Vehicle dollies - is this acceptable?

[Cubieman]

In search of a way to move a vehicle perpendicular to the other vehicles in my garge for space purposes I needed dollies and didn't want to shell out for the pneumatic dollies so I purchased a set of 4 standard dollies for the less than the price of 1 pneumatic dolly.

I didn't anticipate this issue (should have checked the dimensions before ordering) but the threaded stud that goes through the dolly platform for the caster will poke into the tire which I do not like at all.

I had some plastic strips laying around and drilled holes in them to cover the protruding studs, these plastic strips were then bolted to the dollies and I gave the corners a slight radius.

The issue I have now is that the tire doesn't touch anything but these plastic strips, I am worried this may be too much weight in a small area, although this is similar to how the pump up dollies would interface with a tire.

I am thinking of either living with how these are currently or using some plywood to fill the gap up and give the tires a third point of contact.

Just wanted some opinions as I tend to overthink things that could be a non-issue sometimes.

[Cronenberged]

As long as it's rated for the load should be good. I don't have them but I like the Pittsburgh one from HF and you just slide them up to the tire and jack them up.

[Cubieman]

As long as it's rated for the load should be good. I don't have them but I like the Pittsburgh one from HF and you just slide them up to the tire and jack them up.

I just about bought those however I wanted to save some $ and also I wanted to use these to move other heavy items around and the pump up type wouldn't really work for that application.

[sapote]

“didn't anticipate this issue (should have checked the dimensions before ordering) but the threaded stud that goes through the dolly platform for the caster will poke into the tire which I do not like at all.“
I see it has a bolt going down, so the stock unit had the bolt threaded up with a nut on top?
Why not cut the bolt shorter and not using the 2 plastic spacers?
What is the rated load?

[Cubieman]

“didn't anticipate this issue (should have checked the dimensions before ordering) but the threaded stud that goes through the dolly platform for the caster will poke into the tire which I do not like at all.“
I see it has a bolt going down, so the stock unit had the bolt threaded up with a nut on top?
Why not cut the bolt shorter and not using the 2 plastic spacers?
What is the rated load?

Even if I ground down the caster's threaded stud there is still a nut on the top that the tire would be pressed into. One worry I have is the weight of the vehicle pulling the plastic strips I added inward, however they are bolted to the dolly so I don't know that this will happen.

I just don't like having the tires pressed onto two relatively small points of contact, I feel as though I need to not fill in the "gap" underneath the center portion of the tire. Hopefully some pre-cut plywood will fill that dimension.

Unless you had very small tire widths (~sub 200) you have these studs poking into the tire, probably fine for most folks with old classic cars with skinny tires.


EDIT: Rated for 1500lb per dolly, the plastic I used is quite dense so I don't anticipate it cracking etc., but I'll soon find out.

[eacmen]

I don’t see how the tire would sit on the nut if you cut the bolts down to meet the nut. If you’re really worried about it get an acorn style nut.

[Cubieman]

I don’t see how the tire would sit on the nut if you cut the bolts down to meet the nut. If you’re really worried about it get an acorn style nut.

Here is a photo I pulled of Amazon of this product, in my case the stud really jabbed into the tire even on my fronts (245s), I could grind down the stud, but even with an acorn nut it would be pressed into the tire quite hard, maybe this is a non-issue.

[FBloggs]

Those dollies are cheap enough and understressed enough that I would take them and a couple of 25lb dumbells to the welding shop.
Set the 2 weights on each dolly.
Remove the nuts.
grind/cut down the protuding studs to 4 mm.
weld the studs to the dollies.

[jbfrancis3]

I don't think the nut pressing into the tire is much to worry about

[sapote]

Here is a photo I pulled of Amazon of this product, in my case the stud really jabbed into the tire even on my fronts (245s), I could grind down the stud, but even with an acorn nut it would be pressed into the tire quite hard,

I would grind the bolt down to flush the nut, then the tires will not press hard on the nuts because tire will press on the bend of the dolly first before touching the nuts.

[DJAM3]

How about just drilling new thru holes for the casters wider apart?

[stash1]

Can you just flip the dolly the other way...basically slide it under sideways? Assuming the caster wheels rotate either 180/360*.

[Cubieman]

Can you just flip the dolly the other way...basically slide it under sideways? Assuming the caster wheels rotate either 180/360*.

I thought of that as well, it seems it would be ok although the tires would kind of be pressed in on each side but with the way I have it set up currently with the plastic strips the tires are pressed into anyway by the strips.

I rolled the car around the other night and love these things!

[sapote]

I rolled the car around the other night and love these things!

I'd like to see how much the plastic strips bent the tire.

[Cubieman]

I'd like to see how much the plastic strips bent the tire.

The strips have a radius to them so they didn't seem to press into the tire that badly as to damage anything, or so I hope.

I ended up grinding down the bolts so they are flush to the nut and that does indeed help but the bolt still pushes into the tire, but the tire makes much more contact with the dolly than with my plastic strips.

I do wonder if setting the carts 90° might be the best strategy though.