Break-down cart design

There are four wheel garden carts that I have seen, fat flotation tires, with two steerable wheels controlled by a handle, sort of like an old Radio Flyer wagon. Add a cable winch and you should be in business.

Ace hardware sells a "Garden and Farm Utility Cart", but there are many others. This one has a deck about 3 feet by 1.5 feet.

Richard

Tom Gardner wrote:

Personally I think I'd start with something like this:

Add a floor, sides and a removable front wheel and you can use your winch to lower it down the hill and bring it back. It wouldn't need to collapse and take up space in the van either. :-)

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

You might look at

for game carts. They have collapsible models rated for 500 lbs., weigh 30-40 lbs., and cost less than $200.

Pete Keillor

"Tom Gardner" wrote: (clip)and I only have a month. Any ideas would be appreciated, (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ When I was a kid on the farm, I recall that we used to use a horse-drawn wooden sled for some of the harvesting. So, how about taking some lumber and building a sled at the foot of the hill? You could run it with a winch, as you suggested, or pull it with the truck, as someone else suggested.

You COULD prefab some metal brackets and runners to make the sled quicker to put together, and more durable if you see fit.

I've got at least ten old bicycle frames you can have to make a light weight foldable cart out of if you are close to me. I'm in Surrey B.C.

Pete

Actually, I'd start with a small Quad ATV with cargo racks, or a John Deere "Gator" 6x6, and a utility trailer to get it there - bada-bing, fast and easy, no fabrication needed. ;-) But there are often spoilsport Forest Rangers and stupid "No Vehicles" rules to contend with...

Or you can start with one of these pneumatic tire garden carts:

If you don't feel like pushing it up the hill, or hauling it on a rope tied to the car bumper to get the cart up and down the hill, you could build a modern version of the logger's 'Steam Donkey' winch. A small Briggs engine, a BIG muffler (see Ranger comment above), suitable speed reduction, and a windlass drum.

Three or four wraps of rope around the drum, and when you keep the free end tight it pulls - want to stop, just slack off on the free end of the rope and let it slip on the drum.

-->--

You might also look into electric propulsion, with the cart dragging an extension cord. Not usually practical, but doable for short runs like

150'