Anyone know which creeper is best??
I need to buy a creeper. I want one that is comfortable, easy to maneuver, rolls over small obstacles, and is long lasting. The price is not too important, just what you get for the money.
I don't care about the "trick of the week" either, just good tools!!

I'm not sure which one rolls around the best, but I have two older ones that I put a good sized head rest on.

If I bought another one it would have a nice sized head rest and the body on it as low as I could find.

I would think if you oiled up the wheels good they would roll around okay, but I'm guessing on that part if they have a creeper that one rolls better then the other.

I have one of these, It has large wheels, will roll over tools, hose, easy to clean and very comfortable.
http://www.bonecreeper.com/

I have one of these, It has large wheels, will roll over tools, hose, easy to clean and very comfortable.
http://www.bonecreeper.com/

I have one of these also. They are very nice but one problem I have with mine is it high off the ground so the vehicle has to be higher.

I own a creeper; but I don't use it. Makes me crazy when my hair gets caught in the wheels.

CARDBOARD or CARPET SCRAPS. Bigger is better.

I own a creeper; but I don't use it. Makes me crazy when my hair gets caught in the wheels.

CARDBOARD or CARPET SCRAPS. Bigger is better.

Get a HAIR CUT!!! :D :p

I have one from Northern Tool. Works fine and has real wheels. As for rolling over stuff, give the floor a quick sweep BEFORE you pull it in, and you should be able to roll around fine. I do prefer not to use one, though.

I had a crib pad that I used for years. Was vinyl coated so it wiped off easily, and slid well on the cement. Wife decided it was junk and tossed.

(http://www.creepex.com/indexEN.html)
http://www.creepex.com/indexEN.html



http://www.creepex.com/images/creeper-15in-mech.jpg


http://www.creepex.com/images/home-bed-mechanic.jpg

a creeper w/a roll bar huh? i guess thats if your like nordburg from the naked gun movie. what about the bone- ster creeper?

That thing looks like a wheel chair for a gear-head! :yes:

I've found that the very best creeper is a 2 post lift. :thumbsup:

Creepers of any design are a royal PITA unless you have near perfect floor/shop conditions. When wrenching under a car, you lose any mechanical advantage because you are on rollers!
If you are going to work on a vehicle up on stands, flat on the ground is your best situation. Wiggle on under there, brother.
Creepers have their place as a "quick, roll under the car and take a look" tool, but for any real work with a car on stands, a creeper is more hindrance than asset, IMHO.

I've found that the very best creeper is a 2 post lift. :thumbsup:

Creepers of any design are a royal PITA unless you have near perfect floor/shop conditions. When wrenching under a car, you lose any mechanical advantage because you are on rollers!
If you are going to work on a vehicle up on stands, flat on the ground is your best situation. Wiggle on under there, brother.
Creepers have their place as a "quick, roll under the car and take a look" tool, but for any real work with a car on stands, a creeper is more hindrance than asset, IMHO.

I'll argue that point, my concrete floor is not coated, and that creeper will assist me getting my legs into position to put some major torque on that breaker bar, more then you can get by reaching up.

I'm 67 years old and I can get under these cars and still get with the program, when I see the day that I need a lift I'll throw in the towel.

Fact is, I can get that car on jack stands and get under there and get it done just as fast as you can with that lift, if not faster.

12 jack stands and four good floor jacks, no problem, and I don't lose any space in my shop, I've tripped over a few of those lifts, I'll stay with the low ceiling and the low air conditioning and low heating bills, plus a better lighted shop.:D

Rob

I use these for leveling a car, like putting on an exhaust system so everything stays tucked up under, nothing hanging down. There light and I've had my one ton dually setting on them. About $30 some old scaffolding.

Lift you say, not.



http://www.1969supersport.com/ojig29.jpg

I'll argue that point, my concrete floor is not coated, and that creeper will assist me getting my legs into position to put some major torque on that breaker bar, more then you can get by reaching up.

I'm 67 years old and I can get under these cars and still get with the program, when I see the day that I need a lift I'll throw in the towel.

Fact is, I can get that car on jack stands and get under there and get it done just as fast as you can with that lift, if not faster.

12 jack stands and four good floor jacks, no problem, and I don't lose any space in my shop, I've tripped over a few of those lifts, I'll stay with the low ceiling and the low air conditioning and low heating bills, plus a better lighted shop.:D

Rob

Hey Rubadub,
10 or 15 years ago I would have agreed with you. I'm really glad you can still get it done at 67, but you are the exception to the rule. At 47, my body just doesn't bend as needed to scurry under a vehicle like you describe. Call me a Pussy if you care to, but it just ain't happenin'. I'm sure there are a few others who may agree.

Rob does not get under the car any more he makes his wife do it. :yes:
dont let him fool you.:noway:

The best I've found is cardboard with a thick styrofoam block for a head rest. Next best, a lift.

Hey Rubadub,
10 or 15 years ago I would have agreed with you. I'm really glad you can still get it done at 67, but you are the exception to the rule. At 47, my body just doesn't bend as needed to scurry under a vehicle like you describe. Call me a Pussy if you care to, but it just ain't happenin'. I'm sure there are a few others who may agree.

When I do anything like crawl under a car or any other type of work that I have to twist my body around, I feel it the next day, but thats the way it is when your not working everyday.

I'm very fortunate to still be able to do it, but eventually the day will come that I won't. As far as calling you a pussy, that isn't going to happen, my friend is in a wheel chair and he helps me on occasion, a lift would be nice to have.

You saying a creeper is a PITA, I've seen the day I couldn't afford a creeper and when I got my first one I was pretty tickled.

Jack stands, floor jacks and creepers, I have made a lot of money working part time with these tools, I feel lucky to have them.

You can look at these (primitive tools):) like the old Binks #7 spray gun, I know a guy that still uses one, he uses more paint then the hvlp guns, but he can put out a first class paint job.

Fact is I still use the old #7 myself, for spraying body filler and epoxy. Theres a lot of guys with one car garages, heating with a wood stove, not many tools, but turning out some outstanding work.

Lifts are nice, but they aren't the only way to do it.

A little more here on lifts (higher ceilings).

Since I retired about 5 years ago I have time to spend on this computer, and one thing I look at quite often is the air quality here. A few summers ago I was coming out of my garage and the sun was out really good, and there was a shadow from the door and I was looking into the edge of the sunlight.

I stopped for a moment and I could see stuff floating in the air like tiny strings maybe less then a quarter inch long, and I thought whats with this. So I went in and popped up the weather here and it said the air quality wouldn't be good for the day.

Around here we have good to moderate on most days. Now to the point of this, a lift usually requires a 12 or 14 foot ceiling height to be right.

So your grinding or welding and when your done you open the doors or windows or exhaust fan or whatever, its pretty hard to clean out that extra 2 to 4 foot of air up by the ceiling, whereas a 8 foot ceiling you can put a cheap box fan at one end of the garage, and its out of there.

Ever walk in a professional body shop, the higher ceilings, you can always smell paint fumes or grinding dust, its just in there.

How important is this in regards to a lift, not a lot, but the air isn't getting any better, and if you can keep the air in your shop clean, in a fast efficent manner, thats a good thing.

Then you take the heat and air conditioning in a hobby shop, how long will you work in it, a couple hours after work, is it worth it to cool it down, or especially us guys up north here, if its around zero that day, and you have a 12 foot ceiling, it will take a few bucks and little time to get her heated up.

Having a lift or an ideal shop, most of the hobbists can't afford to put a lot of money into it, some can, but for the most part there few and far between. I just have a problem with high ceilings and trying to heat the building, it just doesn't make any sense, wether I can afford it or not.

The exhaust fan and ventilation system in my garage, all of the pipes are menards special stove pipe, the cheap stuff, but caulked on all the seams with latex rubber caulk. The exhaust fan is a cow barn fan, about $125.00.

I can take in outside air or inside air or both at the same time, I can also put hot or cold or both into my wanna be paint booth, I can weld and grind and get a decent exhaust on that, in other words I keep the air inside my garage clean, I really believe with a high ceiling it wouldn't be very efficient, or I would need to put up some higher vents, and those would not be easy to reach to open and shut.

As of today my lungs don't bother me, I don't pay attention to them, when you can breathe good you don't pay attention to them. I started smoking at ten years old, and smoked up till three years ago, so a good solid 50 plus years, I'm lucky i don't have a problem, and i wonder when i will get lung cancer or have a hard time breathing, maybe it will start today who knows, but meanwhile i'm taking care of it and trying to eliminate any contaminated or dirty airborne air from getting to them.

A few years ago I bought a SAS supplied air setup with a paper type hood, the air pump is in the lower level in a closet in my raised ranch, its piped 7 feet under ground out to the garage. I love this unit, because the last 20 years I worked I wore all different types of respirators on occasion, we had supplied air, negative and positive pressure respirators, battery operated respirators and also we got treated to scba once in a while.:) We used mostly full face although we issued some half faces respirators for some things.

During this 20 years I was trained on running a couple of different fit booths and trained on how to repair and clean respirators. Also on how to wear them so there effective. It was respirator city, training and the whole nine yards.

So when I decided to buy a supplied air set up it didn't take long to sort it out. The paper type hood is the real deal, less stress on you when using it. I've been getting off and on the initial subject here, but this is some good stuff i'm putting out, so pay attention guys. My problem writing this up is its all two fingered typing, so my fingers won't keep up with the this tiny brain I have.

I use the supplied air for almost everything.

I am not going to suggest to anyone that it is safe to weld and grind with a paper type supplied air hood, so I'll let it go at that.

Anyway when I'm welding and grinding I don't breathe any dirt or fumes, none, zero. When I'm done with whatever and the garage is getting a little dusty, even with the exhaust fan running, I'll go over and turn on this cheap menards special box fan, at the opposite end of garage or the 16 foot garage door, then I can walk over to the service door with the supplied air on, hit the overhead door button, pull the hood off and exit the garage.

Wait a few minutes and go back in, and with the lower ceilings I can clean the air out really good.

Now my garage has higher ceilings in the front part, its 24' x 24' then I added 26' to the back of it and that part is 30' wide. In the old part I have another box fan directed down and towards the new end of the garage, so when I want to clean the air out it gets it out.The new 26 x 30 has about a 8' 3'' side wall.

Anyway, the lower ceilings enables me to get a fast air exchange, and not lose my ac or heat.

I would like to explain some things about welding with supplied air, but because of liabilitity issues that might come out of it, I will only say, if your going to weld with it on, make sure you get an approved supplied air setup for welding and grinding, it could be dangerous and the end result could be burning the garage down or setting yourself on fire and maybe being killed.

So, a lot of blah blah blah on my part, but I needed to tell this, yes lifts are nice, but theres other sides to the story.

Almost forgot, if anybodys still reading this, probably not, but anyway.

You can see the vents i have in my garage on my website, i built them out of some sheet metal, there not very thick, but there insulated with foam on a turn buckle, and they are user friendly and never break down or give me a problem.

So with a higher ceiling, you can still air it out with a couple of fans in the right places, but you won't get the advantage of a vent that you can walk up to an open and not have to climb a ladder to get into the overhead if you had a few of them up there.

I didn't mention lighting, I would think it would take less lights for a lower ceiling, but that might be a wash.

I spend about 5 to 6000 hours a year on these car forums, and probably a good 98% of it on the body shop sections. I see questions on what type of respirator a person should use, sandblasting questions and quite a bit of stuff on what could hurt you and what couldn't.

I can say this for a fact, there are a lot of respirators being worn by guys that don't have any idea if it fits right let alone knowing how to wear it so it won't leak. These respirators are bought over the counter at body shop supply places and building supply and hardware stores.

How dangerous is this, how dangerous is that extra few feet in your high ceiling garage thats retaining the airborne (stuff). Maybe not a lot, maybe its immaterial, doesn't really matter.

Air quality in your hobby shop, should a guy put in a few engineering controls, is it worth it, I guess down the road in later years in your life you might have a problem, hard to say, it has some to do with the individual himself, it works different from person to person.

My neighbor went to body shop tech school probably 6 years ago, I'm guessing, but anyway there was like 24 of them in his class, he said he was the number one in his class, anyway I take his word for it.

He was probably 20 years old when he started it, and he's a pretty bright young man. He has helped me out a few times and I will be getting him back to help me on some of this car.

So, one evening he pops in the garage and I had this brain flash that I would rattle can this 12 bolt rear end, including the backing plates, I had several cans of paint and getting set up to do it, in the paint booth.

He says want me to do that, so i said sure, let me turn on the supplied air, he says no i'm okay, I says at least put on this respirator, he says no i'm okay.

Well, whats wrong with this picture, I wonder, what all were they taught in regard to dealing with paint fumes, I would assume, although I could be wrong, that the instructor didn't push the issue to much or maybe even set up a an air sampler to show them whats going into there lungs and what the skin itself is absorbing.

I have a pretty good section on my web site about respirators, I know some of you guys have heard me pipe up about this so many times its getting sickening, but if just one person sees this for the first time and reads about the respirators its worth the time i'm taking to put in on.

I'm not trying to tell anyone that a high ceiling is bad for your health, I just put out the facts here, stuff I have seen for myself, older guys like myself, we have been around so long that sooner or later we get to see and read about a lot of stuff.

I will admit though, a lift is a good thing, and having a lift is not going to create much of an air quality problem, but it is what it is.

It would take me to long to go over and proof read this, so take it for what it is.:)

Rob

I have a creeper I bought from Jeg's. It works out nicely and it was cheap...also holds up to the abuse I put it through including throwing it. I also just recently bought a lift. Rob, I applaud you for being willing to get up and down off the floor at your age. I'm only 28 and I've had enough of that crap already.

Just my two cents - Bonecreeper is the way to go AND - They sponsor our Chevelle Show in Ohio....:hurray:

....
It would take me to long to go over and proof read this, so take it for what it is.:)
Rob

Well I read the whole thing, Rob and it makes good sense to me.
Thanks for taking the time to put this safety information out there.
I'm 10 years behind you and have not had any formal training regarding material safety or air quality, but to me it's just common sense. I never got hooked on smoking 'cause its pretty obvious it is stupid to breathe in the junk!
I also realize that occasionally using a grinder or welder without full protections is much different that continued daily exposure. I've even done some occasional work around asbestos without pro grade clothing and respirators and don't feel I've risked much. Remember, asbestos was used in all brake linings of all cars for many decades - everyone was breathing some particles in every day!!
To me it's obvious that the problem is continued daily high exposure that leads to problems down the road. But I try to use common sense and keep my self away from the worst of it.

Dan

I own a creeper; but I don't use it. Makes me crazy when my hair gets caught in the wheels.

CARDBOARD or CARPET SCRAPS. Bigger is better.

:yes: Much better!
I very seldom use any of my creepers, I just use a nice big piece of clean cardboard.

Here is the one that I use. It rolls good and I have no complaints with it.

http://www.lislecorp.com/tool_detail.cfm?detail=1347

If you are tall like me, be sure to check the length of the creeper first. A little longer is great so you can keep your head comfortable and still fit hips and butt at the other end. Short ones, every time you try to sit up once you get out from under the car the weight transfers to the end beyond the wheels and the creeper will flip up behind you. Most annoying.

I have one like this:
http://www.etoolcart.com/browseproducts/Creeper-with-Adjustable-Headrest-SUN8505.html

The adjustable headrest is nice, as are the 6 wheels and the fact that it doesn't jump up and smack the side of the car when you get off of it.

Then there is this:

http://www.griotsgarage.com/product/in+your+garage/creepers+and+carts/cadillac+of+creepers+vii.do?search=basic&keyword=creepers&sortby=newArrivals&page=1

Crazy.

K