Yard cart or Wheelbarrow

[lowell holmes]

I have a wheelbarrow, I think I will go buy a lawn cart for SWMBO.
SWMBO is she who must be obeyed for anyone not knowing.

[Tom M King]

I thought I had a lot of trailers, but then I saw that a couple of you have 9. At first, I was thinking that's a lot, having a horse trailer, and two goosenecks also-same reasons as John, but then I remembered the boat trailers............ The low bed 7x20 gooseneck is the most used trailer.

The next gooseneck I plan to get is a tilt bed to move containers with. I just can't decide if I want to do multiple 20's, or for 40's. It's hard to get 40's into some places. I've outgrown box trailers that I want to drag around.

We have a 10cu. ft., double wheeled plastic wheelbarrow that gets used at the barn, and it's lasted many more years than I thought it would have. Some years after we bought it, I did end up replacing the rusted out box bolts with stainless ones.

My Wife has a funny shaped little green garden cart that is a very good design, but I forget the brand name.

Jacksons get used for concrete, and mortar. I'd never ditch one for want of a handle.

I never got on with solid tired ones, after owning a couple. The best thing I'd recommend doing, if you like pneumatic tires like I do, is to put a tube in the tire when you first get it, while everything is nice and clean. You'll be glad it's in there in a few years. Tractor Supply has them in stock. That double wheeled one is well over ten years old, with the original tires still on it, and I only need to top off the tires every couple of years at the most, since it has tubes in it. All our pneumatic wheelbarrow, and little used trailer tires, have tubes in them. Not only does it keep them from losing air anything like as fast, but if a trailer tire goes flat because it hasn't been used in years, with a tube in it, it will pump right back up.

[dennis thompson]

I have both and use the yard cart almost exclusively, I can't remember the last time I used the wheelbarrow.

[Mike Cutler]

Fix your current Jackson. The handles and tip bar are easy to source. I keep my Jackson covered these days unless it's in use. Mine is probably close to your in age. I'm pretty sure I bought it in the late 80's.
Those two wheeled wheelbarrows are " awful" with a heavy load, unless you're on very smooth terrain. On uneven surface they are always out of balance, and you're constantly adjusting to the shift in balance/weight. It is much, much easier to balance a single wheeled wheelbarrow with a heavy load.
I have one two wheeled at home only because it's twice the size of my Jackson, and the barn that we board our horse at only has two wheeled wheelbarrows, so I have a lot of experience with them. I do not like them.

No experience with a garden cart.

[Thomas L Carpenter]

Both. replaced he handles on my 5 year old wheelbarrow last year and rebuilt my 30 year old Garden Way cart two years ago. It's amazing the stuff you can move with the cart and it doesn't tip over while on an uneven surface.

[James Runchey]

Another vote for the garden way cart. We had one for most of the forty years we had the farm, worked like a charm.

[Frank McGuire]

for light loads on smooth level terrain, a single wheel barrow is great. For heavy loads, they are a pain to keep them from tipping over and spilling. Same for moderate loads on hills, up down or side ways. We had two garden carts with the 2 big bicycle tire wheels. Worked very well on bumpy terrain and for heavy loads. But they were not built heavy enough to hitch behind a lawn tractor. We got a plastic tub two wheel cart at Sam's club two years ago. the wheels are wide and sturdy. The rear can be converted from a wheel barrow to a tow behind and it has a dump bed. for the price it is great. ($129.00) We can tow it behind the 4 wheeler or the lawn tractor and use it as a wheel barrow. It handles bumpy terrain just fine. For heavier work, I have a small 40 x 48 trailer that came from Harbor freight 25 years ago. It has 4.8 x 8 tires capable of some light road hauling and I can hook it up behind the pick up, the 4 wheeler or the lawn tractor. It is light enough to haul behind a sub compact car. We have had a series of those lawn carts sold at the box stores with the light sheet metal dump boxes. They don't hold much light material, and can';t handle much heavy material. Went through three of them in about 9 years. We also have a light weight 4 x 6 trailer with an aluminum frame and pressure treated board deck and sides. It is also capable of towing on the road, but I put wide golf cart tires on it so it does not leave ruts in the lawn when the ground is soft.

My Mrs. claims I collect trailers. And between the "lawn carts" and the big heavy trailers, we do have 9. A stock trailer, a flat bed for hauling hay and equipment and the smaller ones for utility work around the house and barn. We haul tractors, animals, gravel, hay, fire wood, branches clippings, sand soil, manure etc. I'd recommend getting one just a size larger than you think you will need. Also try the thing before you buy it. Some wheel barrows are made for very small people. I am barely 6 ft on a good day with longer than average arms and some have handles that are just too low to the ground, or have support bars that interfere with taking a normal stride when pushing it. Nothing worse than being forced to take baby steps when pushing a load.

Thank you so much! It's a pleasure to get advice from the Professional!

[Jim Koepke]

My dad gave me this wheelbarrow about 35 years ago. He replaced the broken/rotted wood handles with some aluminum tubes. The handles were turned a few years ago on my lathe. The end tenons were shaped with hand tools to fit into the aluminum. It is still going strong.

Wheelbarrow.jpg

My wife prefers the two wheel model. She is smaller than me.

The dual wheel wheelbarrows have one bad tendency, the outboard side of the wheels are unsupported thus making the axle subject to flexing and even bending due to maximum load such as topped up with wet concrete.

That sounds like a problem of overloading more than design.

After all this just realized this thread is an oldie.

So Dave, how about telling us how this story ended?

jtk

[John K Jordan]

Only two-wheelers for me. SO much easier to manage, even overloaded. Never had a wheel, axle, or bushing detectably wear. I keep four, in use from 5-15 years.

I know of two reasons to use a single-wheel barrow - one, if going sideways or a slope, or two, if traversing a trail or ramp narrower than the two wheels. Or if you want to dump one sideways, I guess.

I prefer steel wheel barrows since I can always weld a patch if needed. It's harder to fix a plastic barrow, but they are easier to find these days.

JKJ

[Bruce Wrenn]

Own Garden Way Cart, two wheel plastic wheel barrow, and TWO Jackson's. Garden Way is nice, but it's too wide to go thru a door opening. Same goes for two wheel barrow. My Jacksons are over forty years old. Replaced the handles a couple times, along with the tires. Wish I had a buck for every barrow full of stone, sand or concrete the Jacksons have hauled. With that amount of money, I could just hire someone to push around a wheel barrow when needed.

[Jim Matthews]

I would only suggest that plastic tubs be avoided.

Exuberant usage while moving rocks put a hole in mine below the waterline. A replacement tub cost more than the entire wheelbarrow.

[Alex Zeller]

When the wife's aunt passed we ended up with her house. She had a folding cart with composite bicycle wheels. I've used it a couple times and I do like it. Having a tractor and a side by side (getting a side by side with a dump bed would be what I say is best to replace your old Jackson) I only use my wheelbarrow for moving firewood into the basement. It's a single wheel one and can be very tipsy. I also don't like how the front edge tapers to form sort of a funnel for firewood. But more than anything it flexes. The metal braces don't hold it rigidly enough. When it's resting on it's legs it leans. But I don't want to repair it because I don't want to add a lot of weight to it. I think buying anything but a top quality one is only good for light duty choirs. I keep the cart at the other house but one of these days I'll bring it home to try.

I have an old very small boat trailer given to me that I might steal the axle from and make into something like that Ace wheelbarrow. I figure the axle will not bend and maybe the weight will not be bad because it's all on the wheels.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

If only the garden way type carts had brake
s for the hilly terrain I have.