The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Did you make a cart?

In a few days I'll get the body parts back from media blasting. I'm going to do the body work and paint myself so I want to build carts and have them ready. The cab seems pretty straightforward; 4x4's into a cube with dimensions that roughly match the cab's footprint and casters on the bottom. But I'm wondering about the best way to handle the bed.
Anybody have pictures of what they made? or other suggestions?

I have two carts. One is the cab dolly and I made a platform with wheels, then put a pedestal on top of that to emulate the cab mounting. I can set it on the floor for most work, but also on the firewall and even tilted to a firewall/roof combo so I can get to the underside areas better.

The other cart is in my bolt bucket and is configurable to put a bed on, fenders, hoods, panels, you name it depending on the attachments. I even put the front and rear ends on it to work on them.

I also made a frame rotisserie that has raise/lower, rotates 360 degrees and rolls nicely. Made the bulk of that out of modified engine stands.

Other than those things, tables that put things at a comfortable working height are nice to have.

Your shop is bigger than my house. I'm working in one half of my 2-stall garage. Unless you're interested in trading spaces!
Nice shop!!

The easiest way could be to use sawhorses, run 2x4's or 4x4's across them, set the bed on top. Nice height, cross members holding the whole thing up, easy access to both fenders.

A thought.

Lots of pretty cool solutions on garagejournal.com for fixtures and jigs once you exhaust all the info here. I have seen some of the finest trucks on the road being restored out of a small garage. Good Luck! We are here to help!

...here Lowe's will sell you black pipe and cut it to length for free. I made a couple "stands" to set my panel body on by figuring my lengths and by using "T's" I was able to build my stands for the price of some pipe and then just screwed them together. I did use some wheels a friend donated and I was all set.

In a small space, you may find standing bed on end works. Lashed to wall for safety.

Well Shoooot, Mine's been standing on it's tailgate for nigh onto 3 years now and I just hope the ceiling hasn't settled any.... I only cleared the fluorescent lights by a whisker when it went 'up'.

Reminds me I should check that bunji...

No room for a cart in my two car garage with half designated for truck restoration. I simply restored the frame first, then protected it while the cab was at the media blasters. When the cab came home, I put two 2x12's across the frame and a sheet of 3/4" plywood over the 2x12's. The cab set on top of the plywood. All cab work was done while it was sitting on the plywood at a good working height. I built a gantry crane to move the cab around and the crane also straddled the truck frame while not in use.

Found a photo showing what I did. Basically, the truck frame was a large work bench...still is until I finish the bed which is my last project and she is done. Started on the bed last week.

I installed some casters on the bed to roll it in and out of the shop, Bed Mobility Casters, and put it on my lift to work on it.Bed on Lift

Back Out In The Sunshine

The passion for this hobby really brings out the inventiveness in everyone. Its pretty cool to see what people come up with. My solution takes up a 5 foot by 4 foot footprint so if you have a small garage, that's out. Yet, you see so many really awesome trucks come out of these small spaces. Goes to show you, real estate has nothing to do with it.

David F...is that a pc of 2X4 steel tubing on top of your gantry crane? Can't possibly be a wooden 2X4! And what did you use for the braces? Looks like 3/4 aluminum tbng hammered flat on the ends? I like it since it will break down easily when finished.

Yes, heavy wall steel tube. Can't remember wall thickness or size, but 2x4x3/16 seems about right. The rest is 4x4 wood and 3/4" electrical conduit with ends hammered flat. All is bolted together and is now broken down and stored away. I used it for cab lifting and engine hoisting.

There are several Tech Tips regarding Cab Dollies on the site. Not sure if any of them, or a combo thereof might help.

Peg

Thanks Miss Peggy

Yes, make a cart that is intuitive in that you can set the cab on the floor as normal, but you can also set it on the firewall and also the toeboard. I am in the middle of all the sanding, bondo, sanding, painting, etc etc and I use all three setups ALOT. I don't have the room for a gantry, so I decided that BEER is cheaper and takes less room. GIT-R-DUN!