Modded Manfrotto 3137 Dolly.....

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aerosolcheese

Well-known member
I decided to mod my 3137 with the skateboard wheels from the $5 wal-mart skateboards that I bought the other day. It worked great. I added a 3028 head in the middle, used some grip-heads and rods to construct a handle and now have a very nice, pro-looking low-lying setup. My buddy and I used it the other day to shoot a spec TV spot which I will post as soon as I find a voiceover. (my boss said he'd do it for free.) Here's a pic:
dolly.jpg
 
Wow man ! thats looks great, very professional looking!! :thumbsup: I got the same Manfrotto Dolly and was thinking of doing the same thing am glad to see it working before i jump on doing it myself.
Yeah some footage would be appreciated, i'd also be thankful if you could show some close up shots of the wheels so i see how you put it togather.
Could you give some detailed info kinda step by step guide to doing it?
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Hello and thanks to all for the comments.

I used the dolly for a spec TV spot that my buddy and I thought of ( I work in a crappy ad agency and need to work on my portfolio...)

You can see the spot here:
http://www.aerosolcheese.com/linksys.mov

My boss did the voiceover. I think it sounds alright...

The wheels trucks were made from cheap skateboards that I got from Wal-mart. this is what they look like:
board.jpg
I also used a Hex coupler as a spacer and a long 3/8-16 bolt to attach them to the existing tapped holes in the dolly.

Didn't get any bumps from the PVC. I think if you use more wheels, you can prevent that sort of thing. Check out the footage... I think it looks sweet.

The Grip Heads and Rods were something I found on ebay... sold by amvona.com They aren't Matthews or Avenger, But they are awesome quality for the price. I think I got two heads and a rod for around $20 plus $12 shipping. DO a search for "grip kit" in lighting and studio equip. and you should find em...
 
Hey i just saw the footage looks very promising, great work & thanks for sharing. I will make mine soon.... :thumbsup:
 
aerosolcheese said:
I decided to mod my 3137 with the skateboard wheels from the $5 wal-mart skateboards that I bought the other day.
Click to expand...

I believe that I have the same bogen dolly, or at least a similar model. Would you care to share how you connected the wheels to it?

The one I have has hard rotating wheels, I can remove the actual wheel, but haven't figured out how to remove the part that holds the wheel on ... I would love some ideas / input...
 
I was just looking and I've got the 3127, not the 3137. But they are very similar. I'm still trying to figure out how to geth the wheels off and attach new ones .... could you help me out with the method you used?
 
overlandfilms said:
aerosolcheese,

Did you ever say who's grip arms and heads those are - the brand?

e
Click to expand...
The Grip Heads and Rods were something I found on ebay... sold by amvona.com They aren't Matthews or Avenger, But they are awesome quality for the price. I think I got two heads and a rod for around $20 plus $12 shipping. DO a search for "grip kit" in lighting and studio equip. and you should find em...
 
waltind said:
I was just looking and I've got the 3127, not the 3137. But they are very similar. I'm still trying to figure out how to geth the wheels off and attach new ones .... could you help me out with the method you used?
Click to expand...

Hi, I think the 3127 is the same but doesn't have adjustable arms. I had to remove the actual wheels from the caster unit to get the casters off. If you unbolt the wheel and look up, you will see an allen bolt holding the caster to the unit. Just remove the bolt and you're good to go. I then bolted the new trucks to the unit using a 3/8-16 5" bolt with a 3" hex coupler for a spacer.
 
aerosolcheese said:
Hi, I think the 3127 is the same but doesn't have adjustable arms. I had to remove the actual wheels from the caster unit to get the casters off. If you unbolt the wheel and look up, you will see an allen bolt holding the caster to the unit. Just remove the bolt and you're good to go. I then bolted the new trucks to the unit using a 3/8-16 5" bolt with a 3" hex coupler for a spacer.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give that a try.
 
Well I was able to take the wheels off like you said. Now I just have to figure out how to attach the new wheels. It looks like on your unit the bolts go all the way though the dolly. On the 27, the bolt only goes through the bottom, not the top. So I'll have to play around with bolt sizes. What is that black plastic looking thing that you've attached the wheels to?
 
On the 37, there is a hole that is tapped to 3/8-16 thread. That black plastic thing is actually part of the trucks from the skateboards that I got for $5 from Wally-mart. It just acts as a spacer between the angle bracket and the coupler. It's kinda ghetto when you realize what it is, but If I don't tell anyone, it doesn't seem that way. It also works very well. I can take a closeup picture tommorow and post if you like.
 
Beautiful! it makes sense to me. I'll be trying it out later this afternoon. Thanks for the picture - it makes it a lot clearer to me.
 
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