Kevin,
I've got my MGA body in pieces. Built one of the dollies. Been on and off the
dolly several times over the last few years. A long restoration! I built the
dolly out of 2 x 4's. The sides are 2 vertical uprights tied together by
another 2x4 about 6 ft long. The cross pieces are 5'-2" long. They are longer
than they need to be for the body alone. They reach far enough that when the
body is on the dolly, the dolly can be rolled over the chassis, wheels and all,
and not take up two stalls in the garage. The front of the frame is 3'-2" off
the floor, the back end is 4'-2" off the floor . The lower welded lip from the
inner front fender/ sill area sit on edge across the front cross piece. And the
floor of the trunk rests on the rear cross piece. All dimensions are outside. I
made sure that the front cross piece would clear the engine valve cover so the
body would fit right over the chassis. Also I added some diagonal cross bracing
for stability.
Without doors, boot lid, fenders and bonnet, It is REAL easy to move on and off
the dolly with two people. Don't even have to be real strong, but lifting the
rear over the dolly does \take someone over 5' tall.
Barney Gaylord wrote:
> At 06:59 PM 2/7/99 -0500, Kevin Richards wrote:
> >.... does anyone have any measurements/plans for a dolly to rest the body
> of the A on whilst it is removed from the chassis? ....
>
> I do not have the exact measurements, didn't take any pictures of it, and
> it has been a long time since I did it, but I can tell you that it is
> really simple to do. All it takes is a light set of casters (500 pounds
> total capacity is enough), a small hand full of wood screws, and two pieces
> of 2x4 lumber about four feet long (or maybe an inch or two more). There
> should be two places to mount the boards, but I can't recall which way I
> did it.
>
> Location 1.) Cut the boards the right length to fit between the sills
> where the body sits on the frame. Position the boards under the horizontal
> flange of the sill at points near the front and rear door posts. Install
> screws downward through that flange into the boards.
>
> Location 2.) At points just ahead of the front door post and just behind
> the rear door post there are heavy sheet metal angle flanges (at four
> points) where the body accepts single large bolts that screw into the
> frame. Place the boards here and fasten with lag screws and flat washers.
> I think I like this better because these points are a bit lower and will
> thereby hold the body a little higher off the floor, but maybe the rear
> points are not the same height as the front ones.
>
> Most casters will attach to the bottom side of the boards with four wood
> screws each. Position the casters a little inboad so you don't
> accidentally run over you foot when moving things around in close quarters.
> When you want to work on the body you can set it up with the dolly boards
> resting on a pair of saw horses for convenient working height and free
> access all around.
>
> I think the bare body tub weighs about 160 pounds (estimate) and can be
> very easily moved about on the dolly. If you tip it up on its side it
> stands up straight and sits on the sides of the structural sill and pillar
> assemblies around the door openings. In this position it is less than 30
> inches wide from sills to cowl, good for getting it out of the way while
> you work on the chassis.
>
> I also made a pair of small dollies from 3/4" plywood about 12 x 15 inches
> and using even smaller casters. You can put these under the pillars when
> the body is on its side to keep it off the floor and move it around easily
> without dragging it. And to this day I still use one of these as an engine
> dolly (and occasionally for moving heavy furniture), really handy gadgets.
>
> Now that I have a web site, I wish I had taken pictures of the body dolly.
> If anyone has such pictures I would like a copy to post on-line. And I
> might even drive some substantial distance from Chicago to help someone
> build the dolly and take the pictures.
>
> The best picture that I didn't get was when I took things to Redi-Strip for
> processing in 1978. I had the MGA body piggy-backed on a 1974 Datsun Lil
> Hustler short bed pickup truck with the MGA nose sticking out beyond the
> top of the tail gate and the MGA tail parked above the cab of the truck.
> There were two 2x4 boards about six feet long lag screwed across the
> underside of the MGA body and tied down to the hooks on the load bed of the
> truck. One of those boards sat on the drip rail on top at the back of the
> truck cab, the other board was on top of the load box near the back.
> Fenders, doors, wheels and all other sheet metal parts of the car were
> tucked into the load box underneath the MGA body tub. I think the only
> thing left in the garage was the MGA rolling chassis.
>
> Ah, thank you for such fond memories.
>
> Barney Gaylord
> 1958 MGA with an attitude
> http://www.ntsource.com/~barneymg
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