Nicely done!After balancing my hardtop on some scaffolding and taking up half the garage with hard door landmines for a couple weeks I decided it was time to make a dolly that I could use to protect and easily move around my hardtop and doors. I did not want to spend a bunch of money because I want to hang the doors and make a hoist for the top eventually.
Now my only complaint is it rolls too easily. I will be switching 2 of the casters to the locking type.
$upplies:
- 4 @ 250LBS casters from harbor freight = $25
- 11 @ 2"x4"x92 5/8" = $30 (I went with the 92" studs because they were cheaper)
- roll of outdoor carpet = $17 (it was in a rack at depot in the flooring area. I believe it was 6'x8' and I used almost all of it.)
- 42" x 36.5"ish ply for decking
I made the cart 42" x 42" at the base and decked it with a 3/4" piece of scrap I had.
For the back 2 corners I took 4 @ 2"x4"x49" pieces and made 2 L -shaped corners and attached them to the base. I screwed the uprights together first then screwed them to the base. I added the support braces after the fact to stabilize it. 3" screws were used it to screw the uprights into the base and a square was used to keep everything aligned.
After Attaching the back corners I measured from the front of the door to the mirror to make the front uprights and placed them so they doors would fit and the mirrors would be facing the outside. The front upright is also 49" tall. I placed the upright 14" from the front of the dolly, squared it up with a framing square and secured it to the 2"x4" it ran perpendicular to.
After placing the front uprights I then braced the back and sides to stiffen it up and guesstimated where I wanted the doors to lean. My goal was to have the door be supported by the covered 2"x4". Just Cut your braces to fit and make sure you measure as close to the base as you can. That will make it easier to get the uprights square when you screw everything together.
The angled center brace was done after everything was done and is only there to give me something to bungee the doors to if they are going to be left on the cart for a while.
After getting the sides and back secured and squared up I ran the rear top support. I measured the span between the fiberglass structure of the hard top on each side and gave it about an inch of space on each side. I made this 2"x4"x54" long and attached it to the rear uprights. I slid the 2"x4" up about 1" above the uprights and secured it. I wanted to make sure the frame of the cart would not come in contact with the hotheads headliner. I made the side top supports 36" and secured them to the back L upright and ran it to the front/side uprights.
I then made a ledge to hold the freedom panels. They are 29.5" long and are made so that I can set the panels in after the top is in place and they will not fall out. My initial intention was to secure them with bungees but they nest in there nicely and I don't thing I will need to do anything unless I want to put the back half on without the panels. The first two photos show how the fit in there.
Finally I attached a scrap of 2"x4" that the indexing pin would fall into. I drilled a hole in the 2"x4" and screwed it to the side top support and now the top is locked into the dolly.
Finally I wrapped it in carpet everywhere it could come in contact with the doors or top and added the casters.
