Quickie: flotation wheelbarrow

[sjoemie himself 3,249]

Soo.. yet another idea that floated around in my head for way too long was to build a wheelbarrow with a 'big' wheel.

We're hauling horse manure from several places, some more muddy than others. When doing so with a 'normal' wheelbarrow the frontwheel tends to cut through the mud instead of rolling on top. My idea was to mount a single wide wheel to have more flotation so the wheelbarrow would be easier to push through the mud.

 

To start things of I convinced my SO to donate her wheelbarrow to the good cause. 

This is what I started out with:

 

Solid, narrow, single wheel. Yes it is crooked because the bearings are gone.

 

 

More in next post.

[sjoemie himself 3,249]

Wanted to use as much of the old frame as possible. This again was the starting position.

 

Had this wheel laying around. Bought a couple of them a while back and this was a solo one. Perfect candidate for the wheelbarrow.

 

This is the difference between the two wheels.

 

That's not going to fit. So marking where the frame has to be cut to make room for the bigger wheel.

 

and then.. things escalated a bit.

[ri702bill 13,203]

Nothing wrong there! Good for another 10 years as is!

Did you consider going to two outboard wheels like a Contractor's Wheelbarrol? I converted mine that way - MUCH more stable on uneven ground.. Had to make up a new axle & spacers.

 

[sjoemie himself 3,249]

Cut most of the front half of the frame off. Welded some square tubing in it's place. Added some bracing. Made a new axle and brackets for said axle. Mounted a new innertube, twice, since I punctured it the first time round.. Repaired it, mounted it again. Gave it a quick sand, wipedown and rattlebomb paintjob and here it is: bigfoot wheelbarrow.

 

 

 

Side to side with a regular wheelbarrow.

 

 

Handles pretty well, bit heavier on the nose but that's okay.

 

Feel free to shoot me any questions or feedback. 

 

Testing commences tomorrow.

 

Greetings from the Netherlands, Mark 

[sjoemie himself 3,249]

10 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

two outboard wheels

We have one of those but I have'nt exactly became friends with that yet.

I find the steering a bit awkward. Stability, yes, no worry about tipping it on it's side in normal circumstances. Because it has a bigger load capacity than a normal wheelbarrow it doesn't perform very well in the mud.. two narrow wheels digging in making it hard to push or pull.