Building dollies with wood pallets and casters

[canoetrpr]

My dear wife has talked me into looking into building dollies for 3pt hitch attachments (all two of them!) instead of buying a quick hitch as I had planned.

Her logic is hard to refute I think. We have a whole bunch of pallets that we inherited on the property - would be nice to put them to use. She likes the fact that the implements could be rolled away for storage - out of sight. She has quickly sized up the fact that the number of implements around here will grow year after year. And she thinks this will be a cheaper solution than a quick hitch as all I will need are casters.

Anyone else doing this type of thing? Sounds to me like her logic is quite sound. I don't mind getting off the tractor at all to change implements - it would just help if I didn't have to push around the implements to get them to line up.

Any advice from those of you who has taken this project on?

 

[jbrumberg]

canoetrpr: Always, always listen to your wife (or at the minimum give the appearances of listening to her). As a middle aged male I find that (my memory and) auditory acuity is deteriorating and I am increasingly unable to hear the tonal frequencies and volumes normally associated with the female voice (especially my wife during tractor attachment discussions). I think your wife is right however, and I am on the same project. The size of dolly casters would be dependent upon the surface they are situated on. Jay

 

[gordon21]

Don't give up hope for the quick hitch yet!! Put together a list of ALL the items needed to do the project. 8 really HD casters at $15.95+ each (must be HD due to the weight) , drill bit, bolts, washers, nuts, etc. Price out stainless hardware due to the rust issue. By the time you get done, you should be able to get the total up to at least $180 to show her. Pat's hitch is advertised for under $200 and my JD dealer installed a JD I-match for $240 You always have one ace up your sleeve. Tell her the DIY project will kill an entire afternoon getting and assembling all the parts. You offer to take her to a Saturday afternoon movie with the time saved by buying the factory quick hitch.

 

[Knight9]

I think the best solution is both . /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Quick hitch system for attaching/detaching....dollies for rearrangement and storage.

Kevin

 

[rox]

I jsut built this exact same thing for my husband's rototiller. When you put the wheels on the corners, make sure and don't put them to close to the edge.

If they are to close to the edge, they swing out past the permiter of the wood pallet. Also I put a wheel in the center of the pallet as well as the 4 corners and that helped a very lot. I also oiled he ballbearings in the castor swivel assembly, figuring I we won't be flipping these over for a while, to d that.

I was really proud of my simple project when I was done, and it is very very handy to have each attachment on a wodden pallet. This was part of our clean and re-organize the barn project. It is so nice to go in the barn now becasue with all the attachments on wheels they are easily moved out of the way.

 

[jbrumberg]

gordon21: I like your logic style and I agree on the stainless steel and HD casters. Jay

 

[canoetrpr]

Hi rox:

How big are the wheels on the casters you used?

I found these 4 inch metal casters on sale and it looks like they should do the job. What do you think? I'm figuring about 5-7 per pallet. Thanks for your suggestion of one in the centre - had not thought about that.

 

[1948berg]

Why not buy a jack trolley? They dont cost much nowadays. Very practical.
http://www.toyotatruck.no/kunder/ttn/webpublisher22.nsf/page/6EVFP8282?OpenDocument

 

[GaryBDavis]

I'm also going the pallet route for most of my implements. But instead of putting casters on them, I'm going to move them around with a pallet jack.

Disadvantages:
• A pallet jack isn't as maneuverable as casters (can’t go sideways)
• The cost of one pallet jack equals the cost of quite a few casters

Advantages:
• Pallet jack can be used for moving my feed, sandblast sand, and similar items around the shop
• Don’t have to buy casters
• Pallets are easy to find and replace when they break down

A decent pallet jack runs $300 to $500 new.

I’m also planning on installing pallet racks along the back wall of my shop. Kind of like what you see at Home Depot. This is a covered, three sided area with a concrete floor. For the smaller implements that don't roll, like my tiller and finishing mower, I’ll use the tractor FEL with the pallet attachment and put them on the racking.

I’m also changing all my firewood racks to custom made 4x4x4 pallet racks. I’m making them stackable so I can go two high for when I’m placing them on concrete.

All of this make for a pallet jack in my future.

 

[ronjhall]

Those 4" casters are the same ones that I put on my Tiller dolly. Keep grease in wheel and swivel and they will move very easily on a hard surface. Price they have at Princess Auto is a good one.