most would cry

 

[Skellyii]

I've had the cheaper HF dollies since before Covid, both on bare concrete and on epoxy. They work fine for me...BUT be aware that the manufacturers HF uses for all of their casters rarely if ever greases them before assembly.

Take the casters apart, grease them properly and you should see a big difference.

 

[no704]

Might try a little grease on the bearing surfaces?

 

[tarmy]

Good casters are a thing. I made these Dollie’s for my pontoon boat. Moves easy by myself. Got Dollie’s for the waverunners and all my big tools. Get no flat spot type and with locks.

 

[gregs]

Take some time to lube the wheels and swivel parts. Use something more oily and less greasy. I dont know what your vehicle weighs, but the epoxy floor wouldn't have any bearing on the ease to move it. I have a project vehicle that weighs around 2500#'s that I move occasionally to the next bay to get it on my 2 post lift. So that takes pushing it backwards and swinging it around into the next bay and up into the center where the lift is. People are going to think I am nuts, but I beefed up 4 of the cheap HF small wood furniture dollies. They happen to be about the perfect size for a tire to sit on. I have to use a floor jack to get them under the tires to get started so there not as convenient, and I dont leave the vehicle sitting on them for any great length of time like weeks. But as cheap as those casters are, I can easily move it around by myself.

 

[hobie18]

So I tried again today and had better luck than last night. Turns out I may have just been a idiot before and not actually had all 4 dollies fully lifting the wheels. It looked like they were maxed out but one may have been dragging. Today I pumped each one almost to max height and it was MUCH easier to move the car but yes as you all have mentioned it still takes a good effort to get it rolling. At least now I was able to get it moved where I wanted more or less.

Changing out the casters or at least greasing the bearings up properly may help even more.

That said, I am still considering returning them but not because they are poor quality or bad per se. Turns out they may not be as useful for my case as I originally thought. My main issue is the size and layout of my garage. Another thing I overlooked is due to their design the handle and casters stick out a good bit limiting the space I can use even more. I just won't get the level of space I want no matter which way I position the car. I need a bigger garage!

I see a tool in all our future. Sort of like a boot taker-offer. A long wood/metal fork with handle. Probably with a 90 degree or 45 degree, or even 135 degree, to easily turn the wheels in direction. Call it the steerster. Who second?

 

[kinggsxr]

I see a tool in all our future. Sort of like a boot taker-offer. A long wood/metal fork with handle. Probably with a 90 degree or 45 degree, or even 135 degree, to easily turn the wheels in direction. Call it the steerster. Who second?

I had a thought about using my floor jack while the wheels are on the dolly to use as a handle to pull the car. Could it work?

I think I am going to keep the dollies. I had my brother help me rotate the car 180 degrees in the garage and it was pretty effortless with 2 of us. The only sketchy thing about them when using alone is when the casters finally line up where you want to go and suddenly jolt forward it feels like the car is in an uncontrolled free roll for a second. Kinda unnerving but hopefully I will get over that the more I use them.

Going to lube the wheel bearings up to start and may look into better casters later.

 

[Yankeefarmer]

In high school auto shop we used to move cars using a floor jack. If it’s in neutral(because the rear needs to be free to roll) you can jack up the front end and pull the jack to move the front end sideways. Then drop it and do the same with the back. I do it with my Model A occasionally to move it sideways into the bay next to the lift.

 

[hobie18]

Wheel chucks and a control device sound like a good idea

 

[545_days]

I'm pushing around small Italian cars on dollies and they are tough to start if the wheels are not pointed where you want them to go.

 

[kbuhagiar]

The only sketchy thing about them when using alone is when the casters finally line up where you want to go and suddenly jolt forward it feels like the car is in an uncontrolled free roll for a second. Kinda unnerving but hopefully I will get over that the more I use them.

It's not your imagination - when the dollies get free and clear the momentum can be hard to overcome. I found out the hard way when I had my 92 Corvette on dollies several years back. After struggling with getting all of the casters lined up in the right direction, I gave the car a shove and it broke loose from my control; although it was creeping along I couldn't stop it. Luckily the only damage was some buckled drywall where the bumper hit the wall and drywall dust on the bumper. Since then, if I am using them by myself I always place chock blocks or other obstacles in the path of caster travel to limit how far they can move.

 

[hobie18]

Always wondered how you can control the car. Especially on ground that is not level. Even with helpers, it seems prudent to have a way to stay safe