The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Wheel Dollies - So many choices!!

I need a set of wheel dollies to move my truck sideways. I have looked at various stores and see SO MANY options. I have no idea what to buy. Can you help me out? How much money should I spend on these things? How much weight capacity do I need?

How much weight will you be putting on the dollies?

I have heavily used four Harbor Freight wheel dollies with my 1/2 ton trucks and to move around cabs on timbers. One pair is 15+ years old and has been indoors and outdoors for long periods. I have had to oil the ball bearings after it has sat idle for long periods outdoors.

I'd now buy these dollies, if I needed any - these might stack better than the ones above. (I'd also probably wait for them to go on sale for less)

http://www.harborfreight.com/1250-lb-capacity-mechanical-wheel-dolly-67287.html

These are pretty cool too. I have the ones Tim mentioned and they are great too. The advantage here is, no jacking up the vehicle to get them under.

Are we assuming your shop floor is level? 4,000 lbs is still 4,000 lbs even if its on dollies. Getting squished between the truck and the bench would pretty much put a damper on the day ...

Size depends on how much your truck weighs. It seems to me to size the dollies, you would take the weight of the truck and divide by four. Throw in a little extra capacity to account for the front of the truck weighing more than the back.

I would think those 1,500-lb dollies of Tim's would do the trick for most pickups.

I had a set. I used them for a while and then got rid of them -- they were in the way more than they were useful. They don't store handily.

John

You are correct, John.

Those 1,000 lbs ones are very handy moving a cab or a rolling chassis around.

I used them with the fully loaded Suburban when we painted it - that was close to the 4,000 limit and on smooth cement floor.

Got suckered into a set of the 1000lb dollies from HF and the
casters won't cast. In order to steer them you have to use a
mallet to align the wheels in the direction you want to push it
when the weight's on them. Then you need to use a 2x4 to pry
the dollies along their path.

Might be ok for bare frame but for a complete truck not worth
the money I paid for them as far as I'm concerned.

Those "pretty cool ones" might work better but being that
they're from Harbor Freight I wouldn't be to confident. At
eighty bucks each wheel that's kind of an expensive experiment.

DG

The 'pretty cool' ones are a classic example of what China does to our manufacturing. Reverse engineering. These are the original ones:

http://www.eastwood.com/gojack-g620...010&gclid=CJuBmdLqu74CFXRo7AodqxYANA

Notice the price difference. I agree with Denny though. HF's quality on stuff like this isn't any better than it has to be.

I've got 2 pr of those 1500# dollies in Tim's post, and they've been under my 48 for about a yr now, moved sideways many times by just little ole' me, and very pleased. I'm more than a little leery about the fancy one's from HF, given the mechanics are little more complex.

And do the casters actually "caster" Allen?
Maybe putting a 3400 lbs. on four 1000 lb. dollies is over
stressing them to China's way of thinking. Probably should
have tried the 1500 lb. set. But since they didn't have the
gusset they really didn't look as sturdy as the lighter ones.
The casters are the real problem.

DG

Denny casters have worked fine with just me pushing the truck around to make room here and there. An unplanned benefit of having the truck on dollies is that I can actually get a creeper under the truck without jacking it up. Still put a jack stand just in case. My rule of thumb for HF is to at least have a safety factor of 50%. So at 6000# rated I'm pretty close. In the end it may just be luck of the draw in terms of what you buy.

I have four of the older style standard wheel dollies from HF. They are rated at 1500, but I had to fix one of them that failed when I had the brilliant idea of putting them under a ton and a half. Didn't destroy the caster believe it or not, bent the frame pretty good.

Usually the problem with casters so close together like that is the frame is slightly bent. The bend could affect just one caster or two depending on where the bend is. Put your dolly on a flat table and take a good look. You will find it. HF DOES use really cheapo casters.

I have a 1955.1 GMC 1/2 ton longbed truck. I have no idea how much it weighs. The garage floor has a crack (1/8") in the middle. It slopes gently left and right from that crack. I plan to NEVER push it past the crack as I expect that to be horribly hard to do.


It sound like I should use the 1500 pound rated ones. Can I buy a set with decent casters?

Would these be good? At 170 for a set of four, they are not terribly more cash that HF.

http://www.eastwood.com/auto-dolly-12-set-of-4.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-1500-lb-capacity-vehicle-dollies-67338.html

These are their 1500 pound ones. I have the old fashioned ones that have sides on them with a rod welded across them for strength. Guess they figured out a way to do without all that.

I bought the 1500 pound versions from Harbor Freight today. I tried moving the truck around in my driveway tonight. The butt of the truck moves just fine. The front end will not move at all. Not. At. All. I had the driveway replaced a week ago. The concrete man did a brushed finish on it. There are millions of little ridges. I cannot push the front end (with engine weight) over the little ridges. Hopefully the garage floor works better.

Yeah Joe you will need a clean and smooth floor for the front end to slide. Changing directions (Denny's point) takes more effort but has worked fine on my floor.

Becareful, I bought some on ebay that stated 2K lbs when it stated you can put vehicles on them. Needless to day, I put the truck on it and it is a pain in the you know what to move it despite being on a flat level concrete floored garage. Just watch what you buy, They are too small for the truck, but i plan on using them for moving the cab and parts around.

Chris

All of these comments are consistent with reality of course. The floor has to be very smooth, the dollies have to be very straight and the wheels cant be sub-par.

All this being said, you can always do what I do. For example, I look these dollies over carefully, decide the metal and welding is adequate but the wheels are not. I purchase them knowing I need to get better wheels that add to the cost. Its still a viable solution to the problem since it seems that there really isn't a better manufacturer out there. We as the end user are being exploited. We know it, so we have to take it from there.

I am going to clean the garage out next Saturday and try pushing the truck around in there with the dollies. The garage floor is smooth.

Go to jegs and get some of theirs. Get the small ones and make sure you get steel or cast wheels. Don't get plastic wheels. Always sweep the floor really well befor moving the vehicle. A small pebble will stop and/or break wheels, or it could bend the dolly metal.

Are you referring to these?

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/80035/10002/-1

It is the only one I see that looks like steel wheels.

1000 pounds per wheel is a little light for a half ton truck. 1250 or 1500 would be safer.

Those are the same ones we've been knocking for the last THREE
PAGES Joseph. Don't waste your time with them. With the weight
of the truck on them the only way to get the casters to caster
is with a BFH. Those come from the same place that HF ones come
from:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/155844871/large

DG

Denny - Are you referring to the HF ones, something from Jegs (Deve's recommendation), or all of them in general? My assumption is all of them suck equally.

Deve - That model is the only one that has metal wheels. All the rest have plastic wheels.

The ones in the picture I posted are from HF, they are the same
dolly if you look at them, as the ones in the link you posted
from JEGS.
Guess the only way to find out for yourself is to
spend $180 with JEGS.
DG

I bought the 1500lb ones too to move my wifes 2000 VW bug around the shop. The concrete floor is smooth and I found it difficult to do. The back moved easy but the front was a bear. I put the car back on the ground. I was pushing and pulling so hard I was afraid I was going to mess up a fender. I suppose if you had a couple or 3 people it would be easier. As John said, they don't really store well either. I am trying to think of an alternative use for them now....

I didn't recommend JEGS. Too expensive. If you go with high dollar ones, get the ones with the jacks included like in my first post. The higher capacity ones from HF is the way I would go. 1500 pound capacity is a wise choice.

Another thing.. my bet is that the load capacity has more to do with the wheels than anything. I have HF ones I got years ago with steel wheels (1500 pound cap). Not sure if steel wheels matters since the rated capacity should figure the wheel strength in. If you get high capacity dollies, whatever wheels they have on them is probably ok. Like you said, equal suckage.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ztc-6200/overview/

Very pricey, but no issues rolling vehicles around. Even on rough asphalt.

Friend of mine had a '32 Ford he was building. While the engine was out he had the car on four Harbor Freight furniture dollys. The $15 a piece variety. He didn't have to move the car a lot, but when he did, he didn't have any trouble.

NOPE!