wanting ideas on building a body cart for 70-74 a bodies

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moparmusclecars

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what casters should i be looking for to use when building a car rack? 1000# each? I'm just not sure on casters. Do I want rubber, or hard plastic casters? Also, how big of square tubing should I use? where on the A-bodies is the best place to mount the 1/2 racks? I seen some built where they are separate and one goes in the front, while one mounts more towards the back. Any one have plans of how to build such a unit? just trying to get ideas, thanks guys!
 
Are you just wanting to build some stands to role the shell around on...or something you can do bodywork on?

Here are the stands I built for my Challenger. The rear stands bolted right on to the Dart without any mods. The front stands needed new holes drilled. I also bolted braces side to side onto the stands for extra support. They are made out of 2" square tubing and 1/4" steel plate. I just got the front stands modified and mounted to the Dart this weekend. If you want a pic let me know. I can take one tonight.


[URL="http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q229/burdar/Misc/stand012.jpg"][/URL]

I originally had cheap 4" casters on the stands. The Challenger flat spotted the wheels from sitting. I replaced them with 6" wheels that were made with a harder rubber. These new wheels work great. The car moves around easily and they don't flat spot.

The bodyshop that did my Challenger had it on a home built body cart. The front mounted in the K-member locations and the rear mounted in the leaf spring locations.
[URL="http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q229/burdar/73%20Challenger/P1010108.jpg"][/URL]

[URL="http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q229/burdar/Misc/stand010.jpg"][/URL]

[URL="http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q229/burdar/Misc/stand001.jpg"][/URL]
 
6inch polyurethane wheels with swivel casters.2inch box receiver tube 3/16 wall.roller legs bolted to leaf spring mounts and front bumper bracket mounts on end of front frame rails.supports a duster shell fine.i have a crossbar that's adjustable across the front legs with a tongue that slides thru it and bolts on.now I hook a engine hoist to that and stand it on its tail.i used caster mounting pads,and swap out the wheels whith 1 bolt.for wheels and caster pads try holtz industries,newark Ohio.big selection 3 inch to 10 inch wheels in rubber,polyurethane,phenolic,inner tube outdoor type tires-cheap/ship anywhere same day
 
thanks for the ideas, guys! I'm still trying to work through this, as I am now thinking it would be nice to make this cart somewhat universal so I could use it on a 67 camaro i will be doing, also. With that said, I am thinking I would like casters that will roll around on my concrete floor while also being able to hook a chain on it, and drag it around the back of my building in the dirt and gravel so I can put it in my paint booth (since it is not accessible from my main shop to move a car in). maybe I need to be looking mmore at the rubber wheeled casters. We have a local place here who sells them, I guess I need to stop by there, and check some casters out, too.
 
when i built my rotisserie, I used 1500# casters from HF. The pivot, even with ball bearings is really poor and I have to fight the spinner every time I have to move it. I wish that I had spent on better casters. to move your cart across the ground you will need some bigger tires. Casters won't cut it. Good luck. L8r
 
Don't know where you'll be rolling. Suggest 2 fixed and 2 pivoting casters as Burdar has done. If four pivoting casters are used, moving on a slant with one person trying to handle the move can be problematic as casters will tend to pivot down hill.
 
Here's a picture of the Dart on the stands. I didn't have a section of angle iron to tie the front stands together so a 2x4 was used.


 
Don't know where you'll be rolling. Suggest 2 fixed and 2 pivoting casters as Burdar has done. If four pivoting casters are used, moving on a slant with one person trying to handle the move can be problematic as casters will tend to pivot down hill.

could use two locking casters on one end and two swivel on the other end. having only two swivel casters will really limit the mobility in small areas.
 
Heres pix of what I did for this. I used 4 10" diameter Bassick heavy duty swivel castors off a machine frame my work was scrapping. These have zerks for greasing the wheels and the swivels. The rear 2 castors are attached to tubing, thats welded to a pair of old rear leaf spring front perches. On the rear castors I welded up brackets with 1/2" diameter solid steel pins that drop down locking them in the straight position, but can be removed to allow the rear swivels to turn so I can spin it around in the garage with all 4 castors swiveling. These swivel locks cannot be seen in the pic, because i added them later. i can take a current pic if anybody is interested in seeing this.

When I decided to get the body up on its side I used a combination of leftover steel tubing from other projects, and some old trampoline tubing I had behind my shop to make a pair of ends that fit into the mounts attached to both the front and rear bumper supports, then i rolled her over on her side to tackle the underside. I believe I have about $44 in the whole setup. The rotisserie ends can be used for other cars too, you just have to make up the pieces to bolt to both ends of the car for these rotisserie ends to fit into.

I was gonna use a metal poly pipe reel to make the rotisserie ends, but could never find one. I think this turned out better though. The last pic I started putting in my home made torque boxes. i still have to fit and install the passenger side front and rear ones, also have a Dillinger lower rad support bar I need to weld in. These torque boxes are 1/8" thick steel plate, along with the 2"X 3" X 1/8" subframe connectors I installed while the car was level before I flipped it on its side. i am slowly getting closer and closer to being able to primer and paint the underside.
 

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heres a pic of one of the rear swivel castors with the locking pin to keep them straight when they need to be locked straight.
 

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That's a cool setup. When I had four swivel casters it was hard to control with one person. That's why I went with fixed on the rear this time. Yours are the best of both worlds. Good job.
 
Here's the front Stand I made for my car out of some used casters and scrap steel I had laying around. I still have to make the rear ones, but they're pretty straight forward to make and you can build them to whatever height you like.

 
perfect guys! Keep the ideas coming. Anyone used the harbor freight casters? Just curious if they are junk. What weight casters should we be using on these carts, etc? I figure something heavier.
 
Decided to build my own but with a bit of a twist, I wanted them to do a bit more then just roll around. I had in mind that they should change in height so I can raise and lower the car and I wanted them to support the body in the same way the suspension does so I needed to use those same support points not just the front leaf spring bracket which can leave the back section hanging out there unsupported. Using the leaf springs and the centre depth of the wheel well allows me significant height movement both up and down.
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I also wanted the car to be planted solid when I’m working on it and not wiggling around so the casters would need to hinge out of the way so the stands can rest on the rubber pads and it worked out well and doesn’t move at all. You can slide in a pretend axle tube join the two to add some extra stability if you like, I put it in to provide a centre point for the floor jack to jack from. If you want to change the casters to some others you can just weld on the same hinge to them and drive the hinge pin out and slip the different ones on and replace the pin. I didn’t skimp and built them out of some fairly heavy wall steel I wasn’t going to take any chances.

I’m pretty much going to copy moparmat2000’s front version with slightly heavier gauge steel and add a caster lock somewhat similar to his. I’ll give this version a try, I think they should be strong enough and mobile enough to serve my project.

Feel free to comment if you see somewhere I can improve them.
 

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Finished up the front casters a bit ago and forgot to post them and the final result.

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I made these up during the week to fit to my Aussie 1969 Chrysler Valiant VF Hardtop. I used 5mm wall steel and 300kg each castors, two of them are locking.

I bolted them into the rear leaf spring front mount and the engine K frame mount. The body sits on the wheel stands so as the majority of the weight is not on the bolts. Wheels around nicely and I can easily reach the centre of the roof for when I do the body work.
 

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