Budget Bling: Storing Your Cars On The Cheap
By Rick Reimundez
We recently showed you Harbor Freight’s knockoff version of a motorcycle dolly. That’s great if you’ve got a bike to move around, but what if you’ve got a project car instead? Griot’s Garage has a really popular set of hydraulic portable car lifts, but they start at $300. Harbor Freight has your back here, too, though, offering a similar version for $140.
In both cases the wheel dollies are sold in pairs so you’ll need two sets of them to lift up all four wheels. Once you’ve got the car on ‘em, though, you can easily just pick up your project and move it anywhere you need, even up against a wall.
Sounds like the perfect knockoff right? Not quite. Griot’s version will lift wheels up to 13” – but HF’s version will only lift 9” wide wheels. Not to worry though, I can still save some money for a set for my BMW if I pick up one pair of Griot’s version for my rears and one set of the HF version for my fronts. Still saves me $160.
In both cases you’re looking at a 1,500 lb weight capacity per lift – so with four you can lift a 6000 lb car easily. They also both feature heavy duty 4” non-marring swivel casters.
Harbor Freight actually lists theirs on sale in stores for $130 a pair. Not to mention their wheel dolly stand (pictured above) that holds two lifts when they’re not in use, which is usually $32, but is currently on sale for $20. (Remember: you’ll need two if you have four lifts.) Griot’s Garage has a stand too, but it’s $80 – although it holds all four.
3/4 ton Hydraulic Wheel Dollies [Harbor Freight]
Wheel Dolly Stand (holds 2 dollies) [Harbor Freight]
Hydraulic Wheel Stand [Griot’s Garage]
September 28th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
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September 30th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I never quite understood why HF sold these in pairs. What good would it do to just have two?
I suppose you could put two on and *maybe* swivel the vehicle in place, but that doesn’t seem like that big of a help.
These do seem like really handy things to move your projects around, but it would seem two sets is a minimum.
–TMIB