Which Cart for Hauling Firewood

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

litefoot

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Messages
2,402
Reaction score
527
Location
American West
I posted a thread earlier about facilitating firewood gathering/processing as one gets older. Following some your recommendations, I have ordered a Fiskars X27, a Woodchuck log lifter and I am now looking for a cart for hauling rounds back to the trailer. I'm primarily focusing on the Rubbermaid Big Wheel carts, but I also see these metal wagons that have pneumatic tires. The Rubbermaids come in large diameter spoked wheels or with wheel barrow wheels. The larger diameter wheels look like they would go over rocks and snags in the mountains better, but the wheel barrow wheels look like they'd be easier to replace/repair. What about those wagons? Anybody got any advice? Note: I do not have an ATV, so this would be a cart to be manually pushed/pulled. Thanks!
 
The larger the diameter of the wheel/ground clearance the better. The lighter and stiffer the frame the better. Depending on how knarly the terrain you're dealing with, the cart should be selected on how well it can handle it. I've seen some two wheeled aluminum frame carts that are light, strong and hold a considerable amount of wood. However, the bicycle style wheels may not be suitable in soft, muddy areas. Have you considered a three wheeled wheel barrow? They would be easy enough to negotiate on twisty trails and the wheels would deal better with shock and to a degree, mud. if you're looking for something to pull rather than push, landscape trailers/wagons are an option. They're very rugged, and have decent sized wheels with pnumatic tires.
 
We use a small landscape wagon for picking up small limbs and sticks and it works very well. Our terrain is fairly flat and smooth not sure how it would work on rough terrain.
 
I have three carts.

Homebuilt 2 wheel, box 2'x4'x1' on old 2wheel gardetn tractor wheels. Moves a lot of "stuff" from gravel to firewood.

Trailer type behind rider mower. I recently used that combo to haul unsplit rounds down a steep hill to the truck and use it all the time moving wood around the lot from the "to be split pile to 'split stack area' to 'in the shed'.

Landscape 4 wheel wagon pneumatic tires - nice as it will fit through the porch door when I am stocking 2 cords from the shed to the porch in the fall for the early winter use.

The homebuilt is used most for moving split wood _unless_ it would need to be moved up hill much. At my age my legs/lungs don't cotton to that. Out comes the mower/trailer.

The landscape wagon is nice on fairly level land, not so good pulling a load up hill and I wouildn't even try it on rough ground. One problem is the narrow wheel spacing - easy tip-over.

Harry K
 
Two years ago I bought a hand truck from Tractor Supply and it has served me well.

Hand Truck, 1000 lb. Capacity - 3893949 | Tractor Supply Company

I've pulled several cords of wood out of tight places with it. I keep a 6 foot ratchet strap on it to help hold rounds on the cart when I'm by myself (to make tipping it back easier). I've never gotten close to it's weight capacity and i should probably get into the habit of checking the tires for air before going out cause it hauls a lot better when they are full. Sheilds keep the rounds from shifting onto the tire...just wish the bottom foot plate was extended a little farther.
 
2 years ago I bought a utility wagon from TSC for my wife and I to use in our yard and garden, but lately I have been using it to haul firewood and my wood-cutting gear to and from the cutting location. Yesterday I used it to haul 2 loads of about 500 pounds of concrete slabs and it was a little tough to pull up a hill, but I managed. I left this cart at my parent's house for a few months this summer and just almost did not get it back from my mom who used it for almost everything, including giving her 2 grand-daughters "trailer" rides behind a 4 wheeler.

We just bought a new house, and it is a little farther to the wood stack from the house, so this winter I will use this cart to haul wood from the stack to the house and leave it loaded just outside the back door. I will try to attach a link, if it does not work it is the heavy duty utility cart rated at 1,200 pounds at TSC. I did not pay $120, I got it on sale for around $90.

GroundWork® Heavy-Duty Utility Cart, 1,200 lb. Capacity - 3599016 | Tractor Supply Company
 
rubbermaid carts

I posted a thread earlier about facilitating firewood gathering/processing as one gets older. Following some your recommendations, I have ordered a Fiskars X27, a Woodchuck log lifter and I am now looking for a cart for hauling rounds back to the trailer. I'm primarily focusing on the Rubbermaid Big Wheel carts, but I also see these metal wagons that have pneumatic tires. The Rubbermaids come in large diameter spoked wheels or with wheel barrow wheels. The larger diameter wheels look like they would go over rocks and snags in the mountains better, but the wheel barrow wheels look like they'd be easier to replace/repair. What about those wagons? Anybody got any advice? Note: I do not have an ATV, so this would be a cart to be manually pushed/pulled. Thanks!

The boss bought like a few dozen of those tall bicycle wheel looking rubber maid carts for use in the broiler houses here. Even that light of duty-wheel fail. Ha! He is always kvetching that those dudes tear up his equipment..if you start with the wrong equipment and insist they use it, well..... I just shut up though, glad I don't have to work over that side of the farm too much..

They haul broiler feed for the chicks, first two weeks, then later used for collecting dead birds to get them outside where they get loaded into a bobcat bucket and taken to the compost sheds. Ain't a one of em, not a single one I have seen, lasted two flocks until all the wheels had flat tires and bent rims. Really, I ain't gonna but could post pics of them busted things. The plastic beds are great, Rubbermaid got that down, but the wheels are *ultimate suckitude*. They guys still use them like that, too, bent broken, flat tires, because it's no use, put new tubes and tires and wheels, one or two flocks later, more fail....and they are all too cheap to go buy something better for themselves, cut into their like junk food and lottery ticket budget, so they just cuss a lot and pull or push them busted things around loaded down.

Whatever you get, any brand make or model, start with the tires and wheels, something *really* suitable for heavy off road use, and work your way up from there. Spoked bicycle wheels sure ain't it.
 
I really like this cart for hauling big rounds. I have considered making some upside down L brackets to make a "cage" for hauling splits. This is a very stable, heavy hand truck I have probably had 4-500# on it.

image_7771.jpg


I also use this cart to haul splits. I use it mostly to bring wood from the woodpile into the house. I can get a day's wort of wood on this cart. The tires and tubes were junk. The tubes lasted a little over a year and at three years the tires are just about shot. The rest of the cart is well made though.

image_17115.jpg


IIRC the heavy hand truck was just under $100 on sale with a coupon and the wood cart was about $50 at Harbor Freight.
 
I have the larger TSC two wheel hand truck as in post #5. It is good for short distances as in getting rounds closer to the splitter. Never really tried it in the woods where the ground is soft. Anyone use the Log-Rite Jr. arch in the woods?
 
Back
Top