Hydraulic wheel dollies - which to buy ?

[Scott Anderson CLC#26068]

I'd like to move my car towards the side of my garage for working on it during the off season up here in rainy Western Washington; so, I find myself in the market for a set of hydraulic wheel dollies.

I'm am interested if anyone has any advice about them to share and don't know anyone who has them.

Searching around on the web I see 'Go Jack' brand is highly thought of - and priced accordingly. Others are available for less.

Normally I'm a 'one gets what they pay for' sort and I'm not a cheapskate. But on the other hand I'm not running a restoration shop and so I hope I can get some that might be good enough for my use at $4-500 instead of twice that.

TIA for any opinions or thoughts that could be helpful.

[76eldo]

Don't go with the large Harbor Freight ones.  I found them very hard to use.  Smaller aluminum ones worked really well for a friend of mine.  The ones that go around the tire and jack up look pretty nice too.

brian

[Scott Anderson CLC#26068]

Thank you Brian.

Re your last sentence, were the Harbor Freight ones you had poor luck with the hydraulic kind?  I'm definately wanting the hydraulic kind, that goes around the tire jacks the vehicle up without any other point of contact.

Scott

[Herman Desser]

I have used the Harbor Freight Hydraulic ones for nearly 5 years now and although a little heavy for the price cant be beat.  They7 go on sale every once in a while and that is when you should buy them

Herman
clc19416

[76eldo]

I had difficulty getting the wheels to not bind up when swiveling.  Mine were the non-hydro type.  Perhaps they just aren't made for a 1960 Biarritz in mind, but it was tough for 2 men to try to move the car around.

brian

[Scott Anderson CLC#26068]

Thanks for the clarification 76Eldo, and it helps me to justify the hydraulic type.

Herman, you've got email.

- Scott

[Classic]

I few notes about "skates":
1.   They don't work well on rough floors.
2.   They work great on smooth, level floors
3.   Once you get your 5000 lb. car moving, however, it will want to stay moving (Newton's First Law of Motion).  Be sure your able to stop it before it crashes into another of your pride & joys, etc..  This is a significant concern on smooth but slanted floors or driveways.  Gravity is a substantial force.
4.   It is always helpful to have a 2nd person handy to help.

[Jim Beard]

I have used the GOJAK ones before and they work well. But if you are in an area like me where your car is laid up for half the year you might as well save your money and get the old school type of skates that you jack up the car and put under the tire, you will only be doing it twice a year, I can jack a car and skate it almost as fast as the tire pinchers. Don't get me wrong the tire pinchers are great if you have multiple cars up and down all the time but I do not thinkthey are worth the money to use twice a year and if you have cars with fat tires you will pay extra for the wide ones.

[Scott Anderson CLC#26068]

Thanks Classic, some good thoughts. My garage floor is a little rough as it has an epoxy paint with the color chips in it. No problem for rolling normally but with solid wheels and that much weight it might be interesting.

Jim, appreciate your perspective also. The car is laid up half the year here as yours is although my garage space is a bit more limited than I read about yours in the restoration forum posts you've made. I enjoy following your progress!

- Scott