US Car Tool Auto Body Rotisserie
This is our Deluxe Rotisserie with roller bearings, 8 Caster wheels and hydraulic jacks. Rated to support up to 2,000 lbs, fully adjustable in height, width and length you can load almost any automobile body, pickup cab etc. onto the rotisserie and rotate it to work underneath without having to crawl on your back!
We have been building and using these rotisseries for 5 years. We are a professional restoration and fabrication shop and use them every day, so we know what works! These are designed to work in your shop and have several innovations that make them the best available. Roller Bearings in the Rotator Head We build the rotator head with tapered roller bearings and a machined axle assembly.
This makes the US Car Tool Auto Body Rotisserie spin incredibly easy! We use two tapered roller bearings in each rotator head assembly (4 total in the complete rotisserie) to completely eliminate any play or movement in the rotating assembly and provide precise rotation about the axis. Nothing else comes close.
Totally modular
We designed the US Car Tool Auto Body Rotisserie to be completely modular and portable. No single piece is longer than 48 or weighs more than 35 lbs. The entire rotisserie disassembles into small pieces and can even be stored under a car when not in use. Several customers have taken them home in the back seat of their little economy car! One customer took one home from the Mopar Nats in the back seat of a Dodge Stratus, another picked his up here at our shop in a Geo Metro! They fit easily into the bed of a pickup truck with lots of room to spare!
Powdercoated
Since we began building and selling the US Car Tool Auto Body Rotisserie they have been powdercoated. It is my belief that selling, shipping and storing a plain steel tool will only lead to a rusty tool that will not be usable in a short period of time. It is a small extra expense, but one that I believe is absolutely necessary. Paint seems to get scratched quickly and we have spent considerable time evaluating various coatings. The powdercoat we use has a wrinkle finish and holds up incredibly well to the inevitable nicks any tool you actually use (grin!) will suffer. Standard is wrinkle black, but we can now offer them custom coated in any color you prefer.
Adjustable
The US Car Tool Rotisserie can be adjusted to any length. Our unique center bar design allows you to make the Rotisserie any length you need, continuously, from zero inches (the car attaching brackets touching!) to 20 apart. If you need to make it longer, you can add (optional) center bar pieces to achieve any lengths. There is a practical limit, but we have never found a car that would not fit!! The US Car Tool Rotisserie is also adjustable in width to accommodate any car attachment points and height adjustable to connect to your car body easily at rest and then raise to rotating height. This means to can attach to your car body while it is resting on jack stands and then raise it to the height you need to rotate it fully. We also use a four point center of gravity rotation adjustment system that allows easy adjustment of the rotation axis, which rarely lines up with the attachment points. By using a four point adjustment system, we can still correctly balance any car body, even if one corner has damage at the attachment point. This versatility is designed in!
Ease of use
Each US Car Tool Auto Body Rotisserie has several features that make it incredibly easy to actually use. We use them in our shop, we know how to make it work well. Below is a list of our features and how they make the US Car Tool Rotisserie easy to setup, use and store. Wheels You need wheels to move the rotisserie around, which seems simple enough! But wheels are not as simple as they appear. Caster wheels come in many varieties and weve tested a lot of them. What we have discovered can be broken down into three categories: (1)Wheel Diameter, (2) Solid or Pneumatic and (3)Caster or Fixed. Before I talk about using the wheels, lets talk quickly about NOT using the wheels.
When you are rotating the car body or working on the car body while it is mounted on the rotisserie you should remove the wheels. This allows the rotisserie to be flat on the floor at both ends and the entire center bar. The entire assembly will be much more stable and will not move when you push on the car! We realized that unbolting the caster wheels is tedious and would never happen, so we designed our wheel bracket system to be simple and easy. To remove the caster wheels, place a floor jack under the lower jack mount on one end of the rotisserie and lift that end just enough to have the caster wheels off the ground. Loosen the jam bolts that hold the bracket into the rotisserie base enough that you can slide the wheel bracket out (with the caster wheel still bolt to it!). Do the one on the other side and lower the rotisserie end onto the ground. Roll the jack to the other end and remove those in the same way.
Now the rotisserie is flat on the ground and very stable. If you want to store the wheels where you wont lose them, just slide them back into the rotisserie end with the wheels pointing up and tighten the jam bolts. BTW, some folks have even noticed that it would be very easy to have a second set of wheels and easily swap them, say between a set of solid (garage floor) wheels and a set of pneumatic wheels for being out in the mud bog (huh?). Wheel Diameter is important for several reasons. Larger wheels are easier to roll. They are easier to push, they are easier to turn and they go over bumps, cracks and the odd bolt left on the floor without catching. Another reason not often thought about until it is too late; smaller wheels do not lift the center bar of the rotisserie high enough off the ground and it will high center going up a ramp like into your enclosed car trailer!! Our deluxe rotisseries are shipped with 8 casters and go in and out of your trailer, up ramps etc. without high centering and getting stuck.
The solid vs. pneumatic dilemma has bothered us from the beginning. We have tested and tried a lot of pneumatic caster wheels and determined that they just do not stand up over time, so we ship most of our rotisseries with a solid caster wheel. We use the solid caster in our shop and still take car bodies to the media blaster and the paint shop, roll them around in the gravel driveways and never have problems. If you really want to take the rotisserie for a walk on the beach, we can supply a 12 pneumatic caster wheel (no warranty), but we encourage most customers to get the 8 solid caster. They cost less and last longer. Makes simple sense yes? You can also choose between a solid steel caster and a solid rubber tire caster. We use the solid steel caster in our shop, but some prefer the rubber tire version (still solid), call and well help you decide which is best for you! Using swiveling caster wheels vs. fixed wheels is something that is asked about often. Some folks think that having 4 swiveling caster wheels will make it easier to maneuver the rotisserie around in a tight shop. The thought of rolling the loaded rotisserie sideways to move it over is indeed intriguing.
The reality of using 4 swiveling caster wheels is that you need two people to move it ! When you push one end left, the other end will move to the right (unless you have a helper holding that end). And when you try to push it straight one end will roll to the left while the other is rolling right. Weve done it and it is a pain. If you really want 4 swivel caster wheels, that is how we will pack it, but our standard is to ship 2 swivel casters and 2 fixed casters. Youll be happier!! Rotating height You can easily spin most cars under an 8 ceiling height, but it is the width of the car that drives the size requirement. The very first rotisserie I built was for a garage that had a garage door opener that was 7 off the ground. With the rotisserie flat on the floor (I removed the wheels when working and spinning) I had a 1970 Dodge Superbee mounted and I was able to rotate the car about 80 degrees. Not quite vertical, but enough that I could do the entire floor work without lying on my back under the car! Attaching your car The brackets we supply will work for most popular cars, Mopars, Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaros etc. Weve hung almost every car you can imagine, so if you have something unique just give a call. If you send a picture and dimensions, well make a set of brackets for you and add them to our catalog of brackets.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to ship them to xxx zip code The US Car Tool Auto Body Rotisserie is a large tool and weighs 500lbs on the shipping pallet. They ship via truck freight and we have negotiated a deal with Yellow Freight to deliver them via their freight system at a substantial discount. The requirements are a commercial address or the nearest Yellow Freight depot. We get a 60% discount off the shipping rate, you can check the rates at www.YRC.com and the Rotisseries ship from zip code 27703, Durham NC. If you can find a better way to ship, well be happy to load it onto any truck, trailer etc.!
Can you bring it to xyz show so I can save the cost of shipping? In a word, No. We do not attend many shows and are not equipped to move freight around during a car show or swap meet. You are welcome to come pick up the Rotisserie at our shop in Durham NC and save the cost of truck freight. Can I buy one cheaper if it is not powdercoated? Part of our manufacturing process is having the parts powdercoated in bulk. While we can separate your rotisserie parts from a batch, handle it uniquely and not powdercoat it, it actually takes us additional time to do so. Because we do so many parts in bulk, we have a screaming deal on getting parts powdercoated and there is not much cost saving it leaving them in bare steel. Some customers have had unique requirements (Pushing them into an oven etc.) and we will build one without powdercoating, but unfortunately, the extra time and labor negates the savings, so there is no cost adjustment by having it made in bare steel, sorry.
Can I get one powdercoated in any other color than wrinkle black? We get requests for custom colors and we can have yours done in any standard color for an extra $200. Call to discuss the color you want. If you want something common like Tool Box Red, we can handle that, if you want a very custom color you may have to send a sample for a quote from the powdercoater.
Does the Rotisserie come with a warranty? Yes. The Rotisserie has a lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship, the jacks and caster wheels carry manufacturers warranties of 1 year each. We also have an upgrade program for owners of older models that want to get the new bearing rotator head, just give a call and we can get your rotisserie updated.
Do you rent rotisseries? Yes we have a rental program, but because of the shipping costs it is mostly for folks local enough to come and pickup / drop off but we will rent a rotisserie to anyone. The rental program is $150 per month. You purchase the rotisserie and tell us you want to be in the rental program. We collect the full price of the rotisserie, plus the shipping costs and send one of our rental units to you. When you have finished using the rental rotisserie, return it to us and we will credit you the cost of the rotisserie, minus the $150 per month rental fee. Simple.
Do you sell used rotisseries ? No, we do not sell them used. We do sell them in kit form for folks who want to fabricate one themselves, you can find them in our online store or on ebay.
