How to move body when removed from the frame?

[CyberBill]

I just took the body off of the frame yesterday, and I'm looking for advice on how to keep the body mobile.

My current setup involved taking two 1000lb rated furniture dollies from Harbor Freight, putting a 4x4 on the top (diagonally, so it goes over two wheels on the dolly), and putting that side-to-side under the car's jack points. The dollies don't really move very well, and any small bit of gravel on the ground causes them to stop.

I'm curious if there is a way that I can keep the body mobile enough to load it on a trailer? Reason being - I'm not sure that I want to deal with the whole "stack blocks and jack up the car incrementally over the course of an hour" thing again, and there is a DIY Shop a few miles away that rents out their lifts for $50/hr. I would happily spend $100 to be able to do the lift in a garage where I don't have to worry about the car tipping. However, I need to transport the body & frame separately to and from the shop.

Is there a way I can construct a wooden frame and attach it to the body at the normal body/frame bolt points or something?

[andyo]

You could build a wood framework to bolt up to the body i suppose, but you’d need some pretty big wheels to be able to get it up on a trailer. i’ve mostly seen dollies made with 4x4s and casters to move it around inside a garage.

How are you getting it back and forth? Flat bed trailer? If you have something like that, You could lower it down onto the trailer from the lift. Use some wood blocks or something so theres space to remove the lift arms. Then strap it to the trailer.

-Andy


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[Josh]

Agreed, if possible lift it up and back the trailer underneath.

As more of a brute-force method, you could attach some long 4x4s underneath and make "skis" to move it around and up a trailer ramp.

[CyberBill]

I agree with you both - lifting it on and off of the trailer seems like a damn smart idea that I had not thought of. I've started looking for a good trailer.

For moving it around the garage, I think I'll do my best to try and find some heavy duty casters, then make a 4x4 frame that spans the 4 jack points, and maybe another 4x4 or 2x6 (or a 2x6 on top of a 4x4?) through the middle of the car where I can get a lag bolt or something in to secure it from the seat belt or body bolts. I'm most worried about getting it on a frame, then pushing it across the garage floor and it catching on a tiny pebble, and the body slips off.

[Josh]

I agree with you both - lifting it on and off of the trailer seems like a damn smart idea that I had not thought of. I've started looking for a good trailer.

For moving it around the garage, I think I'll do my best to try and find some heavy duty casters, then make a 4x4 frame that spans the 4 jack points, and maybe another 4x4 or 2x6 (or a 2x6 on top of a 4x4?) through the middle of the car where I can get a lag bolt or something in to secure it from the seat belt or body bolts. I'm most worried about getting it on a frame, then pushing it across the garage floor and it catching on a tiny pebble, and the body slips off.

for moving it around the garage I just put it on my wheel dollies. furnature dollies work well too because it is not that heavy. I wouldnt make a frame but it will be more sturdy.

If you push it slow and not force it, there should be no concern of it slipping off.

[CyberBill]

Here's what I came up with... I present you, "DMC Dolly v1":

20200530_162030.jpg

This uses a few 4x4's, some angle brackets, structural screws, and a pack of 4 "GloEra 5 Inch Swivel Caster Wheels" from Amazon. ~$30 for the wheels, ~$40 for the lumber, ~$15-20 for the hardware. Total of under $100.

The 4x4's going left-to-right are 56", the 'rails' that go front-to-back are 48", so that the front-to-back total length is 55". That's an important number, because it gives me enough room to put jack stands on the car for install/removal of the dolly. One big issue with using furniture dollies and 4x4's as I had previously was that it was unsafe to lift the car off of them without two jacks. As you lift up one side/corner of the car, the weight lifts off the dolly, causing the other side of the car to dip down. You have to lift one side to take the weight off, put some scrap wood under it, then go to the other side and lift it up to put the jack stand, then go back to the other side.... Ugh.

With this, its tall enough that my low profile floor jack slides under it. So I can now safely jack the car up from the corners or centers - front, back, or either side. The casters are awesome. $30 was well spent. They roll super smooth across the garage floor, in fact a little bit too well, since the car will start rolling away from me once it gets going. Luckily each caster has a lock, which is easy to use to hold it in place. I can literally push the car now with one hand!! I LOVE THIS!!

Note that it isn't going to satisfy my original request, to be able to load it on a trailer, since jacking it up and dropping it on a trailer directly is just a better idea. But it's nice that I can now open up an extra ~2 feet of space in the garage, and move the body around as I see fit.