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HF Garden Cart (modified as trailer)


dratkinson

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I have read posts from folks wanting to know the most useful type of trailer for use with these old tractors. The member’s opinion seemed to be that the most useful trailer would do double-duty: carry the tractor to the work site, and be used by the tractor while there. I agree with this double-duty logic. Last year, my neighbor and I decided it was time to remove the concrete walks that had been included in our backyards at the time our homes were built. Their purpose seems to have been to lead to a burn barrel in the days before local trash pickups. Anyway, we decided that grass would look better and it was time for the walks to go. As he was adding a new garage/driveway to his home (breaking out old concrete/pouring new driveway) and the driveway contractor would be hauling away concrete, it seemed like a good time to add the concrete from these walks to the pile. We easily broke up the walks with rented electric jackhammers. But who wants to spend the afternoon moving concrete in a wheelbarrow? Not us! So prior to this time I modified my HF garden cart to attach to my little B-206.

This is what the HF garden cart looks like in the catalog. It has a weight limit of 300 lbs.

This is the same cart modified for use as a trailer.

I built an A-frame under the cart and attached it to the axle washers that previously spaced the wheels away from the cart’s body. Using perforated tubing, I built a telescoping trailer tongue. The tongue can be either pinned to a bracket under the cart to keep it up when used as a cart or when used as a trailer to prevent it from dumping. Or the tongue can be pinned to free the bracket and allow the trailer to dump. The original HF bowed front leg was cut down and moved to the cart’s rear for additional bracing. Square tubing was used to make new telescoping front legs.

As the tractor and modified HF garden cart/trailer are less than 30" wide, it was easy to get into our backyards and haul away and dump the concrete to be picked up by the driveway contractor’s skid loader.

As the wheel spokes are a little bent, I think we probably overloaded it a little bit.

Household trash collection center. Day to day, this cart’s duty is to collect household trash for curb collection and to serve as a mail-processing center. Mail processing center. The shelf above the open trash barrel holds a small crosscut paper shredder and everything with any identifiable personal information (cancelled checks, old bills, pre-approved credit card applications...) is shredded. The cardboard box attached to the distant garage door is mounted below a mail slot. When the mail arrives, all junk mail is shredded before the useful mail is carried inside.

Sometimes when you are riding around in the neighborhood, you will see where homeowners have cut up and set out limbs from trees downed in the last storm. It would be handy to have a small, lightweight trailer to pick up this firewood ... while at the same time getting some exercise. The bicycle trailer hitch lets me do both.

The bicycle trailer hitch is made from 1-1/4" perforated tubing. Universal joint. The eyebolt hitch is loose and pivots when the bicycle leans. It is necessary to lay the bike on the ground while loading/unloading the trailer, as its weight on the tongue will cause the bike to fall otherwise. The perforated square tubing is attached to the left chain stay with 2 J-hooks. The perforated tubing is spaced and centered under the chain stay by a piece of 1/2" square tubing and a piece of 1/2" angle (mounted upwards like the letter V). The longer rod is made from a J-hook welded to a 12" headless carriage bolt. This is hooked over the brake arm and through a short piece of 1/2" pipe welded to the side of the perforated tubing. This bolt’s sole purpose is to keep the hitch from rotating down and outside as a result of the off-center weight on the hitch. There are 2 nuts on the carriage bolt to prevent its loosening. I got the idea for this bicycle trailer hitch from the website [url]http://www.bikesatwork.com[/url]. There you will see pictures of working bicycles pulling 3 tandem trailers and a total weight of 1000 lbs. The website talks about the preferred method of attaching a hitch to a bike, but it does not show a picture of what they use on their bicycles. This hitch is my interpretation of what I read there. I agree that a lawn tractor’s trailer should be useful for more than 1 purpose. /r David in Denver
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Now I thought that was a pretty cool set up until I got to the bicycle...That sure rounds it out...That is a really neat set up. Nice work great idea!!
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Hmm, my old garden way cart already has bent axles from over use. Not sure it could take me loading it if i didn't have to push it. Great idea though for those with more sense then I have.
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