Looking for a good wheelbarrow

[keegs]

I've found that most wheelbarrows, even the HD specials, will give you lots of service if you keep after them. And when they break they're pretty easy to repair. I've replaced handles, I've added large washers to the carriage bolts inside the bucket when they poke through. I've replaced the wood wedges that fit between the handles and the bucket. I've repaired the tires and tubes.

 

[jwstewar]

When we poured the floor for our barn they brought 3 guys but only one wheelbarrow. The typical Jackson steel single wheel. I went and got our Stanley Poly tub dual wheeled wheelbarrow. I made 3 believers that day on the dual wheeled. One guy grabbed it and started using it. The other 2 were calling him a sissy man for having to use the 2 wheeler. He immediately told them that if it was a sissy wheelbarrow, he would be a sissy any day of the week because it was much easier. The other 2 took their turns and agreed it was much easier. When they left, they were going to go look to see if they could find a dual wheeled one with a steel tub. Not to say our poly tub would hold up day in and day out, but so far at about 10 years old, it is doing pretty well. Sucks on slopes though, no way to "balance" a load.

 

[rdln]

sterling tough guy

 

[Chuck52]

Got a standard Jackson style that has been worked hard for several years. I plan to buy some kind of dual wheel soon for the jobs it would be better for. Different tools for different jobs. Where the dual wheel will go it should be somewhat easier with some loads. I may go for a big load thing which would be useful for those big but lighter loads, like mulch and such. I loaned my rear scoop to my SIL and he likes it so much for lots of those wheelbarrow jobs that I may have to buy myself another one. Given how much he helps me with stuff, like installing a new heat pump for just the cost of the hardware, I don't begrudge him the scoop at all. Plus, he's mainly using it to level and fill an area where he's putting in a swimming pool for the grandkids.....sure don't want to interfere with that!

Chuck

 

[not2old]

I bought an Erie in the mid 70's that was all steel with the shallow style tray. While it wasn't the best for concrete, I did use it for that. It did an excellent job of everything else and lasted extremely well. It looked like new until it had several years of use by hired help and stll worked well. It lasted until one of them left it on a job site a couple of years ago and I couldn't find it.

 

[Scooby074]

Fort. Best barrow ive owned Contact Us | Tufx Fort Inc.

 

[schmism]

The pneumatic one is much easier to push than the flat-free, even though mine has a larger capacity and is used with heavier loads.

This was the exact comment i was going to leave concerning flat free tires. I find a tube in a tire to be a great fix after the stock tubeless starts leaking. Plus a tube is easy to fix with a simple bicycle patch.

Ive used both the poly and the steel.

I prefer the steel due to increased stiffness making the load easier to control in a single wheel barrow. I cant say i like the dual wheel ones (i have one) and find it more awkward to use, but my wife finds it easier but she lacks the upper body strength to control a single wheel.

 

[CurlyDave]

Whenever I wear out a wheelbarrow, I salvage the wheel and tire. I keep the spare wheels on hand, and this takes a lot of the sting out of an unexpected flat tire.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I have used a wheelbarrow with a hand brake from bicycle on it - the caliper type. It certainly came handy going down the hill.

 

[shatter]

It's pretty much the contractor standard. Jackson 6 cubic foot, wood handles.
I have been using them for 28 years and only had to replace them a few times. I've never seen another one to compare to for commercial use.

The only thing I don't like about them now is the anti tip back braces they put on them. Because I mainly use WB for mixing mortar and concrete, I need to unload them out the back with a hoe into a pail. The braces make it difficult, so we take them off, but then the WB seems to sit a little lower.
I usually put some linseed oil on the handles every couple of years, mine sit out and still last for many years.
I've never felt the thick wood handles flex on a Jackson WB even with hundreds of pounds in them. I'm sure though like everything else these days, they are not as well made/HD as they once were.

Funny wheel barrow storey, a young juvenile delinquent tries to steal a WB from a job site while the workers are having lunch. A couple guys give chase at which time the kid pours on the steam and is running flat out over rough terrain pushing the WB. Well you may of guessed what happened next. He caught the front cross member on the rough ground and was launched high into the air over it!!! The guys that were chasing him laughed so hard they gave up on him. :laughing: True story.

JB.

Definitely Jackson is the great. I own their wheel barrow and garden tools.

 

[JB4310]

This was the exact comment i was going to leave concerning flat free tires. I find a tube in a tire to be a great fix after the stock tubeless starts leaking. Plus a tube is easy to fix with a simple bicycle patch.

Ive used both the poly and the steel.

I prefer the steel due to increased stiffness making the load easier to control in a single wheel barrow. I cant say i like the dual wheel ones (i have one) and find it more awkward to use, but my wife finds it easier but she lacks the upper body strength to control a single wheel.

I might consider the dual wheel someday as most of my work is on fairly level ground, plus I use the WB more for mixing cement based materials than pushing dirt around, so we look for a level spot. Nothing worse than dumping a whole load of what ever you're carrying off the side cause you lose control of it :ashamed:
I'm not ready for poly yet, I doubt it would hold up to what I would throw at it.

JB.

 

[dmccarty]

This is what I bought, pretty close to what I bought, years ago. Mine has white tire ribs. Amazon.com: RCP5642BLA - Big Wheel Utility Cart: Office Products

Not sure how you can break this wheel barrow short of running over with a tractor and even then I suspect you might roll the tractor.

The only issue I have with mine is I have to air up the tires a couple of times a winter when I use it to haul fire wood up to the house. Given that wood is stored in the barrow 24x7 all winter long I cannot really complain.

I have never had to replace a part either.

Not sure about the hill issue people keep mentioning. I have used mine on our hills and it sure is easier than those one wheel barrows.

Having two wheels means you are using energy to push the barrow instead of wasting energy balancing the barrow. Not sure how concrete would work with the rubber/plastic but hauling tons and tons of rip rap, gravel, sand, mulch, and firewood works very well. There is simply no way I could haul what I do in one trip with this wheel barrow in a one wheel version. I have yet to have to fix a thing on it either. It generally sits out in the garden when not in use hauling firewood.

Short of hauling concrete, no way would I ever own a single wheel barrow again.

Later,
Dan

 

[JB4310]

This is what I bought, pretty close to what I bought, years ago. Mine has white tire ribs. Amazon.com: RCP5642BLA - Big Wheel Utility Cart: Office Products
Later,
Dan

That one reminds me of what we called a Chinese wheel barrow. A company I worked for had them, all steel, alot bigger and HD than what you show, but the same design. We use to load them up with concrete rubble and take them down flights of stairs in a factory we were working on. you could not destroy those things.

JB.

 

[Scooby074]

I'm not ready for poly yet, I doubt it would hold up to what I would throw at it.

JB.

The fort poly in my post are VERY tough... I dont know what you have planed... But ive been hard on mine, from concrete to firewood and its held up very well.

Matter of fact, these very wheelbarrows are used by several paving cotractors in town.. And if THEY cant destroy them...

+1 on the Rubbermaid commercial. Theyre a very good product as well. The structural "foam" in them is very tough. Used the larger ones as commercial garbage carts and they take a beating. I would have considered buying one over my Fort, but theyre just too expensive up here. The price on Amazon in the states is decent though

 

[AchingBack]

I bought one of these all steel wheelbarrows in 1979. I used it in my landscaping business. It is the most maneuverable design on the market. The round design of the handle nose will keep you from digging into the ground, as happens with the nose brace on the wooden handle barrows. http://www.jescraft.com/swa.html

 

[tsteahr]

I have a 10 year old Jackson single wheel poly and found it to be very rugged. Needed a tube in the tire. The poly tub takes a lot of abuse from rocks and has not cracked.

I would recommend installing a piece of 3/4 inch CDX plywood under the tub, between the tub and the handles. (Get four longer carriage bolts to bolt the tub to the handles for the extra thickness of the ply.) This ply will GREATLY increase the stiffness of the unit and the handles won't wobble when loaded to max. It also add reinforcement to the bottom of the tub so dropping a really big rock into the middle of the tub won't stress the poly.

I think a poly tub jackson reinforced with plywood is the most durable wheelbarrow I have come across. Only thing better is the loader on the tractor.

 

[2manyrocks]

The Mrs. bought a dual wheel WB from Homier. My first impression was cheap. The handlebars didn't last long before I replaced them with some oak I had planed down. I ended up using that thing quite a bit even though it is a cheapy in my opinion.

As far as the noise of throwing rocks in a steel tub, wonder if coating the tub with bedliner paint would help that? Adding plywood as a base ought to dampen it, too. That's a great tip.

 

[JB4310]

The Mrs. bought a dual wheel WB from Homier. My first impression was cheap. The handlebars didn't last long before I replaced them with some oak I had planed down. I ended up using that thing quite a bit even though it is a cheapy in my opinion.

As far as the noise of throwing rocks in a steel tub, wonder if coating the tub with bedliner paint would help that? Adding plywood as a base ought to dampen it, too. That's a great tip.

Wouldn't work for me mixing cement. That sound of scraping metal hoe on metal tub drives some people crazy, Like finger nails on a chalkboard.

JB

 

[Pete Judd]

I have used the Green Slime in the tires to keep them from going flat from the black berrys that we have around here, and I like the 2 wheeled ones as well.