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Easy to make body trolley

17K views 46 replies 10 participants last post by  deadbodyman 
#1 ·
Here is a photo of the trolley we made to transport my grandson's project '59 Elky body around the shop. We are doing the body work on the car hoist so need to move the body out of the way when using the hoist for other cars. the thing was slammed together for about $50 using common 2x4s and $5 Harbor Freight casters. More pictures and build details are posted in my journal.

 
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#2 ·
I hope you at least used screws instead of nails,when those wheels run into an obstruction they'll stop very quickly and of coarse the car will want to keep going.There is conciderable weight going on there be carefull of your feet when you push I built one out of scrap with those wheels and built a second with air tires from HF
 

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#4 ·
I bought an industrial type 4ft wide conveyor 10ft long for $10
Welded some 8" casters to it and then welded a butchered 59 frame to the top.

Was actually pretty light.
For the 66 we removed the carcass frame and bolted a couple of risers for the rear and a couple of outriggers for the front.

I leave it with the bodyshop-----they use it for all kinds of things
 
#5 ·
I just have a couple questions. How tall did you guys go? The pictures from willys, I'd say go about 16-18 to the top of the trolley. Looks about the same on the one from deadbodyman, until I see the body mounted on it. Then, it looks like you have 2 1/2-3 feet. How high can you safely go?


In a while, Chet.
 
#6 ·
willys36@aol.com said:
Just used nails but w/ the diagonal bracing the thing is super stable. Only needs to last thru this build. Could add some 3" drywall screws if it gets wobbly but no indication of that and I have shoved the thing all over the place.
Using framing nails would be your best option. 3 1/2 inchers will stick out the other side of two 2x's and can be bent over for a nice lock. Plus nails are not going to break on you. Deck screws and drywall screws are quite brittle and shear quite easily. That is why they aren't used for framing. You won't shear a framing nail. Screws are nice for tacking things together and building in tight spots but not much else.
 
#7 ·
As you can see this thingie puts us at ~ride height which is convenient. All serious work is done by transferring the bod to the car hoist so we have full access to over, under, and inside as required. Again, saves building a rotisserie ir fancy metal trolley that would only take up space and only be used VERY rarely. And 3 1/2" framing nails is what I used in my gun. Trust me, it is very stable.
 
#8 ·
or mabee some carage bolts.I was very careful with mine till I was sure it was going to hold.I have around two feet of hight I used old chain link fence frame with the air tires.I imagine you could build it as high as you need it if you reinforce the corners, but be careful when you install the subframe and suspension ,the back gets very light and the front wheels will act as pivot points on a teeter totter,something to keep in mind
 
#9 ·
deadbodyman said:
or mabee some carage bolts.I was very careful with mine till I was sure it was going to hold.I have around two feet of hight I used old chain link fence frame with the air tires.I imagine you could build it as high as you need it if you reinforce the corners, but be careful when you install the subframe and suspension ,the back gets very light and the front wheels will act as pivot points on a teeter totter,something to keep in mind

Thanks! I've got a mobile base made of 2" square tubing and angle iron. The wheels are rated for 1100 lbs, and the whole frame measures 3' by just over 6'. I'll use 1" square welded and gusseted for the upright framework (I've got 30 sticks of it 33" long free...). One more question, then. How high would you recommend I go with that setup?


In a while, Chet.
 
#10 ·
schnitz said:
Thanks! I've got a mobile base made of 2" square tubing and angle iron. The wheels are rated for 1100 lbs, and the whole frame measures 3' by just over 6'. I'll use 1" square welded and gusseted for the upright framework (I've got 30 sticks of it 33" long free...). One more question, then. How high would you recommend I go with that setup?


In a while, Chet.
If you sit on your creeper,what is the distance from the floor to the top of your head then add two inches,but thats just my opinion I've never built one like that but always thought I'd build the next one that way but the one I have the camero on seem just right for the 1/4 panel work,how about something ajustable?Now that would be cool........hymmmmm
 
#15 ·
my HF air tires are really the way to go,they roll over nuts and other junk like the rusty crap that falls out every time you use a hammer.I think they were 7-10.00 and work much better than the other ones I used ,but I really like the two piece design of the one with the camero on it ,you can get under it with no trouble.the rails on the one with the air tires prevent ez access to underneath.Just some pros and cons Ive found that might be conciderd when building one.also that camero has been on that dollie for two years waiting for time to be spent on it and its been moved all around the shop for two years to so build them tough not pretty
 
#17 ·
Mine is FAR more low tech than Willys or deadbodyman and it is only good for smaller, shorter, lighter bodies (not a full size car) but it certainly qualifies in the "economical" category. It's the wood pallet my 80 gallon air compressor was delivered on. And I just screwed on 4 metal casters (I believe they were rated at 300 lbs each.

As others have noted, I don't think you'd want to use those particular casters if you had a lot of junk and debris on your floor like when dismantling an existing car. But I'm able to keep my floor relatively object free so I haven't had any problems with how it rolls.

Since the pallet was a little on the short side, I did mount a "wheelie bar" on the back just as a precaution against the body possibly tipping backwards. I have to climb around a lot inside the car to shoot primer and paint so I didn't want to accidentally get too much weight in the back end and roll the thing over. (Bad...very bad.)

I'm also in the process of making a second smaller dolly for the pickup bed so I can move that around more easily when I get ready to shoot color. That has actually turned out to be a greater challenge to get right than slapping together the pallet dolly for the body.



 
#21 ·
Well,

On mine I just found an old original '35-40 Frame and cut it down in the front so I could move around it, and then I went down to the local Metal Supplier-I bought some seamless tubing (3/16") that fit the regular seamed tubing (like a sleeve) and then drilled holes in the tubing for different heights, and made longer and shorter tubes. they had some heavy duty Wheels and I made some plates and welded them to the seamless tubing-if I was going to work on the top of the Car I would take the Wheels completely off, and when I was working on the sides or underneath I just put in the longer or shorter Tubes-it really wasn't the prettiest thing, but it did do the job-these are the only pictures I have, but you can see on the top and bottom the Implement Pins I used to take the Wheels on and off-



 
#22 ·
35WINDOW said:
Well,

On mine I just found an old original '35-40 Frame and cut it down in the front so I could move around it, and then I went down to the local Metal Supplier-I bought some seamless tubing (3/16") that fit the regular seamed tubing (like a sleeve) and then drilled holes in the tubing for different heights, and made longer and shorter tubes. they had some heavy duty Wheels and I made some plates and welded them to the seamless tubing-if I was going to work on the top of the Car I would take the Wheels completely off, and when I was working on the sides or underneath I just put in the longer or shorter Tubes-it really wasn't the prettiest thing, but it did do the job-these are the only pictures I have, but you can see on the top and bottom the Implement Pins I used to take the Wheels on and off-



I like it!
 
#23 ·
Oooooo, I think 35window wins Best of Show so far in the Dolly Class. Clean, simple, and functional. And if you have a junker frame around...not that expensive to build.

Which brings up one drawback...it might be difficult to adapt other bodies to fit it. But if that is not going to be in the future...then who cares.
 
#24 ·
cboy said:
Oooooo, I think 35window wins Best of Show so far in the Dolly Class. Clean, simple, and functional. And if you have a junker frame around...not that expensive to build.

Which brings up one drawback...it might be difficult to adapt other bodies to fit it. But if that is not going to be in the future...then who cares.

That's just purdy because he's got a great looking body on it......... :thumbup:


Now that I'm done joking, that really does look great!





In a while, Chet.
 
#26 ·
I was going to take pictures of this before, and finally got around to it. This is what I'm going to use as my body dolly. It measures 3' by 6' and some change. It's constructed of 2" angle and square tubing and is sitting on 4 swivel caster wheels rated at 1000 lbs each. I scored this as a reject from work.... For FREE!!!!! Sometimes it just pays to be in the right place when the boss gets mad. :thumbup:


In a while, Chet.
 

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