I’m going to be spending much of this winter doing a motorcycle revival project. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything; I just haven’t announced it yet. It’s going to be an exciting project because for the first time since becoming a motorcyclist I have a nice, warm area to work on bikes. However, to prepare for this project I want to move some of the cars that are already housed in my tiny warehouse for some more space. This is a problem.
Over the last few weeks we broke out of trouble with an emergency escape tool, clamped things down with the classic and still incredibly useful locking pliers and substituted the floor jack with a portable car lift, a device that gets your car into the air quickly. This week’s Cool Tool is the wheel dolly, a tool to move your car projects around with ease.
Normally, moving cars around my unit is a pretty lengthy task. I have to get into the cars then inch them forward and backward, turning at full lock until they’re into position. And if the car isn’t starting for some reason then things get much harder.
It would be easier if I could just grab a car and walk it over to where they need to be. My other storage space has the same problem, despite more room to work in it.
Those of you with project cars that don’t even have engines in them probably feel the pain even more. If that car is in the way, you’re better off leaving it where it is and working around it.
Thankfully, there is an easy way to move a car around a space, especially if that car doesn’t run: the wheel dolly.
One form of these, represented on the left, resemble the little skateboards you used to scoot on in middle school gym class. Using them is simple: jack the car just high enough to slide the dolly under the tire, then lower the car onto it. Rinse and repeat for each wheel. Now the car can move any direction on casters.
That can take a while, but if you spend some more money you can get wheel dollies that can raise your vehicle on their own, like the pink model on the right.
Watch sixtyfiveford on YouTube demonstrate how useful these can be, while also showing why you may not want to get a set from Harbor Freight because they don’t seem to hold the advertised amount of weight.
The host of the channel concludes that you could modify Harbor Freight dollies to work, but it would take several hours and if you bought a quality unit from the jump you wouldn’t have to deal with his problems.
A somewhat inexpensive option is the WEN Tools DL6004 for $165 a pair. These are the kind you jack up a car and slide them under. They support 1,500 pounds per dolly and seem to be well-reviewed so long as you aren’t trying to move too much weight with them.
Eastwood sells a four-piece set of the kind that lifts the car up onto the dolly by itself. That one is $290 and holds 1,300 pounds each dolly, but it should be noted that they’re out of stock until March 12.
You can really find these for a bunch of different price ranges with different features. Be sure to check reviews to make sure they actually work.
Do you have a set of these? How helpful are they around the garage for you?