Thread: Homebuilt body cart.

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A body cart is really helpful when you are doing body work or painting, and since Dan already has his tied up in the shop I decided to build one today to put my 27 body on. I can't take credit for the design, I saw it on some forum or maybe a magazine article. The lumber, wheels, and bolts only cost me right at $ 100.00, and it took me about 3 hours to make it. I hope it helps anyone else who needs a way to move and store a body, especially when no one is around to help you lift it.

I'll have to do this in several posts due to the number of pictures and text. (the size I decided on is perfect for a T bucket body, 30's roadster body, 27 body, etc. If you want to enlarge it to fit a later body you can upgrade to 2 x 6 lumber maybe and also add some cross bracing, and make it longer/ wider to suit.)

Here is a list of the parts I used:

4 pieces of 2 x 4 lumber, 48 inches long. (side rails)
4 pieces of 2 x 4 lumber, 24 inches long. (front and back rails)
4 pieces of 4 x 4 lumber, 15 inches long. (upright pieces)
2 pieces of 2 x 6 lumber, 38 inches long. ( outriggers that the wheels go to)
16 hex bolts, 3/8 x 6 inches long. (fasten the side/front pieces to uprights)
32 flat washers, 3/8, for the above bolts.
16 nuts, 3/8, for the above bolts.
16 hex bolts, 5/16 x 2 inch to mount wheels. (store was out of 2 inch, I used 2.5 inch instead)
16 flat washers, for the above bolts.
16 nuts, 5/16 for the above bolts.
1 box of 3 inch long drywall screws to mount the outriggers to frame.
4 swiveling caster wheels, ones with brakes on them work better as you can lock the wheels to prevent it from moving around when sanding, etc.

The supplies are shown in picture # 1.

Picture number two shows the wheels mounted on the outriggers. Once this is done you can set it aside until later.

The idea is to use the 4 x 4's as uprights and build a framework around them with the 4 48 inch boards and the 4 24 inch boards. The 6 inch long bolts go through each side and front piece and through the 4 x 4's. Because the bolts would hit each other if you drilled the holes exactly in the center of the side and front pieces it is important to stagger the holes so the bolts will miss each other when you install them. (See picture 3 to understand what I mean)

Once the side pieces are bolted to the uprights, it will look like picture # 4.

continued in next post............................

Once the sides are done you can then fasten the shorter 2 x 4 rails to the front and back. I clamped them in place so I could drill the holes for the bolts that secure the front rails. (see picture # 1 below)

All that is left now is to turn it upside down and mount the outriggers and wheels to the bottom. I used 3 inch drywall screws, which are plenty strong enough to hold the kind of bodies I will put on my rack. See picture # 2 below.

I suggest you leave the bolts holding the side rails loose until you get the outriggers on and turn the cart over to it's usual position. The reason is that you can push down on the entire cart to make it sit level with all four wheels touching the floor. Then tighten them up and it will be square on the floor. Also, after a while the wood will shrink up and the bolts will become loose. Every so often go back and retighten them all up. We just found the one under Dans car was wobbly and tightening up the bolts did the trick.

Here is the final product, very simple but effective. (pictures # 3 and 4 below) Now I can roll it outside to spray it and not need any one to help.

Hope this helps someone else out who is thinking of building one.

Don

Very nice design/build Don. Presented in a simple to understand manner also. I'm sure a few people will benefit from this. Say, how are you doing on the RPU? Any progress on that, or did you back burner it in favor of the '27? Perley

Hi Perley, glad to see you posting again. Yes, the rpu is just sitting until I get this 27 out of the way. Every time I look at the Olds engine just sitting there collecting dust I want to get back on that one. It should go together pretty quick as I have most of the parts already and I'm planning on leaving it pretty much as is patina wise. Father Time and I are having a race and I'm not sure if I'm winning or not.

Take care Perley.

Don

Nicely done.
Kurt

Thanks Kurt, it isn't rocket science but is easy to put together, cheap, and works. Now that I think about it, I think I stole this idea from my Son Dan, but he stole it from someone else so that makes it ok, I guess.

Don

I had a couple body dollies welded up when I was doing early Corvette restos. They were 2" angle iron, with legs down to the lockable wheels. I made them about 16" tall, so I could get underneath to work or paint.

The one thing I did, that you could incorporate into your design is, I used vertical pieces of 1/2 inch threaded rod to support the body. That way you can drill new holes, and move those rods to fit whatever you are working on. I still use them today.... 24 years later.

I did something similar. The 2x6 "pallet" on top was a late addition to keep the body a lot less flexible for transportation to the upholsterer to work on while I was finishing the chassis. My final cost also ended up being at the $100 mark using some very nice surplus very HD casters from a pottery manufacturer that had gone to....drum roll....China



I also made up a pair similar castered dollys for the front and rear of the chassis:

Cool stuff. I guess we all are working with wood these days! It's a hell of a lot easier than metal! Don(s) weren't you surprised what a 2x4 stud goes for! Man I remember when 100 bucks would make a nice redwood deck or a small shed!

Originally Posted by stovens

Man I remember when 100 bucks would make a nice redwood deck or a small shed!

$100 - the new dollar bill.
I took my wife out yesterday for a nice, but not fancy, lunch (no booze, iced tea only) and an ice cream cone later at a roadside stand. The lunch was $27 + $5 tip and the cones were $3 each.

Dave, those castered pallets are a great idea. I did something similar under my 46. I took four Harbor Freight wheel dollys (the kind you put one under each tire normally) strapped them together and put a pallet on top. The frame rests on that and so far hasn't fallen off, although I plan to make a better setup soon.

Steve, yep, lumber isn't priced like it used to be, however $ 36 of the hundred bucks went for the wheels and another chunk went for all new bolts and nuts. One thing I have noticed is that the quality of lumber has improved. I remember having to dig through a pallet of crooked, warped 2 x 4's to find enough semi straight ones to build something. Lately they look much better. Maybe since construction has died they aren't cutting down any tree they can to get wood and the selection is better.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

One thing I have noticed is that the quality of lumber has improved. I remember having to dig through a pallet of crooked, warped 2 x 4's to find enough semi straight ones to build something. Lately they look much better. Maybe since construction has died they aren't cutting down any tree they can to get wood and the selection is better.

Don

Suspicions confirmed - all the good wood is now going to Florida instead of Japan and China!!

I picked through a stack of 2x4's in HD a couple weeks ago, gave up and went across the road to Lowes and found some that made it 5 miles home without turning into corkscrews, but it was a close getting them nailed in quick enough.

Making up dollys or storage devices is fun and wood splinters are a break from the usual steel slivers

I'd agree that construction slow down could have an effect on the "quality" of wood available, but I'd bet it has more to do with spending a little more time in the kiln to take out more moisture. A slower market leads to buyers being able to be pickier thus motivating suppliers.

I'm not sure how to corelate what you guys are experiencing today to a couple years ago, but some might remember the crate I built to ship a '40 frame to Hawaii. I had about $100 of material in that (not counting the box of screws and a few sticks of nails). I also used a set of wheel dollies to roll it out to the truck for loading. Handy little devices those.

Bob Vila would be proud. That is one serious crate.

Don

I built a body dolly when I was building my Heap. Cost $00.00. I had some waterbed frames I plucked from trash. They make great shelves. 2 x 8 with a rounded edge. I just made a square frame, screwed together with deck screws. For casters, I had a bunch of those cheap plastic casters that are on the bottom of office chairs. I drilled holes installed 2 in each corner and it worked great. Used for the international, and ford cab's, and had my 39 dodge cab on it till I got rid of it a month ago. It had been outside for about a year, and didnt look so great anymore, didn't have any further use for it so I took it apart, used 2 boards for shelves in garage and threw away the other 2 sad looking ones. One mans trash, anothers treasure.