Anybody ever make a door dolly to hold a door during installation and removal? If so any pics? I want to make one. Thanks in advance, Steve
I use a short choker strap,wrapped around the top of the door frame and hooked to my engine hoist. It works o.k. ,but a dolly would be cool too.
I have a Craftsman motorcyle lift that I use for doors. It actually works well and is pretty handy for other stuff to. I've used it on reaer end and for a trans jack also. Todd
I can't use the rafters, because of the finished ceiling. I also want to use it to hang bumpers, so I don't think an engine hoist would work ( a multi use tool so to speak) I usually work alone , so no one is usually around to help. Steve
I came up with a door installation fixture while re-assembling a Fairlane as these doors were quite heavy and we didn't need any paint chips.... I had seen some of the cradle style that you could add to your floor jack, but I have a problem how the cradle supports the complete weight of the door across the lower edge of a door skin. Too much risk of paint damage in my view. So I came up with another version that would support the weight across a wider area on the inner door, for less risk of damage to any visible area. Here's the basic form, with some pipe receivers using set screws. The support braces are bent from electrical EMT and covered in pipe insulation to protect the finish.. The support braces also help to keep the door oriented in a vertical position, to keep the door from flopping back and forth (as you may experience with the cradle style). This will help prevent paint damage/chips from excessive door movement during the install. Notice nothing touches the edge of the door skin.... Once hinges are snug, loosen set screws for outer support brace, lower a couple inches, remove outer support brace, and simply pull jack toward rear of car to clear door.
I will second that. It is a very nice door lift, something I might copy. All of the time that I worked in body shops, we just wrestled them. The other way that I would install them, if the fender was off, just put the door in the hole and latch it. Put the bolts through the hinges and screw them into the post.
That's a very nice modified cradle...I'll have to build something like that to reassemble my pickup...
I bought one from Auto Body Toolmart. It is pretty simple and would not be that hard to make. It has a couple of arms to hold the bottom of the door and another arm on the top to set on the top of the door. It uses a screw jack to adjust the height. Nothing fancy but works for me. Take a look at their web site to get an idea of what I am talking about. Neal
Thanks for the comments guys, for those looking at making their own, I will say this does need one improvement. The inner brace needs to be shortened about 2" to keep it out of the window crank, (or trim a bit more off of its padding to allow it to drop down some more) The interference tends to be hard on the rubber padding.
I built one just like MP&C, but out of 2 x 4's. Just the receiver that goes into the jack is steel, tubing and plate. Took a couple hours to build, and helps tremendously, as I mostly work alone.
J'st wandering, I've looked at that one and others. I'm going to use the screw jack idea as I have three of them. I'm leaning towards a www.brutmfg.com model with some additions to it. I want to make it more user friendly for my needs. chopolds I usually work alone too, thats why I want it user friendly for me. Thanks, Steve
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