Transport Dollies
The dollies are made in Germany. They’re reliable and won’t fail during a job. They’re easy to use, so moving a heavy load becomes as easy as moving your bedroom dresser. They’re safe when used properly, protecting operators and vital loads.
A standard dolly configuration consists of 3 roller skates to provide support to the heavy load on 3 points. This configuration is the most versatile and the safest.
However, not every application allows for a 3-point support, and that is why our dollies are interchangeable.
You can mix and match our dollies in any configuration to meet your specific needs. Just choose dollies of identical height for your needed configuration.
We sell each dolly individually, allowing you to choose the configuration that matches your needs or to add onto an existing dolly set.
Let’s look at the function of the steerable dolly first.
Each steerable dolly comes with a pulling handle. On the larger dollies the pulling handle also has a towing eye that allows for a connection to a forklift or other pulling vehicles.
The loading platform consists of a 360 degrees swiveling turntable that the load rests on. It allows for easy turning and steering of the dolly underneath the load. The dolly spreads the weight out over a large footprint, and this reduced floor pressure facilitates easy turning.
On the larger dollies, the rollers sit in pivoting cassettes inside the frame. This design allows the rollers to dip down into recesses on the ground and keep in contact with uneven floors.
Next, we will look at the straight-line rear dollies.
The straight-line dollies come with connecting bars and a pair of trolleys.
The bar keeps the rollers of each trolley aligned in the same direction. The trolleys can be used without the connecting bar, but it’s not recommended as the roller material can wear down like the tires on your car if out of alignment.
The design of the connecting bar has been changed from the earlier models. It now attaches to the outside of the dolly rather than through the middle. This design may seem a little strange, but…
…it allows you to place the dollies under the load and adjust the connecting bar from the outside without having to reach underneath.
If you are using 4 dollies to transport your load, we also recommend using the connecting bar on each set. The connecting bar will keep the dollies in place in the event that the load rocks and one dolly loses contact with the load.
If you need a connecting bar that is longer than the one provided, you can easily build your own and clamp it into the fitting. The bar is made of standard 1x2 inch steel tubing.
The front and rear dollies work together on a 3-point system. Using the steerable dollies and straight line trolleys together provides maneuverability like that of your car, as the front steers and the rear follows in a straight line. The front dolly offers steerability of up to 90 degrees sideways.
The loading platform is steel with a rubber 1/4 inch heavy duty anti-slip load pad.
Customers who wish to affix the dollies to their load have two options: You can drill through the padded loading platform to bolt a bracket or holding mechanism. You can also pry off the rubber pad and weld a holding mechanism to the exposed steel surface that is left on the top.
Our dollies have a very low profile. Loads are transported as close to the ground as possible for enhanced safety and low head clearance.
35 years of development has led to a roller material called “JUWAthan,” which is superior in performance and durability over traditional polyurethane, composite or steel rollers. Here is why:
1. Traditional polyurethane rollers get punctured by metal shavings, nails or rocks. The debris can become embedded in the roller, wearing down the material and resulting in a short life expectancy. Our patented JUWAthan material is elastic and will mold around obstacles on the ground like the tires on your car. Obstacles will not puncture or become imbedded in the rollers and therefore cannot break down the material. The result is a roller with much higher durability.
2. In addition, this elasticity means that the rollers do not have to get up and over the obstacle. Loads are not stopped in their tracks as they would be with steel, nylon or hard polyurethane rollers.
3. Traditional rollers have a small footprint because only a small surface area touches the ground.
The elastic JUWAthan spreads out under the weight to increase the contact area with the floor. The larger footprint of each dolly divides the weight over a larger area so that the pressure onto the floor is reduced.
Radically reduced floor pressure means that even under extreme loads, the rollers are:
1. Non-marking
2. Non-damaging.
You can take the dollies over tiled floor or sensitive epoxy without damaging or marking the floor.
Reduced pressure on the ground also means easy steering control, easy rolling and easy breakout from a standstill, which translated into easier moving and few manpower requirements.
If you are travelling over thin floors (like on a submarine) and are worried about breaking through, please consult our guide to calculate the exerted pressure per square inch. You will find the information under the link “Technical Library.”
You can leave your load sitting on top of the dollies for extended periods of time, as well. This will not damage the dollies or rollers. The rollers will begin to sag until the load starts moving, and then the roller material will return to its original shape.
To maintain the round shape without warping over time, the roller has either an aluminum or steel core (depending on the dolly size). Two precision ball bearings are held inside.
The rollers become larger for heavier loads, compensating for the difficulty of getting over obstacles. All of our dollies maintain the ability to bridge small ledges, gaps and obstacles.
Because of their elasticity, the rollers perform well both inside and outside: in workshop facilities with metal scrap on the floor, on rough parking lots, over cracks in concrete or even over countersunk rail tracks.
However, the rollers are designed for low profile applications so they’re small in size. The dollies will get stuck in gravel or soft surfaces, like grass… so use the dollies only on hard surfaces.
All our dollies have a significant safety capacity above and beyond the rated load bearing capacity. So even if you max out the allowed weight, you will maintain maneuverability and the dollies will not break.
Please use caution when using the dollies to support one end of a load when there is a forklift on the other end of the load. The height difference will tilt the dollies and lift up one row of rollers, overloading the remaining rollers. For this type of load moving process, please use a dolly with twice the load capacity.
If you are choosing a standard 3-point system, please refer to the “combined load capacity” listed on the website under each product’s description to learn about how much capacity an entire set can support.
If you are planning on mixing and matching the dollies, please refer to the “individual load capacity” of each individual dolly on the website.
You will find the combined capacity - as well as the individual capacity - in columns next to each other in the product listings.
If you are also looking for a solution for lifting your load onto the dollies, please see our toe jacks.
For more information please watch our slide show on proper usage, warranty, and reparability. Or just call us with questions.