How to Use a Car Dolly? Step by Step Guide for Car Lovers

Imagine a situation where your garage has a little space for parking your car inside. To save some space, you want to park it on a corner of your garage. This time you are probably telling yourself, "That's too much risky man! I can't do it." Yeah, you are right. For doing this job, you need car tow dollies as well as know how to use a car dolly. Without this, You might break the rear view mirror if you make a single mistake. In the worst cases, you might put some scratches over the body of your precious car.

I know it was unintentional, but I would blame you for not using car dollies in this situation. It appears that you have a question in your mind that "how to use a tow dolly?" Well, No matter what the situation is, if you need to move your car when you can't use steering, using the best car dollies might be the better option for your vehicle.

If you haven't heard of car dollies yet, then relax a little. Car dollies are a car moving tool which has four wheels attached with each of it. These four wheels help your vehicle to move 360 degrees in any direction. You need to place these dollies below each tyre. So conveniently, you should need four of these dollies.

Types of Car Dollies

There are two types of car dollies available in the market.

• Standard: Standard car dollies are the most common car dollies available. They are cheap & affordable. But in order to use this type of car dollies, you should need an additional car jack.

• Hydraulic: This type of dollies comes along with an in-built pedal to jack the tyre up. So, you do not have to jack the car up like the standard one. It saves you some time, but cost some more money than the standard car dollies.

How to Use a Car Dolly

As I mentioned earlier, usually, there are two types of tow dollies. Each of the models has different methods of jacking up the car. So, we need to discuss these procedures separately. Before you start with the process, there are a few steps after unboxing. Read the user manual properly at first. There always needs to perform some assembly task to set up dollies. The proper procedure is easily described at the user's manual. That is why it is essential to read the full user manual. I'm guessing that you have already gone through the whole assembly process, and you are good to go with these dollies. So without any further ado, let's begin.

Standard Car Dolly

As of now, you have probably known that a standard car dolly is just a simple tool that has these four rounded wheels, which can rotate 360 degrees in any direction. The process of jacking up the tyre using a standard car dolly is very simple.

1. Use a Car Jack to Lift the Car:

You need to use a good car jack if you have a standard car dolly. Put the jack at a flat surface. Place the jack at the proper position. Usually, this process varies with different car jack models, sometimes with varying models of car as well. But your primary target is jacking up the car at a decent height.

2. Put the Dollies Right under the Tyre:

Now, if you have already raised your car by a decent amount of height, you need to put these dollies. You should have four dollies to move your car easily. Just put these dollies below each of the tyres. Remember to perform this task on a flat surface. Otherwise, you won’t get enough grip to move the car.

3. Lower the Car Using the Jack Again:

After you have successfully placed all four dollies under the tyres, now you need to lower the car again. You use a car jack to do so. This is a reverse task if you have made it by far, congratulations! Now you can use your car dollies whichever way you want.

4. Get Rid of the Dollies:

After you move your car, raise the car a little bit again, take these dollies away, and lower the vehicle to the ground.

Hydraulic Car Dolly

A hydraulic car dolly is a much better option if you need to save some time for yourself. It is useful for those people who need to move their cars very frequently. It has a ratcheting design. The tool is a bit of a complex but easy to use. Although you have to spend a few extra bucks for purchasing them but oh dear, trust me, you are buying them for good.

1. Lubricate Wheels:

Lubricate all wheels and other joints properly. It helps to reduce friction. For this reason, you will be able to move the car easily while putting less force. It also expands the lifetime of the dollies and its parts.

2. Positioning the Dolly:

Put the dolly in front of the tyre. Keep some distance between them to avoid any issues. Simply slide the latch to the right. Lift the lock pin and rotate it anti-clockwise until the tab faces away from the pedal arm. Spread the rollers according to the tyre width. When it's done, roll dolly forward.

3. Lifting Wheel:

If you have successfully positioned the dolly, then lifting the wheel is the next step for you. To do that, slide the latch to the left and rotate lock pin clockwise until it retracts into the ratchet. Remember to put it away from the pedal arm. When the setting is completed, stand up and put full force over the pedal and pump it till the rollers come closer and lift the wheel up. Perform steps 1-3 for each tyre.Now you are all set for moving your car.

4. Lowering Wheels:

When you are done with the car moving thing, you need to lower the wheel as the next step. Slide the latch to the right while rotating the tab clockwise. Make sure it aligns with the channel. Now, pump the pedal again until the tyre touches the ground appropriately.

5. Releasing the Dolly:

To remove the dolly, you need to slide the latch to the right. Rotate the lock pin anti-clockwise, spread the rollers apart from each other. After that, remove the dolly from the tyre. Before storing it, set the settings identically to the beginning of the process.

How to Move a Car Using Car Dolly

Car dollies have made moving cars a lot easier than ever. In fact, you don't need any other helping hand to move your vehicle. You can move the car easily if a decent amount of force is applied. But there are some tricks which you need to follow. I've seen a lot of guys using their bare hands to apply force to the car. I told them, "Hey, guys! You need to stop using your hand if you don't wanna hurt them." I wished they've listened to my words and kept their hands safe. If you apply force only with your hands, then the chances are huge that you end up hurting your hands. Besides this fact, you can only push a little force with your hand, resulting in the car not moving an inch forward.

See, you need to play wisely here. When you are applying force with your hand, you are just putting it over a smaller surface. To avoid this problem, you need to apply force with your elbow or your back. This probably sounds weird, but if you want to move the car by putting less effort, then this is the option for you. You save both energy and your hands if you do so.

Also, never put enormous effort into the weak positions of your car. This may lead to cracking or damaging your car. You are the only one who knows the weak points of your own car. Try to apply force over the metal body. It seems pretty safe.

Never put too much effort if you are unable to move your car on your own. This might lead to a potential health risk. It is always recommended to take help from one or two people if you are having a problem with it. Just load your car on dolly, you can move it at any direction with less effort.

Precautions

Precautions are always better. With this type of tool based operation, precautions are a must. Lubricate dollies before you use them. Also, check for cracks if there are any. If you are someone who has heart disease, I would recommend you stay away from this type of process. Also, if you have no idea about controlling a car, then you mustn't perform such a task. Use gloves and always keep a first aid kit with you in case any accident occurs.

Conclusion

Car accessories are just as important as cars. There are some must need car accessories which should be at your garage. Car dollies are one of them. Saving some space is always a blessing because we cannot afford to spend more space in our garage. But with that giant car, space no longer exists. That is why we need to buy us some more space with the help of these great car accessories and also need to know how to use a car dolly and jack up a car safely.