Replies

1. 
   Mongo | Apr 12, 2004 05:08pm | #1

   Pure opinion, as it depends on the type of work you do, but I find one-wheeled barrows to be more versatile.

   Easier, and more stable, when traversing a slope.

   Easier to run along planking. A little left/right of centerline and you're still on the plank. With a two-wheeler, if one tire gets off the edge you'd better be ready.

   Long-term, I find metal holds up better. Concrete, rocks, and especially in cold weather. I've seen several plastic ones crack around bolt holes, etc.

   Also, I often load several hundred pound rocks or stumps in a wheelbarrow by laying the barrow on its side, rolling the rock in, then getting on the other side and pulling the wheelbarrow up by hauling on the tray. Under heavy loads the plastic ones flex too much. 

   There are times when a two-wheeler would be easier to use, and times when the higher volume tray would be advantageous, but for me, one-wheelers are the all-around better wheelbarrow.

1. 
   bobl | Apr 12, 2004 05:34pm | #2

   do u have a brand preference?

   as an HO we own 2 wheelbarrows, the 4 cu ft size. one is a craftsman and the other unknown brand.

   the unknown brand wheel guard gets caught on things much easier than the other.  my guess is the angle on the handles must be different on the two.bobl          Volo, non valeo

1. 
   BKCBUILDER | Apr 12, 2004 06:04pm | #3

    Brand....Jackson, type, they have 2 in the 6 cu/ft...one is the folded, the other is the stamped. Folded are heavier and hold up to concrete and mason work better. Stamped are cheaper by $40, and hold up pretty well too. Other brand is Berlin, pretty much the same as the Jackson, heavy struts, heavy handles ...contractor grade.

   Take the oem tire and give it away, buy a puncture proof non-pneumatic tpye(they have been out for a few years) they have them at most concrete tool supplier stores, and I think Blowes sells them now. Spendy, but worth it...no more flats when the concrete truck is enroute.

1. 
   brownbagg | Apr 12, 2004 06:23pm | #4

   stay away from plastic, there are flimey, break easy and will blow out of pickup on freeway. I use wheel barrow daily I like the heavy steel contractor model with thick handle. keep eye on handles. HD got some that are too little to hold a load.

2. 
   MikeCallahan | Apr 12, 2004 06:38pm | #5

   Get the steel one with the pneumatic tire. The solid non pneumatic tire is difficult to negotiate rough ground when the wheelbarrow is full. It just doesn't roll as easy. The pneumatic tire comes tubeless but you can buy a tube for it. If you are the slightest bit mechanically competant then the tire should be easy to maintain. The steel wheelbarrow will last for years of heavy work. Any wheelbarrow with wooden handles is a piece of junk. The handles will rot or break after the first year. Plastic? I won't go there. The photo shows the only pro wheelbarrow available around here.

   Mike Callahan, Lake Tahoe, Ca.

1. 
   dieselpig | Apr 13, 2004 12:06am | #7

   Funny how much opinions can differ on things like this.  I've got a steel wheelbarrow  with wood handles that hasn't seen the inside of a building in 5 years.  Outside all year in good old New England.  Handles are still as sturdy as can be.  Time will tell I guess.  I do love how worn and smooth the wood is where you grab on.

   Also, first thing I did upon buying it was swap out the pneumatic tire for a solid one.  Don't get to clean up too many roofing jobs with the pneumatic tires.  Nothing worse than a wheelbarrow with a flat and ten sq of rubbish left to go!

   Different strokes for different folks I guess.

2. 
   BillHartmann | Apr 13, 2004 05:16pm | #11

   " Nothing worse than a wheelbarrow with a flat and ten sq of rubbish left to go!"

   Yes there is, one filled with rock and a flat tire.

   The house next door I have never figured out what is going on with it. Someone buys it and spends about 2 and tons of money redoing the place and then I think has only spend about 10 days there spread over a 3 years period of time.

   Anyway he has some kind that lives in the basement as a 'caretaker'. Have no idea of what kind of arrangement that they have.

   Anyway I had the garage door open last summer and the kid comes over and ask if I have an air compressor. He called some decortative rock in the back of his pickumup and shoveled the wheelbarrow full of the rock. And finds that it is completeley flat.

   I say use and he says that he will push it over, LOADED.

   Well it has (or I should say had) a tubless tire. It just rolled off.

   No way in h*ll to get any air in it with it being loaded.

2. 
   PhillGiles | Apr 12, 2004 07:21pm | #6

   I guess it may depend on what you want to do with it and who will use it (e.g. kids/wife may struggle with a big wheel-barrow); but, I believe the best value is the big "contractor's special" also known as a concrete barrow: 8 cu ft, deep pan with steep sides, big pnuematic tire with a tube, and thick wooden handles. I think there's a 6 cu ft version still available too. It'll do just about anything, including preparing concrete mixes without slopping it all over (steep sides).

   If you mostly want something to haul flats of flowers or to move garden-centre bags of dirt/fertilizer; then, I strongly suggest you look at garden waggons (like a kids little red waggon, only on steroids with pneumatic tires) - REALLY USEFUL.

   .

   Phill Giles

   The Unionville Woodwright

   Unionville, Ontario

3. 
   EricPaulson | Apr 13, 2004 12:09am | #8

   I always get mine for free.........contractor grade............ho's around here will throw them out after a flat and hire someone to do that project they were so ambitious about!

   Eric

1. 
   Treetalk | Apr 13, 2004 02:26am | #9

   Get a steel wheelbarrow.We thru some sharp edged limestone in a plastic one and it went half way thru the body.Ive neverhad any trouble with wood handles and u can snaz the handles end up with liquid electrical tape or handlebar wrap. Ive got to get a solid tire cuz everytime i go to use mine the stupid 1/2ply tire is flat.

   I tried a dual wheel one and it just seemed ungainly to steer around.I live on about a 40%slope so i wish they has automatic levelers on them Cant count how many times ive had to reload that sucker!

4. 
   calvin | Apr 13, 2004 05:31am | #10

   In case you're taking a poll bobl.

   Jackson, deep dish metal, one wheel, thick wood handles, air tires with tube- 140.00/20 yrs ago.  Kept outside, on nose, on block.   Handles linseed oiled every year.  Lube the grease zurks on the axel.

   Keep your knees in line with the handles, you'll seldom spill a load.

   Plus, your wife'll look good from behind, or from the front for that matter, with a scoop neckline.

   Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

   Quittin' Time

5. 
   junkhound | Apr 13, 2004 07:56pm | #12

   One wheel, other than that call it a hand truck.

   As to size, it pays to have an assortment of sizes and shapes.  L-shaped no sided ones for firewood, little toy ones ofr the grandkids, 1-1/2 cu ft flat little one for DW carrying just a few plants, all the way to 6 cu ft plus for bigger jobs. You literaaly cannot have too many wheelbarrows. Pays to have a number of different size hand trucks also.

   Don't forget the motorized barrow or old datsun truck to keep around the yard.

1. 
   Sphere | Apr 13, 2004 08:36pm | #13

   for  motorized wheel barrow, I like the F350 Duelly...that works.

   View Image

   Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

   Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations. 

6. 
   Sancho | Apr 14, 2004 12:14am | #14

   Shoot bob most of the guys I know get them from garage sales. I did, got me a nice heavy rugged metal one for about 20 bucks.

    

   Darkworksite4:

   El americano pasado hacia fuera ase la bandera

7. 
   Remodeler | Apr 14, 2004 01:10am | #15

   Lowes has a little plastic garden cart in their lawn/garden section that I like for demolition work.  It has two big and two small wheels, so easy to roll over stuff.  Wheelbarrow pneumatic tires get popped to easy for me, unless it's outdoor work. 

   remodeler

1. 
   ANDYSZ2 | May 02, 2004 03:20am | #16

   Has anybody used one of those powered wheelborrows  and if so what did you think of it?

   ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.

   Remodeler/Punchout

1. 
   gordsco | May 02, 2004 08:58am | #17

   We used to pour concrete with these 3 wheeled contraptions back in the 70s before they invented pumpers. You sat over top the 3rd wheel that had a 7hp? 10hp? motor attached to it, I forget. We used to call them buggies, held about a ½yard of concrete.

   You would spin the steering wheel left and the thing would go right. ½ turn and thing would go backwards. Geeze they were nuts! We used to drive them up ramps and everything.

   Anybody remember these things?

1. 
   PhillGiles | May 02, 2004 09:50am | #18

   Yup: Aveling-Barford, Yeager, and Whiteman are the names that I remember. In the 50's we used to race them around the equipment yard or up and down the road outside the shop. They use to use the things by the dozen, sometimes hundreds, when building dams..

   Phill Giles

   The Unionville Woodwright

   Unionville, Ontario

1. 
   JeffBuck | May 02, 2004 09:54am | #19

   Phill ...

   just how old are ya?

   JeffBuck Construction, llc   Pittsburgh,PA

        Artistry in Carpentry                

2. 
   jonblakemore | May 02, 2004 11:13pm | #25

   Jeff,

   You beat me to it.

   I think we should start a thread.  "The many lives of Phill Giles".

   I can think of several careers.  Network administrator.  Concrete buggy racer.  IBM (?) salesman.  Watkins Glen track worker.

   And we thought Piffin had done it all... 

   Jon Blakemore

3. 
   PhillGiles | May 03, 2004 12:05am | #26

   I was NEVER a network administrator, nor was I a "salesman", track marshalls are, of course, volunteers just like ski patrollers. Just how sheltered and/or dull a life have you lead ?

   .

   Phill Giles

   The Unionville Woodwright

   Unionville, Ontario

   Edited 5/2/2004 5:31 pm ET by Phill Giles

4. 
   jonblakemore | May 03, 2004 01:24am | #27

   "Just how sheltered and/or dull a life have you lead?"

   Compared to you Phill, very dull.  Are you going to answer Jeff's question? 

   Jon Blakemore

5. 
   PhillGiles | May 03, 2004 06:58am | #29

   Well, were you just too lazy, or playing it safe ? And no, my age is nobody's business..

   Phill Giles

   The Unionville Woodwright

   Unionville, Ontario

6. 
   gordsco | May 02, 2004 06:29pm | #20

   The ones they used to send us were so beat up and covered with concrete I can't remember seeing a nameplate, but jeepers they were fun! I wasn't too long out of highschool in 76 and I remember thinking Wow! I'm getting paid for this?

7. 
   PhillGiles | May 02, 2004 06:37pm | #21

   Have you seen site dumpers yet ? They're the new generation of these things, bigger and more powerful, of course, and with 4 wheels. Sort-of like an ATV on steroids with a tip-body mounted on it. See then everywhere in Europe.

   BTW, if a lot of you are wondering what we're talking about; the mechanic in The Gods Must Be Crazy used one as personal transportation, an A-B I believe..

   Phill Giles

   The Unionville Woodwright

   Unionville, Ontario

8. 
   gordsco | May 02, 2004 10:36pm | #23

   They sound far too safe to be of any comparison Phill. With the advent of gravel slingers, Bobcats, pumpertrucks and rising insurance rates, those old buggies have gone the way of the dinosaur ( and like me I think sometimes when I see a laborer carrying lumber with a cell phone under his ear) but fondly remembered...

9. 
   JeffBuck | May 03, 2004 01:45am | #28

   No harm meant ...

   just ... "in the 50's" ... to me ... implies you were born in the 30's or 40's ...

   and I'm pretty sure you have a younger kid ...

   so ...

   Just wondering.

   Jeff

   Buck Construction, llc   Pittsburgh,PA

        Artistry in Carpentry                

10. 
    PhillGiles | May 03, 2004 07:04am | #30

    Yes, I have an 11-year old; I'm also retired on a full pension: there are lots of older fathers around, you'd probably know about Chaplin, Picaso, and a bunch of current show-business types..

    Phill Giles

    The Unionville Woodwright

    Unionville, Ontario

11. 
    JeffBuck | May 04, 2004 05:40am | #31

    well ...

    my Dad's pretty old too ...

    and he's still a father!

    JeffBuck Construction, llc   Pittsburgh,PA

         Artistry in Carpentry                

2. 
   sawdustmaker | May 02, 2004 06:46pm | #22

   I knew them as Georgia Buggies. Saw them in operation while working for a bridge / highway construction company.

1. 
   gordsco | May 02, 2004 11:08pm | #24

   Buggies, Sling Buggies or something like that is what I remember, the company I worked for back in the 70s used them for the main floor concrete pours on large apt blocks and motels. We would lay a plywood trail over the rebar and conduit. Man things were labor intensive back then. ( I bet one pumper truck replaced a dozen guys)

   The second and third floor pours were handled by a one yard bucket on a crane except on this one style of apt block where the first floor was only 6 feet above grade, then we had this crazy ramp set up for the buggies that the health and safety guys would have gone nuts about today. You had to take a good run at the ramp with only a half load of concrete. We found that out after some experimentation.

   I'd call my old boss and ask him the name cept we had a falling out shortly after I started dating his daughter... there was something about yelling at me all day and then having me ask him to pass the potatoes...