putting a pole on my stoneboat..advice needed

[katmoore]

Bought this stoneboat with a cart last year… and the guy made it to accept the shafts that the cart had. Well I sold the cart… never saw why you would put shafts on a stoneboat… but would love to put a pole on here for my team… they are still young and dont want to slide up on them in the snow if I use it then… Not sure how to attach it though. Any ideas would be great… if I had a drawing or a photo of what to do I am sure my welder guy could make it for me. I do have a hickory pole we bought for the manure spreader… and also a team pole off a roberts wagonette I could use if I could keep it to use also on the wagon.

here is my stone boat…

I am new here… but been reading alot here since I joined..I am Kat from Deer Park WA… got two belgians a shire and a clyde…and a nice little driving pony.
thanks for your input!! in advance!

Kat

[karl t pfister]

Hay Kat , The wagonette pole is probably your quickest . show your welder the two halves of the puzzle and he will know what to do.
Except if you are putting a lot of weight on the boat even 250 # in moderate mud could show you were the weak link is . read break especially while turning !! so a better way to go is the hickory pole using the wagonette pole as a guide including diagonal braces ,but beefing up to 1/2 ” rod and pins ( bolts ) . What you don’t want is to create a weak link that when it lets go scares the your “young “
hosres and you. Another way is to hook stone to a cart get “all” used to the various changes that creates ,draft, noises only God know
all the variables. Are your horses accustomed to ground skidding logs ? a small change to us can be huge to the horse.

I know this may sound like a wordy non-answer but sometimes reinventing the wheel is a bigger deal than 1/st appears. Good Luck
Karl

[Simple Living]

Kat,
I don’t have an answer to the pole on the cart question. But I do want to say Welcome! I know Kat from another draft board and she is a wonderful artist and mother. You should post some pictures of your clan and your beautiful place. And don’t be afraid to ask your questions here. Wonderful people who love to help others. How is that little girl of yours doing? Haven’t seen any pictures of her and her pony in a while. Hope you enjoy your time here!!

Gordon

Gordon

[Robert MoonShadow]

Good to see another drafter in the NorthWest! This keeps up, we’ll hafta consider another try at the playday, folks.

[Rod]

What I do on my stone boats and sleds is weld or mount a trailer ball on the fronts and make up a pole with a trailer hitch coupler on the end. I use one pole interchangeably for them all.

[karl t pfister]

Rod that’s a great idea , simple too, strong but able to angle for any directional pull . Not to traditional but back to reinventing the
wheel, well done . karl

[Big Horses]

I like that idea, Rod!
There ya go, PK… simple and effective and safe!!
John

[Mark Cowdrey]

Rod,
Do you do anything to prevent the pole/boat angle from getting too sharp? As in jack-knifing coming down a slippery hill?
Thanks,
Mark

[Rod]

Hi Mark

I have drag chains on my sled but have not used them.

I have not used my stone boats with the pole setup because I have not used them in winter but set them up in case. The sled has steel over wood runners which bite pretty good and I have used it but not very much in the winter either as I do not do much winter work with my steers. I assume the jackknife issue would vary with the conditions, ie: worse on ice than deeper snow etc and the terrain like a cross slope drag. The main hill I use in winter is straight up and down and not that long or steep. I think a fixed rigid pole on these vehicles could be a problem turning and possibly tipping them over in deeper snow and if they wanted to slid sideways the stiff pole would not prevent it that much.

[katmoore]

shoot I thought I put a post on here last night.. guess I missed something…. anyhow.. I like the idea of the hitch ball…. do you have any photos i could see?? then I am sure Floyd could make it… I wasnt sure if I should have it rotate up and down or left and right but that way it can do both…. I think that would work real nice…. Coarse.. all our snow is gone now and we have mud… but supposed to freeze up again in a couple of days…… Atleast I got the pasture drug!

[Mark Cowdrey]

Rod,
Interesting point about the possibility of the back “sagging” on a cross slope drag. I was thinking about coming more or less straight down hill in slippery going and the ass end trying to catch up to the front around the side when the team is holding back the load. If that was an issue, my thought would be stay chains from pole to sides of boat nose to allow a little sideways play but not too much, similar to the amount you might have on a scoot rig.
I’ve never done it, I’m just thinking.
Mark

[Rod]

@Mark Cowdrey 31336 wrote:

Rod,
Interesting point about the possibility of the back “sagging” on a cross slope drag. I was thinking about coming more or less straight down hill in slippery going and the ass end trying to catch up to the front around the side when the team is holding back the load. If that was an issue, my thought would be stay chains from pole to sides of boat nose to allow a little sideways play but not too much, similar to the amount you might have on a scoot rig.
I’ve never done it, I’m just thinking.

Mark

HI Mark, that is good thinking and sound like an excellent idea, worth a try.

[Baystatetom]

I have a sled I built to carry stuff around. Nothing fancy at all 2X10″ steel shod runners with a wood deck between.
Made entirely out of scraps. Only spent an afternoon on it but It has lasted 3 years now. Anyhow I put a pole on it
Similar to how Rod has described during sugar season to help hold it back, and it did indeed try to pass the team on slopes.
Worked great on flat ground or very slight inclines but on even moderate slopes it was a problem. If I use it like that again
I think I’ll put a chain from the pole to the runner on either side to keep it straighter. When I put it on there I thought
it would be better for turning because I could move the team around without skidding the sled, that way the outside
steer wouldn’t have to skid the sled around himself on the corners. (working in snow with a young team) At the time I
was wishing all the old timers I knew had not died on me, they could have told me how to do it right the first time!
~Tom

[Rod]

These photos show the ball on my sled, the adapter I use for my multi-purpose pole and the the pole itself. The pole has a 2″ tube at the end that is drilled to fit a standard trailer receiver pin and I setup my things with either a 2″ receiver or the ball as shown depending on the equipment piece. Then I just move the pole from piece to piece for what ever I am doing using the ball adapter when the equipment has a ball mounted to it. I also have other connecting pieces I made up so I can tow all my equipment with my tractor, truck or UTV.

The ball coupler could be just as easily be bolted direct to the pole. I am going to add chains to my sled and an eye bolt to the pole as suggested by Mark to add stability.

[Baystatetom]

Good thinking, I would like to be that organized someday.
~Tom

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