ossodiseppia's Dolly

fgc · #1 (**permalink**) 08-17-2004, 12:22 AM

Hey ossodiseppia ,

Great design on the dolly and fab pics of your restoration. I am toying with the idea of getting everything off my boat tail but I was wondering with the body on the dolly, how did the spray painters paint the bottom? Also did you require any work on the floor pans/sill etc if so did you do it with the body on the dolly or while body was still sitting on its wheels?

Where was the anchoring points for the body on the dolly? I was thinking of using the bolting holes for the rear trailing arms and the steering box as mounting but I'm not sure if the steering box/idler mounting holes can take the stress - even though they are on that massive frame.

Any trouble loading and transporting the body on dolly to and from the shop?

Will be delighted in hearing you share your experience on this since many of the restoration including the one that I had completed on mine about a year ago was less extensive than I had wanted because I had neither the experience nor help in getting the car to the totally bare state!

cheers
fgc

**ossodiseppia** · #2 (**permalink**) 08-17-2004, 08:05 AM

Thanks for the kudos.

The cars jack points sit on the dolly. If you notice, the castors on the dolly are straight down from the jack points. This transfers the weight of the car directly down to the dolly castors. Each of the castors is held on with 3 inch lag bolts. The dolly is very sturdy and doesn't flex one bit. I installed brackets at each of the corners so I could run a long bolt through the jack point. This tied the dolly to the car.

With everything off the car, the chassis is quite light. It's possible for four average guys to lift it. The guy that finished the underside (the first time) turned the chasis upside down. I don't think that was really necessary, but that's what he did.

The placed that finished my chassis, probably put the chassis on a couple of very sturdy saw horses. The front of the chassis can rest on the lower cross member and the rear on the shock towers. It may be possible to rest the rear of the car on the trailing arm pivot. I'm not an engineer, so I don't know how much of the cars weight gets transfered to those pivot points. Anybody?? Bueller?

The floor pans were replaced. All of the work was done from the top and not the bottom. The underside can be detailed and finished without turning the chassis upside down.

When the chassis returned home, it was strapped to the dolly and the dolly was strapped to the trailer. There were some additional straps the went from the chassis to the trailer. I was really nervous during the drive home. I'm glad to say, it was very uneventful. The chassis rolled right off the trailer and up into the garage. There were no problems.

With the chassis on a dolly, it's very easy to move around. I can spin the thing around in my garage with my Alfetta parked in it's parking spot. I can fit my three cars in my two car garage. The Alfetta goes on the left and the Duetto on the right. I park really close to the Duetto and I have enough roum to swing the door open so I can get out of the car. When I want to work on the Duetto, I back out my daily beater and roll the Duetto out.

The dolly will be for sale when I get the car back on the ground. Anybody interested?

SuperFab · #3 (**permalink**) 10-02-2004, 06:37 PM

Nice stuff! I've enjoyed viewing your work. I am working on a Giulia Super project that is of similar magnitude (strip to bare metal, rotisserie, etc.) and would love to have a website to "show off" to other alfisti...but I don't know about building a website...or posting photos on this forum for that matter. Help anyone? How do I post pictures of my Giulia Super? Anyone interested?

bal4833 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-05-2004, 11:16 AM

I would not recommend using the trailing arm connection points to support the chassis on a dolly. These points would have been design to be strongest in the lateral direction rather than vertical. To resist the movement of the axle. While some of that would be vertical as power is applied to the wheels and reacts through the axle to the connection point, it would have been pulling down on the point, rather than pushing up. I think I have visualized that correctly anyway. They may be able to support the weight of the empty shell of a car, but I would not want to test it. Especially a car whose structural strength is in doubt. That is the case with my car.

The point at which the springs work against the body would be ideal since that is where the body wieght is normally transferred to the wheels, but there probably is no attachment points for temporary use. Jack points are relatively known points of support and I would agree they are a good choice. Some recent issues of the Alfa Owner had pictures of a steel tube dolly supporting at the same place. They could even tilt the car to make working on the rockers less back braking.

SuperFab · #5 (**permalink**) 10-05-2004, 12:27 PM

Boys...the strongest areas of a unitized body structure are the suspension pick-up points...that's why the wheels remain with the car! I agree that if the structure has rusted a bit you have to be careful where you support the body. In the Alfa factory, the overhead conveyors carried the cars around on the jacking points (I have pictures). The rotisserie I built for my car uses the "T" arm mount points to support the rear of the car and the rear lower control arm mount points on the front crossmember to support the front of the car. I'll have to post some pictures...

PSk · #6 (**permalink**) 10-06-2004, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bal4833

I would not recommend using the trailing arm connection points to support the chassis on a dolly. These points would have been design to be strongest in the lateral direction rather than vertical. To resist the movement of the axle. While some of that would be vertical as power is applied to the wheels and reacts through the axle to the connection point, it would have been pulling down on the point, rather than pushing up. I think I have visualized that correctly anyway. They may be able to support the weight of the empty shell of a car, but I would not want to test it. Especially a car whose structural strength is in doubt. That is the case with my car.

**CarPoor** · #7 (**permalink**) 10-24-2004, 12:02 PM

Pete- (PSK) Would you mind posting pics of your chassis dolly here? I am contemplating rocker repair on my Super and rust repair on my "new" '59 Sprint, so I need to decide how to build a dolly that will, hopefully, work for both project, leaning towards a metal frame so if I need to have welding done near the dolly I don't have to worry about fire. BTW, BEAUTIFUL job, Osso!

PSk · #8 (**permalink**) 10-25-2004, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CarPoor

Pete- (PSK) Would you mind posting pics of your chassis dolly here? I am contemplating rocker repair on my Super and rust repair on my "new" '59 Sprint, so I need to decide how to build a dolly that will, hopefully, work for both project, leaning towards a metal frame so if I need to have welding done near the dolly I don't have to worry about fire. BTW, BEAUTIFUL job, Osso!

**tubut** · #9 (**permalink**) 10-25-2004, 01:54 AM

CarPoor, I don't think you will be able to create a good dolly for more than one car. Here is my approach on a 2600 Touring Spider that you may be able to use on the Giulietta Sprint:

The front part is bolted to the body where the lower A-frame attach.

The rear part is attached where the radius rod go. There is a lip in the frame that we could use to give this section stability.

Before we made this dolly that allowed me to jack the car up high (see here), we carefully checked that the car had no rust in the areas where we attached the dolly.

Eastwood shows an interesting approach here. Unfortunately, I can no longer find this vehicle tilter on their web site (i looked at it a couple of weeks ago).

Anyway, I hope this helps,

Ruedi

Touringspider · #10 (**permalink**) 10-25-2004, 11:09 AM

I had a dolly almost identical to Ruedi's for my 2000 Touring Spider, except it was probably a bit taller. The attachment points in question were quite stable, but then again the car was extremely solid.

My advice for anyone building a dolly is very simple: don't scrimp on the casters!!!! They guy who built mine used some small cheap ones that were probably OK for a twin bed, but totally inadequate for a heavy car. Moving the dolly was a chore, and the small wheels seemed to have a mind of their own. Getting the shell/dolly onto a trailer is a story for some other time...

The tilter Ruedi referred to is a German product. I have seen a live demo of one, and it really is a slick product. You can buy directly from the distributor via their ad in Hemmings. A couple of us here in Phoenix were seriously tempted at one point.

Arno Leskinen
AROC National Concours Chair
102
115
116

PSk · #11 (**permalink**) 10-25-2004, 08:41 PM

Arno's 100% right about the casters ... I'm on my second set. If not strong enough they collapse real easy ... infact I thought I was going to tip my shell over one day

, scared the sh!t out of me.

Pete

PSk · #12 (**permalink**) 11-05-2004, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSk

You can sort of see it in the photos of my car restoration (follow the link in my signature).

I am in the process of buying another digital camera ... when this happens I will take better photos of the dolly.

Pete

116_Veloce · #13 (**permalink**) 11-06-2004, 04:10 PM

Say, osso, (out of subject) what's been happening with your car... Is it close to completion now?

**ossodiseppia** · #14 (**permalink**) 11-07-2004, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 116_Veloce

Say, osso, (out of subject) what's been happening with your car... Is it close to completion now?

PSk · #15 (**permalink**) 11-07-2004, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ossodiseppia

No, nothing new. I've had a personal issue pop up that required a lot of my attention. It's take the wind out of my sails ...