Moveable jack stands

[hrosenthal]

I am just starting to plan out my first project, and the biggest problem so far is space. Although we have a two car garage, we keep one car in the garage when not being used. I'd like to keep my project car on one side of the garage when not being worked on, but move it to the center of the garage when I am working on it. Can anyone recommend a safe, moveable support that would allow me to do this. Thanks.

[Mikey_P]

I've seen guys use those furniture dollies that Harbor Freight sells with jack stands mounted on them. You could always use a piece of angle to fasten them together.

[hrosenthal]

That seems like a good idea. I suppose if that doesn't work out, I can always keep it on dollies for storage, and put on jack stands when I am working.

[edwardb]

If you're talking about the small wooden furniture dollies they sell at HF, as I recall often on sale for $10 - $12 each, I actually used those as very low budget wheel dollies during my build. They're rated for 1000 lb each, and the tires set on them reasonably well. But the wheels are pretty small, and would trip over the smallest crack in my garage floor. Worked OK for my build, but if I were doing this more frequently would get real wheel dollies. But I would never put jack stands on top of them and then try to move the car around. Plus I would never get under the car with stands sitting on those dollies. Jack stands need to be solidly on concrete, as far as I'm concerned.

My situation was similar to yours. Built my Mk3 in a two car garage, but we always tried to keep one of our DD's in the garage especially during the winter. So I usually only had one side to work in. Before the body is on, the chassis by itself isn't that wide, and it's easy to have it up on stands on one side of the garage and easily get around all four sides. Once the body is on, it's a little tighter, but still manageable. But I did frequently move it to the center -- like during a weekend when I planned to work a lot -- and then just move it back. With the dollies and a couple floor jacks, 10 minute job at most.

[smithtlw]

I purchased some 8" casters rated for 700lb each off ebay shipped to my door for around $45. Probably don't need to be that big but the price was right. Then I used some 2 X 6 lumber to make a simple dolly. Rolls very easy. I will use some jack stands if I am going to be working under it even though the setup seems pretty good.

Lousy Picture I had:
chassis_dolly.jpg

[AZPete]

It sounds like you need to build a chassis dolly. I got these wheels (casters?) from Harbor Freight. "I" design lets you mount gas & brake lines along the 4" tubes. I didn't want to buy wheels and tires until I needed them so I kept it on this dolly, with engine in and running, until go-kart. This held the chassis at about 12" above ride height which made working easier on my back. Once the wheels were on I lowered it incrementally with jack stands - front, back, front, back. Oh, it also made a nice way to pull the new frame from the Stewart truck into my garage.
Pete

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Hi Guys. Thought I might let you guys in on a sneak peek at a new product I've been lucky enough to get my hands on. I just finished up building a GTM for some great guys who are in the final stages of getting these into production. They were kind enough to leave these ezVjacks with me to try out when they came to pick up their GTM. IMO, these are PERFECT for what we (as kit car builders) need them for. They put the vehicle at the perfect height to work on, whether it's mechanical work or body work. They are fully adjustable for width. As you can see from the photos, the GTM chassis is pretty narrow at the rear, and wide at the front, so these worked out great, as you can adjust them for whatever frame width you have in the location you need to put them. The center caster can be locked into position in 90 degree increments, so you can lock both of them in-line with the chassis so the chassis will ONLY roll straight forward or straight back.....OR lock them at 90 degrees, so you could have the car pushed up tight against a wall, and then pull it straight out from the wall to work on it. The huge casters roll across rough or cracked floors with no problem at all, and also raises the supporting beams up off the floor far enough so you can roll a floor jack thru the opening between the casters.......in other words, you can use a floor jack to jack the car up, then roll the ezVjacks OVER the handle/body of the floor jack, get the arms positioned where you want them, lower the car down onto the ezVjacks and then pull the floor jack OUT FROM BETWEEN THE CASTERS on the ezVjack! This really makes it easy to get the car on and off of the ezVjacks.

As I said, these guys are getting REALLY close to production on these. They do not have their website on-line yet, but if you are interested in ordering a set, you can call them at 920-256-0549 and get on the order list. These are super heavy-duty units that will last more than a life-time, and when not in use, they fold up to a very narrow profile and can be stood up vertically against a wall to take up very little space.

[hrosenthal]

VRaptor Speedworks - These look great, I'd love to get them, but they don't seem like they'll be available soon enough for me. The FFR Assembly Manual shows exactly what I'm looking for, but I don't know where to get it. I assume they made it in the shop.dolly.jpg

[hrosenthal]

AZPete -
I think this will do the trick.
Thanks

[Someday I Suppose]

I used a dolly like Pete's till the suspension was on, someplace after that I just dropped it on the group and put it on jacks as needed. A raised body buck will let you store the body over the frame during the build as well to keep it to one bay.

Scott

[azbruin]

I started with the Harbor Freight dollies and they hold the weight fine. They just aren't stable!!!! Dropped the chassis the first time I tried to move it. They are a little bit better if the weight is near the ground but I was trying to have it up for easy access. I ended up just setting the car on stands in a position that was comfortable to work around.