project: dolly

[harofreak00]

I have been looking for a car dolly for quite a while now. I had an ad on craigslist, wanted: car dolly that needs repair for under $500. I found this one and was able to talk the guy down to $360... his original price was $500... LOL

Its a 2005 MasterTow. He told me the only thing it needed was new wiring. Once I got it home and started working on it, I found it needed much, much more. My $360 dolly soon turned into a money pit. I needed all new wiring, a new fender, all new lights, tire straps and all sorts of misc parts. I ordered some tire straps on ebay for $35, ordered $209 of factory parts from MasterTow.com. Then I decided that since I am putting so much work into it, I may as well paint it up real nice too.

Here are pics from the day I pulled it home.








Then I sandblasted the entire thing. Took me 250lbs of abrasive sand and 5+ hours to get all the old paint and rust off. Never will I do that again. I did all the sandblasting out in the country with a gas powered air compressor that I rented. Then I did a bit more touchup in the driveway when I had the wheels off.





Then I used several coats of the OEM colors to repaint it. Let it dry overnight and then reinstalled all the accessories.





All in all it probably would have been cheaper to just find a nice dolly that didn't need as much work... but now I have a basically brand new dolly that looks and operates great. BTW, it does have surge brakes, which is pretty cool.

Look at how much these things go for new: http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ctd/1153092378.html

[GoldenBullet]

wow, nice work as always.

you should've let me know you were looking for one, theres a couple used ones for sale down the street from me, coulda towed it back when i still had the blazer up here

[crash93ssei]

Not bad at all really! Around here that dolly would have gone for $500 easy the way you picked it up

Did you get a new Master Tow decal also?

[harofreak00]

Yup

[ddalder]

Hmmm... I dunno. I'm a little disappointed. I didn't see your trademark ARS logo on there anywhere All joking aside, that looks awesome. More fantastic craftsmanship from the master.

We've got a place here where you can rent time using their monster industrial sandblasters. They get you all dressed up in the protective gear and everything. They use those large compressors (the ones you see being towed behind a truck for jack hammers etc). You can do it yourself, or they'll do it for you.

[BlackHawk99]

That's the EXACT same tow dolly as mine. Absolutely identical.

I paid $300 for mine in 2001 in Mid-Michigan (Birch Run to be exact, for the locals). Was sitting on the side of the road and the guy was anxious to unload it. It's been an excellent tool to have. Been to Arkansas twice with it, St. Louis once, and a couple trips out east.

[Gumball]

Nice job man, looks great.

by the way, must be nice to have two driveways to work out of
is it that your neighbors dont mind if you park in it. or you dont have neighbors yet?

[00Beast]

The house is empty. They were evicted, more than likely, assuming by the orange sheets stuck to the door.

[tripscarcare95]

Brand New, so how much are you going to sell that for now?

Looks great

[00Beast]

He's keeping that, for now. Business investment.

[Blown93SSEi]

He's keeping that, for now. Business investment.

Thats what he said about the Ram

[00Beast]

He's only selling that if he gets $7k for it. For that much money, he could go get an 01 Duramax powered truck. That'll haul those cars around, lol.

[Baileyjack]

Excellent job as always Andrew.....You amaze me guy....