HF vehicle dollies

dculberson said:

I welded together a set of wheel dollies from unistrut and they've been some of the handiest tools ever. If you don't have a welder and a source for good cheap casters that might not be a good option.

No welder so I'll have to go with pre-made.

I have a set of the black ones resting under 3500lb of Saab-shaped object.  One pair is much older and has cast steel wheels on the casters rather than the plastic on the new ones.  The biggest hurdle is getting all 16 wheels going the same direction.

I use the cheap wood HF dollies and they work fine, but my cars that I use them on don't weigh much.  Never tried to put the Land Cruiser on one.

In reply to Dr. Hess :

A 2800lb VW will break them

1500 lb Europa has no problem.

You can reinforce the wood dollies with 2x4 or 2x6 to make them hold up to heavier loads,  but the issue is now the height to fit them under the tires goes up, MUCH higher than those steel ones.  Kinda the same issue with having bigger casters, it raises the wheel platform height.   A 2000lb car will break the wood ones, a stripped car might be ok.

In reply to nimblemotorsports :

Height isn't always a problem, though.

Wat I'd like to try to figure out how to do is to make ramps that you can drive up onto and back off of the dollies, something simple like beveled bits of 2x4 that you can drive up.  The hard part is making a way to be able to drive off of the dollies without shooting them across the garage.  I keep thinking of something simple like an L-hook that catches the dolly wheels and can slot into the side of the ramp with a peg, but I can also see ways for that to go wrong too.

I mainly want dollys so that I can fold up the mirrors, stick a car cover on top, and push the car sideways as far over as I can, to maximize floorspace.  The hydraulic units would be the easy button, but they also look like they stick out pretty far, which would be contrary to my goal.  And then what happens if the hydraulics bleed down on the side that is up against the wall?

They're not hydraulic they're ratcheting. 

I would not suggest the wheel jacks/positioning dollies.  I've had a set for 20 years and they don;t jack up anymore.  Understand that they did not get a lot of jacking use but a lot os vehicle sitting on them use.  I have to jack up the car I want on them and place wheel jacks/positioning dollies under it.   I've been eyeing the HF units. 

I have two of the silver that I use on the rear wheels, combined with two of the self-jacking (giggity) on the front.  The lifting ones do stick out a bit. The only issues Ive had in 2 years is that I managed to put a furrow in an alloy wheel the first time I used it when the lifting arm was too close to the wheel rim, and that they don’t come off easily when I lower them, like they’re pinched to the tire.

In terms of rolling:My garage concrete is a bit rough, and definitely pitched. Both models rolled fine even before I thought to lube them...but Pushing 3200lbs 5 feet slightly uphill was no fun. 

Just as counterpoint, I bought these

7.99 each at the hammer store 1K lbs capacity.  Some plywood, glue, and screws, and Bob is clearly my uncle.

I have a bunch of the black ones. A couple have a folded corner where I tried to roll them over uneven concrete junctions or cracks. I have broken at least one caster. The earlier ones had a 4 bolt caster flange and seemed less likely to let the caster tilt when stressed which should make them last longer. 

Question for the masses-IIRC Dyinto has a coated garage floor. Will the metal wheels mar the floor? Will the plastic/rubber wheels stick to the floor if they sit too long?

anyone put better castors on the HF metal dollies ?

or even better some larger wheels that would roll over  hard dirt etc

say for a 2000 pound car .

I had four of these.

I never took them out of the box, but I did constantly move them around my barn for four years before I sold them on Craigslist.

All I can say is that they are extraordinarily heavy.