We used to have some when I had the shop years ago, and I'll probably get another set - I've been using my jack under the differential, and moving it that way, and since my shop's pretty much "gun-shot", it's been okay, so far, but when I get organized, they'll be nice to have.

I did see some at Harbor Freight, but they didn't look too "substantial"...didn't look at the price because of it. Think I'll wait until I can find some good ones...how do the Northern Tools weigh in? Seems like they have a lot higher quality, from what I've seen, than, say, Harbor Freight, or HDC...

R

 

They all come from China. Just be sure to get ones with steel wheels. Plastic wheels or even rubber tired steel ones will develop flat spots over time. You can go crazy and get some that have built in Hydraulic jacks to raise the wheel up, but they are super expensive, and I can think of other things to spend the extra funds on.

 

I did a search on epay, type in car dolly. They have them, but boy are they expensive. And the shipping is more than the dolly itself.

 

Horrible Freight sells them also... sometimes pretty cheap. That's where I got mine.

One suggestion... the steel "bushed" wheels when loaded don't roll very easily. I replaced mine with ball bearing plastic heavy duty wheels that I found at a great price and I can move my truck around on the dollys with one hand.

In fact the first time I tried to push it out of the shop on the new wheels I used the same amount of force I had used on the old wheels... I had to chase my truck out of the garage. Extremely smooth and easy to manuever.

I'm using mine now as a rack for detailing my rear axle housing. I built a pair of tall ( 30") jack stands...bolted one to each (of two) wheel dolly and clamped a flat bar across them to hold them together at the right distance. The top of the jack stands is a "U" shaped piece of metal that cradles the rear axle. Now that I'm almost ready to paint I slid a piece of 2" pipe through the axle housing and it supports the housing so I can turn it to paint it and not scratch up the housing.
(I can take some pics if anyone is interested.)

I can roll it outside the shop for the dusty work, then back in when I'm through. I've used them for all kinds of 'moving' jobs.

 

Hey Kusto, I got a lift in my shop and I have 10 ft ceilings. If you'll look in my gallery, my center bay is the one with the lift. When we built the shop we left some of the center trusses out and braced it up with stringers and left it notched for the vehicle to go up in to it! IT works great and I dont have to pay to heat a shop with 14 ft ceilings. Just a thought!! I also made a VERY HEAVY ext cord for my welder with wire like you run a trailer's electric off from. It is amazing, I can use my welder anywhere! (well almost)

 

Because of the slope of my lot I needed a 4" high foundation wall along the back, so I had them build standard 8' high walls on top of it for the 12' ceiling. Since I have a second floor heating the space was not an issue, especially in this climate, and a couple extra courses of block is a minimal extra expense compared to higher than 8' framing. Just be sure they put rebar in the block voids and fill them full of concrete all the way to the bottom, not just cap them. I also had them put in tie mesh between every two courses. One of the best thing we did was to put a steel beam across the center of the ceiling. It allowed us to use 2x10 floor joists for the second floor, turned out to be cheaper than going with trusses, did not require any support posts in the garage and gave me a beam for a hoist to boot!

 

1) Thanks for the info on the dolly's. I don't mind paying good money for good tools. I DO hate paying any money for junk tools...

2) After seeing Terry's shop, with the height difference in the center, I now wish I had put my door on the "side" of the shop, I could have had a lift! Of course, I didn't have the truck then, and didn't think I ever would, so it didn't come to mind. Plus, I probably would have built the ceiling at 12 or 14 foot, instead of 10, to begin with. Would have made my tube heat easier to work around, plus I could have put in a steel I-beam for a running hoist. Still can, but at 10 foot, it's not all that effective, so I probably won't bother.

A question for you folks - We used to have a metal scrap yard close to me, in Lafayette. You could go and scrounge, and pay just over scrap prices for any metals you wanted. Then, they quit that, and you had to buy full, new pieces (10 or 12 foot pieces) at new price, although they still had the scrap business - you just couldn't buy scrap. So if you wanted a 2 foot piece of anything, you had to buy 10 feet. NOW, I understand, they went even further, that you have to spend a minimum of $200 to buy ANYthing! That's not too hard to do, at "new" steel prices, but there are times I just need a few things, and don't want to come home with a trailer full that will sit. I have taken to going around the night before trash day, and looking for steel. It's really amazing, what you can find (especially exercise equipment!!), that you can put to use.

How do you guys manage this? Or do I just bite the bullet, and hope I can use the extra steel that I am forced to buy??

R

 

We've got a machine shop here locally that uses quite a bit of steel, most of the pieces they cut are out of 5' x 10' sheets, so they can put it on a water jet to cut out the pieces. Residue is fairly cheap, they do sell it at scrap prices. The last stuff I got from them was 14 ga 24" x 60", about 10 pieces that size. I'm waiting right now for them to cut some 12 ga I need for frame rail repair.

So I'd suggest try to find a user instead of the supplier, they would be more likely to let the scraps go and get them out of the way.

 

i have the ones from harbor freight, and i'm sure they aren't top quality but they definatly work well and they were on sale for $25/pair.
matt

 

That's what I do as well, I have two places nere in town that use steel, One heavy fabricator that doesn't use anything thinner than 10ga and a metals shop connected to a commercial roofing company that uses up to 10ga. Both will sell or even give (sell more now that the price of scrap has gone thru the roof) me their "drops", the scraps they have left over from jobs they consider too small to mess with. In the heavy fabrication shop they let me go around and litterally pick up pieces I want off the floor around the machines (this place has been in business for ever, and they have some HUGE machines, shears that can cut 1/2" plate for example. It is owned and run by two brothers that must be in their 80s) They also stock a lot of new steel that I can buy such as square or rectangular tubing, angle iron etc. They have a giant scrap pile in the back corner of the storage lot where they throw all the small stuff, and I can help myself to any of it I want.
The sheet metal shop stocks hot and cold rolled sheet as well as aluminum and stainless steel. They too consider most anything smaller than 2' sq. to be "drops". They will also sell me full or 1/2 sheets.
The recycle yard down the street a couple miles specializes in aluminum and stainless scrap but have a lot of steel also. They will usually have a lot of small pieces of larger steel shapes like rods and bars as well as track and I beams that I've made into anvils and dollies. They sell it all by the #. I buy almost all my aluminum there. I find it amazing what people bring in for scrap!

 

Hey Roger, we also have a machine shop close by, but we have a Fastenall too! Theyr'e great!! You can buy steel by the inch if you want to? Do you have a Vocational school nearby? If so do they have a welding shop or machine shop? Maybe they can hook you up with some scrap. A few years ago my little bro and I took a welding class from the Vo Tech shool.(I wanted to learn to TIG and to be certified) Anyway for $50 we got to go to the class which was like 12 weeks or so and we could use any "scrap" to make any projects we wanted to make. I was in Heaven!! Plus there were some folks in the class who didn't know what to make to pass so I helped them and had them make some things for me!! I definately got my $50 worth!

 

I have the wheel dolly's as well gotta be careful though. I have a steep paved driveway leading up into my garage. As you can imagine the garage floor has a slight backward elevation so any water runs out the front. One hard push getting 2500 lbs moving down a slight hill = one frightening close call at said 2500 lbs meeting neighbors house across the street.

That was with my old kit car and is one of the reasons I want to get this truck running under its own power asap.

 

That's why I don't want my dollies to be too free rolling, I also don't want to be chasing it around the garage as I work on it sanding etc.

 

Terry, great ideas!! That's what I like about FTE - so many different ideas and opinions, and all of them good! We have a Fastenall close by, I'll have to check them out!

On another note, found a gent at a machine shop who has a lot of flathead experience..stopped by to talk to him, after referral, and he said he just sent one home with someone a couple days ago!! Now to tear the engine down, get it into him for tanking and magnafluxing, to see just exactly how well off I am!

Thanks for the hints!

Oh yeah, my shop is just about perfectly level, so I don't worry about too much free-wheeling. But the driveway is pretty steep...being grass, I don't think the dollies would roll very well, anyway...

R

 

Hey Roger, Fastenall is a great place!!! Not only do they have ALL kinds of helpful kinds of fasteners (thus Fastenall) but they also have a good source on all kinds of steel, aluminum, brass, stainless steel, welding supplies, and even machining supplies such as end mills and lathe tools! I love this place!!! Our store has a very knowledgeable guy running it so I can ask him and he can point me in the right direction. They know all about different strength bolts for different applications and such. What a place!!


On a side note about the car dollies, I got a set, but as Roger knows I live on a VERY STEEP hill and it's paved. So if a vehicle gets to rolling too well, I'm ruined!! It can roll down about 150 foot hill to the highway!!