Ideas on building a body cart or Dollie ??

Gonna need a body cart to roll my body around while I do my suspension , any ideas or suggestions on what to use ? Wheels ? Casters ? Metal ? Cheap ? Pricey ?

 

Ive seen a lot of guys just use 2x4's on some heavy duty casters. May be a nice cheap route to go. Plus you can unscrew the wood frame once done and tuck it away.

 

I built a cart with platform out of 2x8s to put a pickup bed or cab on it 4X4 top, used it to help move our office a half block, haven't gotten the truck apart yet. Only thing I didn't think about was the kind of castors. Bought some heavy duty ones on sale from Princess auto that could support an engine if need be but they are pneumatic, so they go flat when you leave them for a while. Hard tires would have been better. Right now it's sitting in a snowbank which is slowly melting away, should be able to get at it by the weekend or early next week.

 

mayby you can do this? i used it under the chassis..

 

I built 12 little ones a couple months ago. 2 foot by 1 foot out of 3/4 inch plywood. I cut the plywood in 2 inch strips. Similar to the ones at Harbor freight. I used old castors off of old office chairs. For 4 of the dollies I used the castors off of the shelving at Costco that I didn`t use in my laundry room. Works good on concrete for a 34 4-dr sedan body. One person can move easily.

 

I use this scaffolding for mine. It could be modified to fit whatever, and its strong.

 

Used 2 x 2 x 16 ga steel tube and welded together and casters from HF online, make sure you adjust the rolling height to slide you cherry picker under the cart, makes for an easy pick to get body off frame when needed.

Great way to move car body and frame when working on body, Bolted body down to frame and frame to rolling cart.

Got about a $75 bucks in it and my time.

Choff

 

I made this body-dolly out of a discarded hospital bed...

 

My then-5-year-old son and I made one as a father-son project.
We used pine 4x4's and casters and took lots of pictures.
Here's the tech thread:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143110

 

Thanks alot for the feedback fellas, one thing I might add is that it's getting towed to my house also ....

 

I make carts for everything heavy from motors to chassis ,mostly because it saves my back , and you don't have to wait for a friend to help move something,, I've made them out of steel and wood,, BUT whatever you make it out of don't get cheap on the casters good wheels and soild frames holding the wheels, if the framework for the wheels fails your screwed, Here's some ones I've made, Tim Jones

 

Built this one a while back for another project. Have used it for bodies, frames, pickup beds, and as a paint stand. Made it adjustable for height and length. Used 1 1/4" galvanized from an awning that my dad took down and used pneumatic casters from harbor freight. Total cost was about $60.

 

Could you explain? On a body dolly????

 

Here's one I built the other day. The main framework was some homemade ladder bars I took off a project I redid but I'm building another with some 1 1/2 1/8 wall tube, doesn't need to be as overkill. A pair of cheap HF dollie tires in the back and a HF trailer dolly lifts and moves it around the shop. What I like about it when you "park" it it stays put, you don't chase it around as you work on it like you would if it had 4 wheel casters. Also rolls easy even in gravel, dirt and rolls up on my trailer easy.

 

I have to take my body home when I start doing my mustang 2 and 4 link

 

those "scaffold clamps" or "cheeseborough" clamps are used extensively in theater.. I've used them alot.. pricey but strong and very adaptable..

currently I have a wood dolly with casters.. which will likely become shelving when it comes apart..
I would also suggest hard wheels in the largest diameter possible..

 

I used 4 of these tied together with 2x4's. When I was done, I just took the 2x4's off and stacked them up - they don't take up much room that way. Harbor Freight - about $12 each.

 

my buddy just built one from wood and harbor freight wheels. he/we rolled it on and off a trailer. something like post 18, but build one big enough to hold the body all by itself. wood is cheap. harbor freight wheels are cheap.

 

SedanBob - use those for alot of my small block motors and trans...catch them on sale for about $8.00....sure save's the back....

 

First pic. I made a cart from some 2X4's, a 4'X8' sheet of OSB and some casters to hold the body. Second pic. I made a couple horses from 2X4's to set the body on so I could roll the cart out from underneath. Third pic. I bought some 1 1/2"X1 1/2" angle and attached it to the cart to make me a half-assed frame table complete with fixtures. Last pic. I even made some leveling jacks. It's not very pretty but it did everything I needed it to do...

 

Clever stuff. I've been considering a hydraulic, scissors jack made for motorcycles as the basis of a frame table made of wood similar to yours. Gary

 

I built this for my next project a little high but easier for me to go up than get lower, hell to get old LOL. I also figured it could be a moveable table for welding or what ever later on.

 

I made a dolly from some framework of a big TV dish, 2" square tubing about 4' square, used 4x4 wood across it to set a cab on. Used 2 freeby ridgid casters with poly wheels like a pallet jack, move it around with a regular floor jack, 2 legs opposite the casters.

 

I made a simple framework of 2x4s and used some trash container casters, has had various old Ford bodies and frames sitting on it almost constantly for the past 30+ years.

I think good wheels should be your first step.

 

When I bought my 46 Ford it was only a body and frame, no suspension. When I got it home I had to get it onto something to move it off the trailer so we took 4 of those Harbor Freight wheel dollies and set a heavy duty shipping pallet on top of them. We lashed the wheel dollies to the pallet with rachet straps and made sort of a huge skateboard.

The whole body and frame balanced perfectly on the pallet and I figured I would temporarily use it until I could make a proper dolly. Well it worked so well it was on that thing for 3 years and I moved it all over the shop with no problems. One person could move it effortlessly.

Don




I also built two like this one to move our model a and 27 bodies around, and they worked well.

 

If you have to roll the body/dolly onto a trailer or rollback to transport it home, build it with;

1) large, free wheeling casters (6" or 8") so it can be rolled with ease. Spring for casters with brakes if you can scrounge them.

2) low to the ground to keep your center of gravity low. Even ratcheted down, a full body going down the road on a 4' high dolly can be shakey.

 

I use 2x2 11 gauge tubing and H/F cheapie casters
I made this one so the main beam runs thru the trans tunnel, I try to make it work out so the height is best for doing the body work too. It mounts using the 2 front body mount holes an just 1 in the center in rear.

 

With body on it

 

I have made & used several different examples of body & frame carts. On of the cheapest you can make is to buy 4 strong swivel casters (recommend 2 of them locking) & a free strong shipping pallet. Just bolt/screw the casters to the bottom & you have an instant cart for very little money.

 

I also use those Harbor Freight 4 wheel dollies for lots of things like engines, chassis, or anything heavy when moving. Had an engine sitting on one for over a year at a buddy's house when we pulled it.
If you use 4 of them under your body I would tie them together with 2x4's, and maybe even put a lag bolt through 4 body mounts into the dolly or 2x's to keep anything from moving or slipping out if you hit a imperfection while rolling it.