Moving a 1917 in garage

drpepper1885

drpepper1885

Member
Hello. I recently purchased a set of car dollies/skates from one of the large Model T parts houses so that I could reposition my Model T when I needed some extra space in the garage. I have found the car very difficult to move without having some apply a fair amount of pressure to the wheels. With wood spoke wheels, I am very leary of pushing on them for fear of loosening the spokes. Is there a brand of car dolly/skates that you Model T guys have found easy to work with? Your comments and advice are very appreciated. Mike in Houston
 
I know the dollies I have take a fare amount of force to move like you described. maybe try oiling the casters? In my honest opinion if your leary of messing up the spokes by pushing on them i wouldnt trust driving on them either.
 
The wooden wheels are newly reworded...an expensive proposition to say the least. That is the reason for my concern - just not wanting to mess them up. I will try oiling/ grading the casters to see if it makes any difference.
 
I see, not wanting to crack the paint so on and so forth. I use oiled the casters on my cherry picker and it made a world of difference. Pushing on certain points of the body could be okay also. Strong points like where the front of the doors meet the body or the back corners of the cab.
 
I have the car dollies and the ones with the plastic rollers are much harder to move than the ones with metal rollers. I oiled them and they are better but not the same.
 
Make sure the dollies have the bolts for the casters with the nut ends up if equipped so.the extra length facing down will make the casters not swivel properly.
 
I check my T wood spoke wheels for loose spokes by "Pulling and Pushing" as hard as I can. If I head a noise from the spokes or see movement, I know I am begining to have a problem.
Willie in Houston
 
It has been my experience that the metal wheeled casters are by far the easiest to move around. I had a set of plastic ones that would work with effort when my '24 Touring was on them but would not budge when under a '50 Ford. I replaced the plastic with steel wheel casters from Ace Hardware and the '50 would move almost too easily on a concrete floor.

Gar Williams
 
I just moved a 23 TT in my shop with a set of cheap dollies with metal casters and it had no problems. it even has a missing spoke in one of the rear wheels but they still didnt creak a peep.
 
I always just used 2 well positioned floor jacks (with a scrap of carpet on top) and a helper. We used to spin cars all the way arond in the shop. If you get the tires just off the floor a couple inches that's plenty.
 
Maybe rig up something along the line of a "reach" on a wagon, and hook on to the skates themselves? Might work rather nifty. Good luck!
 
I have several Model A's and use the Harbor Freight wheel skates @ $39.95 a pair.
I take the steel casters apart before using them and gease everything with wheel bearing grease.
I can move the cars sideways, front or back by myself by putting my back into the fender and pushing. This is on a level concrete floor.
 
I sweep the floor to make sure there is nothing to catch the caster wheels. It doesn't take much to hang up my plastic casters.
 
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