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Wheel Dollies

James Matthews

By James Matthews
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CatBird 2,500+ Points

CatBird

Posted
Posted (edited)

I use these. Most of my classics are around 5,000 pounds. I am 79 years old and these work for me. Possibly Go-Jaks could be better, but you can get a set of these for $400 or pay $279 each for Go-Jaks?

https://www.harborfreight.com/1250-lb-capacity-vehicle-positioning-wheel-dolly-61917.html?ccdenc=eyJjb2RlIjoiNjIyOTcyMzUiLCJza3UiOiI2MTkxNyIsImlzIjoiODkuOTkxIn0%3D&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=16261031709&campaignid=16261031709&utm_content=136525754387&adsetid=136525754387&product=61917&store=148&gclid=CjwKCAiA6seQBhAfEiwAvPqu17YuhDkC1-fK6tpieMK2mDgUsPAVKXlOEIGZl_XVQH-pRu8ZwpEUuhoC87UQAvD_BwE

Truthfully, they are a bit to push, the wheels are not great. Good for my lighter cars.

 

Also a rack to store them.

https://www.harborfreight.com/wheel-dolly-storage-rack-64496.html

I might have bought these earlier if they had been availble, with better wheels. They look much like the Go-Jaks. Think I am going to order a set.  Will be back with a review.
https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/jacks-jack-stands/vehicle-dollies/5200-lb-max-vehicle-weight-ultra-mobile-self-loading-dolly-64601.html

 

Edited by CatBird (see edit history)
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Pfeil 10,000+ Points

Pfeil

Posted
Posted
On 2/17/2022 at 3:34 PM, Bills Auto Works said:

Go-Jaks have pretty much been the best in the business for a long time, but they are pricey.  Believe it or not.....Harbor Freight have a set that look like the Go-Jaks for quite a bit less & actually work very well. I have 2 sets here & can easily rotate any of my vehicles 360 degrees by myself inside my building. Just for Sh1ts & Giggles I put them under my 2500 HD GMC ( over 6000lbs with the diesel) & had very little problem doing a 360 with it on them.

 

God Bless

Bill

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/nationwide-single-car-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

I use these and they are a lot cheaper than Go-jacks. Just use your floor jack to get on.

 1500 lbs. Capacity Vehicle Dollies 2 Pc

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TTR 5,000+ Points

TTR

Posted
Posted
On 2/17/2022 at 2:23 PM, James Matthews said:

I am looking to buy a set of wheel dollies. I was wondering what is a good brand to buy as well as good place to buy them. 

Thank you.

As far as I know, neither exists, but if you find quality ones, I’m all ears.

I made my own with casters and materials capable of supporting (& easily movable with) 3500+ lbs car on each one of them, but then again, as someone who takes (vintage) cars and everything I do to or with them seriously, cheap isn’t nor has ever been an option.
Having never had enough money to waste, I can’t afford to be cheap.

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charlier 5,000+ Points

charlier

Posted
Posted
On 2/17/2022 at 5:34 PM, Bills Auto Works said:

Go-Jaks have pretty much been the best in the business for a long time, but they are pricey.  Believe it or not.....Harbor Freight have a set that look like the Go-Jaks for quite a bit less & actually work very well. I have 2 sets here & can easily rotate any of my vehicles 360 degrees by myself inside my building. Just for Sh1ts & Giggles I put them under my 2500 HD GMC ( over 6000lbs with the diesel) & had very little problem doing a 360 with it on them.

 

God Bless

Bill

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/nationwide-single-car-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

I have had a set of the Harbor Freight version of the Go-Jaks for a LOONG time. I only use them a couple of times a year to move my old cars into and out of their winter parking spaces in my 2 car garage. Both vehicles are in the 2,000-2,500 pound range so they are light.  I too move them myself each fall and spring. It is SO nice being able to fit 3 cars in a 2 car garage over the winter. I had a set of traditional dollies before these and they were MUCH MORE work to use having to jack each wheel up/down multiple times.

 

BTW, my older versions from HF are bigger and beefier than the current version. Same weight rating as mine but they look smaller, cheaper, etc.

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TAKerry 25,000+ Points

TAKerry

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, NailheadBob said:

Does anyone have the Harbor Freight YELLOW Daytona wheel dolly's set and what do you think of them? Item # DPD-130.

Not the dollies but I do have a Daytona floor jack. It had very high ratings and has turned out to be a great tool. Judging by that myself, if I were in the market I would give them a try.

 

I have a couple of pairs of the steel baskets with wheels. I think someone called them skates, maybe? I really like them. One has steel wheels the other has nylon. They both roll around great. I only use them during restoration work so they dont come and go a lot. The downside is takes a bit of effort to set them with a floor jack. For the sake of having them to move a drivable car around for storage I would def. go with the go jak type devices.

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m-mman 10,000+ Points

m-mman

Posted
Posted
On 2/21/2022 at 8:19 AM, Bills Auto Works said:

if you are going to put a car on them, you better have a smooth floor or the car will jump off when the skate caster hits a crack.

THAT is the issue. ☝️

Rarely discussed but the performance of the wheel skate/jack is very much based on the condition of the floor that it is rolling over.

Invisible stones and pebbles have bent my cheap set. Cardboard boxes on the floor (oil catchers) have stopped mine.

I note a big difference between my surfaces that are smoothed concrete vs. roughened concrete. 

If I need to move a car I sweep or blow off the area FIRST. 

A (really) clean floor makes a big difference.

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auburnseeker 25,000+ Points

auburnseeker

Posted
Posted

I bought a very similar jack to the ones shown above.  Look to be the exact same design.  While they work Ok and as mentioned with any jack,  be it go Jack or ones like these,  you need a smooth floor, Having used the Go Jacks at my old job they work better than these.  Of course for how much we use these,  either are probably fine,  but since I really like quality I should have went with the Go Jack instead.  One of the few times I didn't step up and spend a little more.  Price seems very expensive.  Without the rack,  I think i got mine for 350? for the set. Have they really gone up that much in 4 years?  I think I bought mine off ebay. 

 

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caddyshack 2,500+ Points

caddyshack

Posted
Posted

I use the standard Harbor Freight dollies at home under a 62 Corvette, '26 Ford T, and Chevy Tahoe sometimes. Price was very reasonable and they work fine in the garage. Also have a 21 foot pontoon sitting on them at the cabins garage. Really easy to move the boat against the wall for winter storage. Good luck, I would recommend these.

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TTR 5,000+ Points

TTR

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 2/21/2022 at 9:36 AM, TTR said:

As far as I know, neither exists, but if you find quality ones, I’m all ears.

I made my own with casters and materials capable of supporting (& easily movable with) 3500+ lbs car on each one of them, but then again, as someone who takes (vintage) cars and everything I do to or with them seriously, cheap isn’t nor has ever been an option.
Having never had enough money to waste, I can’t afford to be cheap.

As another point of reference to quality expectations I have for my shop/work equipment.

 

Due to needing another engine stand for my shop, I just spent over $600.- this morning on materials alone and now have to spend several hours to fabricate it.

So, theoretically, if I'm allowing myself generous hourly rate discount, the total cost will be at least $1500.-, but on the other hand, I know I won't find equal quality for less, especially when I need one right now.


I've already built two, one about 25-30 years ago (and now copying its design*) to accommodate conventional back-of-the-block mounting and one I designed/built +/-15 years ago to accommodate dual side mounting required for longer engine like Ferrari V12s, etc.

 

* When I originally built it, to test its strength, I mounted a '57 Chrysler 392" Hemi with all its accessories (incl. A/C compressor, etc) on it, carefully stood on top of the engine and bounced myself up-and-down to see if the stand would break or falter. Had it broke, I would've designed and built a stronger one. 

Edited by TTR (see edit history)
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TTR 5,000+ Points

TTR

Posted
Posted (edited)

Here’s a fun(?) little quality(?) comparison of various equipment.

 

First picture:

On the left is the engine stand (holding a ‘56 Imperial 354” Hemi) I built 25-30 years and which I’m fabricating a copy of to mount the engine (‘60 Chrysler 413”) on the right onto.


The “new”, as in never used, orange & black engine stand in the middle was just given to me by a friend and it has a label stating 1000 lbs !!! capacity. I don’t know about any of you, but there’s no way I would try using it for either of the engines in the picture, even if they were stripped of all accessories.

Perhaps it could safely(?) support some small four cylinder (Fiat 600, early VW, etc) engine, but then those often are light enough to just manhandle on the workbench as is.

 

On the very left, holding a cast iron 3-speed automatic transmission from the aforementioned ‘60 Chrysler (300 F) is one of my wheel dollies. Technically it’s a two-piece unit, consisting of a +/-10” high base dolly + a +/-15 height extension allowing the car on them sit much higher if/when needed. Each of the 6” casters on each dolly is rated at 900 lbs load capacity (i.e. 3600 lbs per each dolly = 14400 lbs total capacity for four dollies).

 

Second picture:

Mine vs. a store bought (I’m guessing Horrid Fright and less than hundred bucks) w/1000 lbs !!! capacity.
I’m not sure I can or dare to use latter for anything.
I can’t even see myself giving it to anyone as the word of such crappy gift could come back and haunt me.

 

BB46D5FD-3948-49E9-B5C4-597AF9F19974.jpeg

69AFF165-B4E9-42EE-B968-5C883076D939.jpeg

Edited by TTR (see edit history)
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yachtflame 10,000+ Points

yachtflame

Posted
Posted
On 2/20/2022 at 9:52 AM, CatBird said:

I use these. Most of my classics are around 5,000 pounds. I am 79 years old and these work for me. Possibly Go-Jaks could be better, but you can get a set of these for $400 or pay $279 each for Go-Jaks?

https://www.harborfreight.com/1250-lb-capacity-vehicle-positioning-wheel-dolly-61917.html?ccdenc=eyJjb2RlIjoiNjIyOTcyMzUiLCJza3UiOiI2MTkxNyIsImlzIjoiODkuOTkxIn0%3D&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=16261031709&campaignid=16261031709&utm_content=136525754387&adsetid=136525754387&product=61917&store=148&gclid=CjwKCAiA6seQBhAfEiwAvPqu17YuhDkC1-fK6tpieMK2mDgUsPAVKXlOEIGZl_XVQH-pRu8ZwpEUuhoC87UQAvD_BwE

Truthfully, they are a bit to push, the wheels are not great. Good for my lighter cars.

 

Also a rack to store them.

https://www.harborfreight.com/wheel-dolly-storage-rack-64496.html

I might have bought these earlier if they had been availble, with better wheels. They look much like the Go-Jaks. Think I am going to order a set.  Will be back with a review.
https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/jacks-jack-stands/vehicle-dollies/5200-lb-max-vehicle-weight-ultra-mobile-self-loading-dolly-64601.html

 

I have two sets of these and love them. Sooo much easier then dragging the floor jack around and trying to squeeze it under the car. These are great!

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