Rolling and Raisable Body Dolly

[baz]

don't forget to make some deep skirt mud guards if you use pneumatic tyres so you can weld on the stand and not have splatter burn through the top of the tyre

[jtodd]

How do you get the body on and off of the dolly?

[kwilford]

Originally Posted by jtodd How do you get the body on and off of the dolly?

In my case, the car was up on tall jack stands, high enough to remove the engine from below, with the suspension removed. So another design criteria was to be able to get the car from the jack stands to the dolly without a bunch of hysterics. I simply slip the side rails on by inserting the threaded rods into the jack points, and install the backing nuts behind the jack points. Then I bolt the cross rails on to hold the side rails together. Lower the wheels to lift the body (they only have a couple inches higher lift than my tall jack stands), and pull the jack stands away. The "trick" was to have the side rails attach so they didn't go more than an inch under the outer edge of the jack point, so the car could still be on the jack stands and the dolly at the same time.

Because the dolly's lowered height is a bit higher than the car when sitting on its wheels, the car has to be lifted about 12 inches (either jack stands or floor jacks) before the dolly is attached. Or, a different size of caster jack could be used, or they could be mounted lower, to allow the dolly to be installed when the car is sitting on the wheels. But then the car couldn't be lifted high enough to drop the engine out, unless a longer, higher lift jack was used.

HTH

[Old Hippie]

All of those (yours included) have great appeal. The foldup stand is a great idea and I really like the rotissory one. Both would be good to have in a shop. Thanks for the picks!

[benncojr]

I have been thinking about this subject for a while and found the following web sites and articles.

From what I have found out you can purchase a rotisserie between $750 to $1200 based on various options (wheels, lifts, powder coat).

Here are the web sites

http://www.ponypics.com/spitfire/rotisserie.html

http://www.ado13.com/flip/flipper.html

http://members.aol.com/MOWOGMAN/JRH3.html

http://www.carotator.com/

http://www.prostreetcar.com/body_rotisserie.html

This is the best one I have found

http://www.harwoodperformance.bizlan...itorial_20.htm

Attached is an artical I found. It explains how to build one.

The question I have is what is the best whay to go? I do not own a welder so I can not do any welding. I like the idea of using 2 engine stands. I though you folks would like to see this other ideas.

[BQS4]

Rick;
You don't have to weld, you can use bolts and do the same thing, but, you're right about using the 2 engine stands. I have one from Harbour Freight, excellent buy for the money!!!

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by BQS4 , but, you're right about using the 2 engine stands. I have one from Harbour Freight, excellent buy for the money!!!

Except most engine stands are welded with an upward tilt to compensate for heavy engines. So the rotating axis of each stand will not be parallel with each other. I made my own for this very reason. You could however cut and reweld the inexpensive engine stands.

Bob

[jeff denton]

The first thing to consider here is, what are you gonna put on it? Just a bare shell, or the shell plus how much of the rest of the car?
Notice the nicest one, the Harwood, was for rotating a 41 Buick. Would be way overkill for the GT. Overkill is good, though!
The first one, with Spitfire, scared me in that the engine stand wheels aren't far enough apart, looks like it would tip over easily. Notice another was just like it only they spread the wheels out farther. That's better.
The plywood rollover jig is about hilarious. But, what the heck, it works!
Surely you all think my bungee cord from ceiling hooks is silly, but, I like it better than anything we saw here, to be honest with you.
Any of these rotisseries will require a bit of fabricating, as you must get the GT mounted to the pipe that slips into the engine stand. It will be pretty minor, but have it done by a good welder. We don't need any more stories about the car falling over on somebody, or, should I say falling onto nobody...
All the engine stands shown were, or started out as, the el cheapo basic one just like mine. I don't think mine has the tilt Bob mentions, but I think if it did the tubing could be easily tweaked a bit after the load was put on it. Mine was fifteen dollars at my neighbor's estate auction. Rummage sales and flea markets would have them too if you wanna really scrounge. They are seen at Checker sometimes on sale for $45, too.

[benncojr]

Here are some photos of the rotisserie that is being used at Flashback.

[jeff denton]

I like that one! To be able to raise the project up once it's been "skewered" would be very handy.

[benncojr]

Originally Posted by BQS4 Rick; You don't have to weld, you can use bolts and do the same thing, but, you're right about using the 2 engine stands. I have one from Harbour Freight, excellent buy for the money!!!

OK,
All you enginener types (Or going to be), here is your challange.

How would plan on building a rotisserie for a GT that would only require being bolted together.

It should be able to rotate 360 and be able to use raise and lower (with jacks like that shown on the one from Flashback). I did some pricing on the jacks at Northern Hardware and that is not that bad of a price.

What is needed is type of steel, lenths, were the holes need to be drilled, and bolts types.

If you can come up with a good plan I will pick up the parts and try to build it.

I am bean counter not an enginner, but I can tell if something will or will not work (I lived with an enginner for 20+ years, my dad).

P.S. Mods If you think this should start a new thread I have no trouble with that. I was just trying to make your job easer by putting this with the same thoughs.

[soybean]

I am closing in on the "copying" of the dolly that Keith designed and hope to have some pictures by the first of the week. I gotta say it is one heck of a sweet design. I can also use it on my Saab SPG by changing the jack points. The Saab engine has to come out the bottom as well. Kudos Keith. There was a lot of thought and work put into this design.
Jarrell

[soybean]

After seeing Keith’s Dolly, I knew I had to make one. I used the measurements he provided and the list of materials and proceeded to work on it. The first picture is of the side rails welded. The second picture is of the side rails and angle iron cut. The third picture is the side rails with the jacks, The fourth is from a different angle. This is where I made the first mistake and didn’t know it. I had predrilled the holes for the jacks and it wasn’t until I got the whole thing under the car that I realized I had to have the top 2 holes for the jacks in the top rail, so I had to pull it out and rework it.

[soybean]

The first picture is of the cross rails. The second picture is of the cross rails test fitted to the side rail before the angle iron was welded to them. The third picture is the cross rails welded and the frame bolted together. The fourth picture is of the frame and jacks slid under the car. I found my second mistake about 5 mins later. I used the same tubing thoughout, and this threw the measurements off. I am going to make 8 ½ in spacers out of pipe to spread the cross braces out to give a little more play at the jack points.

[soybean]

The first picture is where I had reworked the mounting holes. The second is from another angle. The third picture is of the frame raised to the car. I failed to take pictures of the jack point mounts to the frame.

[soybean]

The last four pictures are of the car raised on the jacks from different angles. Also I noticed that with the rear end installed the trailing arms were hitting. I think that the rear cross brace can be dropped down, or out, to get the rear end in/out. Even with 1000 lb. jacks it is a little tough going up. It appears to go up easier front to back, or vice versa. I am going to add a piece of 1x2 tubing so when you take out either the front or rear cross braces, the bottom won’t spread out, and will make it easier to crawl under the car. This will be done after I install the braces.

[soybean]

Keith’s Material list is pretty much on the money. I added two extra braces on each inside side rails and two more on the cross rail.

Here’s the material list.
6 8ft 1x2 tubing $75.60
2 10ft 1x2 tubing $45.30
4 ft 2x2 angle iron cut in 1-ft sections (from junk pile)
Don’t know how much wire on the welder I used
1 grinding wheel
4 jack Dolly’s $32ea x 4= $128
And that's it. Thanks, and a tip of the hat to Keith Wilford. Jarrell

[tom_laan]

Hi people,
For the last week my Dad and me were working on a body dolly for the GT. This was necessary cause we needed to take off quite some bodywork in order to get all the bodywork done. since the underground our car sits on is VERY uneven we wanted to be able to get the car level. we also wanted to rotate the body. only problem with this is the back and front of the car are not very accessible cause the mounting points are at the front and the rear of the car. (two spots we have mayor repair to do on it) so we ended up building a body dolly instead of a rotisserie. the design of kwilford is very good. and as you see there is quite a resemblance to his design. only difference of ours is how it mounts to the car. we didn't like the threaded bars only holded up by a welded bolt to the frame. also this makes it not easy to work on the spots next to the jack points. we designed it so it wouldn't stick outside the car. it first goes to the inside then it goes to the frame that does extend outside the car. but then about a feet lower then the bottom of the car. making it much more accessible. we used jack dolly's without wheels under them so we wouldn't have problems with the car moving around. we will be putting wheels under it later on so we can move the car. we can adjust the car hight over a meter. cause the jack dolly's are not welded to the frame. this way we can put them all the way up when moving it around. we also put 4 water levelers? dent know how they are called exactly. so we can level the car out. then used threaded bars with a nut welded to it so we can secure the car with the air wrench. we made it from 24K gold! haha.
we used
40x40x2MM tubing total length: 18,8 Meters
4x 1,7M
4x 1,8M
24x 15CM
4x 20CM
4x 10CM

4 sheetmetal plates 70x100x5 MM

All the steel costed around 100,00 euro's = 127,00 dollars.
the body dolly's (4X) were 67,80 euro's = 86,00 dollars
the mounting brackets (4x) for it were 15,80 euro's = 20,00 dollars
2 rattle can's primer 6,50 euro's = 8,30 dollars
3 rattle can's gold paint 9,75 euro's = 12,40 dollars
4 levelers 11,80 euro's = 15 dollars

grand total of: 211,65 euro's = 268,80 dollars

this doesn't include the four wheels that will go under it in the future, but overall it was less expensive as i thought.

beneath are some pictures of it all.

pics of the build

[soybean]

Very nice work Tom. It looks very good,sturdy too. My main reason for following Keiths plan was mobility. When I'm not working on the car, I can push it out of the way to pull in other equipment to be worked on. I also found out the other day due to necessity, I can pull the whole car/dolly off the concrete pad.
Anyone else built any dollys that they'd like to share pictures of?
Jarrell

[kwilford]

VERY nice job, Tom! It's a FAR cry from the table you had used before.

[tom_laan]

Originally Posted by soybean Very nice work Tom. It looks very good,sturdy too. My main reason for following Keiths plan was mobility. When I'm not working on the car, I can push it out of the way to pull in other equipment to be worked on. I also found out the other day due to necessity, I can pull the whole car/dolly off the concrete pad. Anyone else built any dollys that they'd like to share pictures of? Jarrell

thanks, yeah i wanted mobility too. but to the looks of the jack dolly's around here with weels. not sturdy enough to me. i wanted bigger wheels but that would mean less precision if i went with jack dolly wheels. si i'll be putting something like this on each corner of my frame later on so i can get the car to the painter with no wheels. rotating wheels right now i cant push it away to do other stuff no room for it. lol. working in the backyard in a space of 5 by 6 yards.

tom

[tom_laan]

Originally Posted by kwilford VERY nice job, Tom! It's a FAR cry from the table you had used before.

glad you like it. yeah lots of improvement there. i had it on regular jack stands for half a year now but most of the time it was on just three of the four stands. so uneven was the underground.

tom