The 5 Best Dollies for Moving Furniture
Updated: May 04, 2023If you've got heavy items to move, a furniture dolly can help. Keep reading for the best models in 5 different categories.
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Whether you’re moving into a new home or just rearranging heavy furniture or appliances, you probably know how handy moving dollies can be. There are many different dolly designs, but they all share the same purpose — to move household items too heavy or awkward to carry. A wheeled platform holds the item, while wheels and handles allow it to be pushed or pulled much faster and more easily than if it were being carried by hand. If you’ve got some heavy items to move and are considering a dolly, keep reading!
Best Simple Dolly
If you need a good moving dolly but probably won’t use it often, a basic four-wheel model makes sense. It’s the simplest, least expensive dolly available, but can still be a huge help when moving heavy items. This well-reviewed model has four spinning castors, a 1,000 lb. load capacity and a built-in handle for easy rolling. The downsides? A four-wheel dolly can’t be used on stairs, and you’ll need another person to help you lift the heavy item on and off.
Best All-Around Dolly
If you want something more versatile, consider a hand truck dolly. This handy model is designed to slide a thin but strong metal platform under the furniture being moved, then tilt back on two large wheels, using leverage rather than muscle to hoist the item off the ground. They’re not as stable as four-wheel dollies, but can handle just as much weight and, with considerable care, even move heavy items up and down stairs. This hand truck dolly holds up to 1,000 lbs.
Best Dolly for Large Furniture
If hand-truck dollies have a weakness, it’s their small platform size. If you need to move furniture with a big footprint, such as a desk or large cabinet, a desk-lift-style dolly can help. A large carrying platform, four spinning castors and adjustable height settings make models like this one perfect for sliding under desks or other furniture, then raising them mechanically from below. Like basic four-wheel dollies, these aren’t great on stairs, but they’re still hard to beat for moving big furniture on the same floor.
Most Versatile Dolly
This dolly works like a regular hand truck, but with more versatility due to a second pair of auxiliary wheels. The smaller wheels tuck out of the way when not in use. If moving something too big for the hand truck’s platform, the extra wheels fold down and the entire unit shifts horizontally, becoming a large, strong four-wheel dolly. This model from Magliner has 1,000 lbs. of capacity, a 51 inch height capacity in hand truck mode and a 38 inch horizontal bed in the four-wheel configuration.
Strongest Dolly
If you need to move serious quantities of heavy furniture or appliances, a hydraulic dolly pair is the best model for the job. Too expensive for typical DIY use, this is the kind of heavy-duty dolly you’ll find at rental outlets. Each side of the pair resembles a large, beefy hand truck dolly, but with two big differences: weight capacity and hydraulics. This dolly pair from Global Industrial can hoist items up to nearly 4,000 lbs. Moving such heavy items means muscle can’t be involved, which is why this unit and others are equipped with variable-speed hydraulic lifts and industrial-strength straps.
