Panel Dollies
A panel cart is the wheeled base that lets one person move a door, glass sheet, or drywall panel standing on its edge instead of dragging it flat, and this collection covers the dolly-style version: a low four-caster frame the panel rides in while you push. It is built around Vestil's door and panel dollies, which run from a light 350 lb model near $75 up to a heavy 1,500 lb build around $190, with wheels from hard poly casters for smooth concrete to pneumatic tires for a job site. If you need to carry several sheets at once or wheel a full lift of drywall, that is a different machine, covered under [panel carts](/collections/panel-carts) and [A-frame carts](/collections/a-frame-carts). Pick by the panel's weight and the floor it crosses.
Panel Dollies Buying Guide
What a panel dolly actually is. A door or panel dolly is a low steel frame, usually a shallow channel the panel stands in against a back rail, riding on four casters. The upright carry is the whole point. A 36 inch solid core door runs 40 to 70 pounds, and an 8 foot door can top 100, weights that are awkward to hold flat and dangerous through a doorway or on stairs, but easy to balance on edge and roll. The dolly puts that load on the wheels instead of your back, and it keeps the face of a finished door or a glass panel off the floor where it would scuff. This is a single-panel tool: one door or one sheet at a time, moved by one person.
Match the capacity to the panel. Vestil builds this dolly across a wide capacity spread, from a 350 lb light-duty model through 500, 750, 1,200, and 1,500 lb heavy-duty frames. Size it to your heaviest real panel, not the average. A single interior door sits well under the 350 lb rating. A sheet of 5/8 inch drywall runs about 70 pounds, so a short stack, a solid exterior door, or a stone or glass panel pushes you to the 500 or 750 lb build, and a loaded run or the heaviest slab goes to the 1,200 and 1,500 lb frames. Round up. If the job is carrying several sheets at once rather than one, step up to a panel cart instead of stacking a dolly past its rating.
Wheels decide where it rolls. The wheel is the spec people skip and regret. Hard poly-on-steel and glass-filled nylon casters carry the most and roll easiest on smooth concrete, and poly is non-marking, so it will not scuff a finished floor. Foam-filled and mold-on rubber wheels add cushion and quiet for tile and door thresholds without the puncture risk of an air tire. Pneumatic tires are the pick when the panel crosses gravel, a dock lip, or rough job-site ground, trading some load rating and higher rolling resistance for shock absorption. Order the wheel to your worst surface, not your best, since one dolly usually has to cross all of them.
Where the dolly stops and a cart begins. A dolly moves one panel on its own base. When the job is staging drywall by the pallet, moving finished doors through a shop in batches, or holding sheet goods upright at a saw, the four-post and A-frame designs carry more at once. Those live under panel carts for the multi-sheet horizontal and vertical models, and A-frame carts for the double-sided racks drywall and glass crews load from both sides. Everything else wheeled in the building, from hand trucks to platform trucks, sits one level up under industrial carts and dollies.
Frequently Asked Questions
A panel dolly is a low four-caster base that carries one door or panel standing on its edge while you push it. A panel cart carries several sheets at once on a four-post or A-frame rack. Use the dolly for single doors and one-off panels, and the [panel cart](/collections/panel-carts) when you are staging drywall or moving finished doors in batches.
This Vestil dolly comes in ratings from 350 lb up through 500, 750, 1,200, and 1,500 lb, priced from about $74 to $191 depending on the frame and wheel. Rate the dolly against your heaviest real panel and round up, since a full stack or a stone or glass slab loads it faster than a single door does.
Yes. A standard 36 inch solid core door runs roughly 40 to 70 pounds, well within the 350 lb model, and an 8 foot door that tops 100 pounds still has margin. A 4 by 8 sheet of 5/8 inch drywall weighs about 70 pounds, so a single sheet is easy and a short stack is where you step up to a heavier frame.
Poly-on-steel and glass-filled nylon roll easiest and carry the most on smooth concrete, and poly will not mark a finished floor. Foam-filled and mold-on rubber cushion tile and thresholds without puncture risk. Pick pneumatic tires when the panel has to cross gravel, a dock plate, or rough ground. Choose for the worst surface the dolly will see.
It stands upright. The panel sits on edge in a shallow channel and leans against the back rail, which keeps the face off the floor and lets one person balance and steer a load that would be unwieldy carried flat. For horizontal carrying of multiple sheets, look at the horizontal [panel carts](/collections/panel-carts).