Moving and storing implements

[hayden]

I've been trying for a while to figure out a good way to store my implements more compactly in my barn. There are only so many places where I can back up and unhitch something, then once the implement is on the ground they are not easy to move.

So, I took a trip to home depot and bought a few moving dollies and some individual casters. I've now got a dolly for each of 4 implements, and am in the process of making them for what's left. They work great.

I can now lower the implement on to its dolly, unhitch, then roll the implement to whereevery I want to store it. I can pack stuff together very tightly now and it all takes up much less space. When I want to put something on the tractor, I just rull over the implement and hook it up. It actually makes reattachment much easier since the implement can be easily moved into position for hook up.

I was able to use ready-made dollies for my chipper and snow blower, and I made one for the winch because it required a somewhat odd size. I'm now making one for the backhoe that will be a three wheeler with two under the main unit and the third supporting the bucket/boom.

This of course requires that you have a smooth enought work surface to roll things around, so it wouldn't work too well outside, but in a shop/garage, it works great.

I'll try to snap some pictures this weekend.

Peter

 

[MReeter]

Hayden,Very,Very good idea.I have read before where someone had done this,sounds like this would work great as long as you have a concrete or smooth surface floor.I plan on making a couple of dollies for our box blade and tiller one day myself.

 

[hayden]

I did a search after I posted this and found another post from a few months ago basically saying the same thing. Sorry for being redundant, but it does seem like a great solution as long as you have a smooth surface.

Actually, I think it could work on a rough surface too as long as you have large enough wheels. The problem would be that if the wheels get too big, the dolly would be too high to get the implement on it.

Peter

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Hayden,

That's a good idea. Would sure appreciate some pictures. In my area there is a surplus store that usually has pretty good supply of healthy castors. I really like keeping stuff out of the weather. In the northwest even if it isn't raining you get a heavy due most of the time.

outta room Al

 

[GlennT]

Just like to throw in my two-cents worth. I've got dollies under all of my implements. I did this for two reasons: (1) to be able to store a whole bunch of stuff in one bay in a garage, and (2) this saves wear and tear on my anatomy. After hooking up my shredder or even my scoop, my back and shoulders were killing me. Obviously the dollies are in part a concession to age. I used all-steel swivel castors which I purchased from Tractor Supply for under $5 each. They easily support the weight of anything which I have, they stand up to the wear and tear of a concrete floor, and they don't get flat on one side if they stand for a length of time under a heavy load. It takes a bit of time to construct the dollies, but if you use scrap lumber such as old pallets you can keep the cost down.

 

[Wheeldog]

This is a very relevant topic for me. I am working with some pretty tight storage space - one bay (about 9.5' by 15.5') of a smallish garage. I was enough of a geek to lay out the rough dimensions of my tractor and attachments on a CAD program before I bought, and I'm glad I did, because it barely fit. Even after quite a bit of cleaning, it still amounts to 10 lb of baloney in a 8-lb bag.

I have been planning to make a simple roll-around platform for my tiller, like a number of you had mentioned. For the summer I would like to be able to leave the tractor with just the rear finishing mower on it, but I need to have easy access to the loader too. Has anyone built a solid enough platform that a loader could be stored on (an moved around on)? I have never taken my loader off, so I have no idea if this would be feasible - maybe the down pressure, etc., involved with detaching the loader would make it impossible. Just curious.

- Rob

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>I was enough of a geek to lay out the rough dimensions of my tractor and attachments on a CAD program before I bought</font color=blue>

Nice to know I'm not the only one, Rob. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

I did it for my tractor and I do it whenever I need to arrange furniture in a room. Sure saves a lot of wear and tear on the ol' back. Back in my corporate America days, whenever we got moved to new offices, the first thing I did was to map out my office, the desks, tables, bookshelves, filing cabinets, etc. While I was casually trying different arrangements by dragging my mouse, I could hear the moans, groans and screeching of furniture all up and down the hallways. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Of course, now that I have a tractor with bucket forks, it's more fun to shuffle doghouses, bird coops, picnic tables, etc. directly. What is a tractor, if not a big mouse? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Wheeldog]

Thanks for the reassurance, Harv. Having the layout made all the difference at delivery, when it came to getting the equipment off the truck and putting it away quickly.

I'm not stopping either - I've got a layout of our new vegetable garden that I'm working on now/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

- Rob

 

[campster]

FWIW. I bought my first pair of moving dollies from Lowe's for $30something each, then found them at Harbor Freight for $19.95

Appear to be from the same factory in the Far East...

 

[hayden]

I've gone hog-wild with the dollies for all my implements. Everything rolls now, including my 30 gal fuel drum and pump.

Attached is a picture of the "tricycle" dolly I built for my backhoe attachment. Works great. Now I can attach/remove the BH in the center of the barn, then roll it off into a corner for storage. Before I had to leave it sitting where I could still backup and hook up and it was very poor use of the space.

Next post is one for the logging winch.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by hayden on 05/14/01 09:01 PM (server time).</FONT></P>