Sidewalk Sweeper

[dlskidmore]

As I take my Great Dane on walks in the city, I’ve started daydreaming about a useful application for her draft work. I’d love to have something that worked like those carpet sweepers, the width of the sidewalk, for her to pull behind, and pick up all the trash and glass bits on the sidewalk. It would need a larger capacity than standard carpet sweepers, capable of picking up individual serving size chip bags, and styrofoam boxes. Bonus if the collection bin had an open top so passerby can see what we’re doing, and I can toss in items not picked up automatically.

Any ideas for something that could be modified to do this? How much would parts run me?

[dlskidmore]

Hrm… I should look at lawn tractor implements.

http://www.amazon.com/Agri-2dFab-Tow-Lawn-Sweeper-38-22/dp/B000NBF3I0

It shouldn’t be too hard to adapt this for a dorsal hitch. A three wheeled version would have the required balance. I don’t know how larg a piece something like this can handle.

[dlskidmore]

Mechanically, a little forecart with a standard lawn tractor hitch would work with multiple implements, but I have to be careful to not add too much weight. She’s not a horse after all…

[Robert MoonShadow]

I’ve used ‘commercial’ models of these w/ my landscape company. I found that a higher speed was best for kicking up the heavier stuff and wet leaves, while a slower speed was best for picking up the smaller stuff that a higher speed tended to leave behind. The sturdier {and heavier} models I had weighed 50-75 lbs., but the home-owners models were only 35-50 lbs. The two things to avoid at all costs were doggie donuts and bubblegum. I know this personally, but you don’t need the details…just get rid of the thing & buy new.

[dlskidmore]

@Robert MoonShadow 27758 wrote:

I’ve used ‘commercial’ models of these w/ my landscape company. I found that a higher speed was best for kicking up the heavier stuff and wet leaves, while a slower speed was best for picking up the smaller stuff that a higher speed tended to leave behind. The sturdier {and heavier} models I had weighed 50-75 lbs., but the home-owners models were only 35-50 lbs. The two things to avoid at all costs were doggie donuts and bubblegum. I know this personally, but you don’t need the details…just get rid of the thing & buy new.

yeah, the heavy duty all steel version looked way too heavy. Most of them though were tube and fabric.

we wouldn’t be encountering much gooey trash, and most of it is light empty packaging, I can pick up the occasional unbroken bottle myself.

I’ve been planning a little cargo cart, I am debating putting a hitch on that or making a little two wheel fore cart.

[Robert MoonShadow]

I’d like to see photos, if/when you do!

[dlskidmore]

So, can the implement hitch clamp on tight enough to provide stability back to the forecart, or does the forecart need to be solid? The dog drafting group thinks I’d be happier with a single swivel wheel under the hitch. I usually like dorsal shafts for dogs, but for the forecart I think I’d do traditional dual shafts, to provide stability to that single swivel wheel in training phases, and make backing up the implement easier.

[dlskidmore]

I’m just going to take some notes here…

The implement I looked at the manual for seemed to indicate that hitches average 10″ off the ground. I’d like that even with or below my axle for stability.

Wheels:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_1030_1030

$23 each, poly, so no repairing if they break, bearings included, 1/2″ bore, 150-lb. capacity

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200331766_200331766

$25 each, spoke construction, solid rubber tire, bearings included, 1/2″ bore, weight rating of 150 lbs, heavier than poly wheel.

I’m leaning towards the solid rubber tires. They’re only a little more, and can proably take a bit more abuse.

Weight rating is multiplied by the number of tires to a point? So a two wheeled cart would have a 300 lb rating. That’s plenty for the sidewalk sweeper, probably enough for other implements I’d want her pulling in the first place. This is not a ride-on forecart, I’ll be walking beside her when she’s pulling an implement. I don’t think she could pull a full sized chain harrow or anything with a lot of drag like that. My first set of shafts will be flimsy anyway, as I’m not sure if she has some growing to do yet.

Axle:
So, for an axle I can do a threaded rod and nuts, or smooth rod and pins. I think the threaded would be easier and sturdier?

Frame & Hitch:
I don’t have any welding equiptment, so I think I’d put a perforated square tube over the axle, to bolt the shafts and hitch to. Then the hitch itself would be a small amout of bar stock with a couple holes drilled in it. The frame should be wide enough that the shafts only need to make a vertical adjustment to Erin’s size.

Shafts:
Erin might still be growing, so I’m going to start with flimsy PVC shafts. 1/2″ PVC, (4) 45 eblows, not sure if I want to do the trace rings from PVC or drill the PVC and put in metal ones. A compression strap holding a ring to the pipe would be simplest, but would not hold up to heavy downhill braking. (which is not on the adjenda) This will be a bit flexible and bouncy, and more forgiving of measurement errors when fitting her. Once I have the PVC angles right, and Erin is definately done growing I can make better shafts.

In the long run I might cut more eleganty curved shafts from plywood. I’m afraid metal with threaded fittings would get heavy quick.

A PVC frame would be really easy with PVC shafts, but I don’t want the hitch sturdier than the frame.

As a side note, I just sumbled accross a miniature manure spreader: http://www.newerspreader.com/ The smaller model is 110 lbs empty, when full probably too much for Erin solo, but doable if she had a partner. An idea to leave on the back burner for now, but I’m keeping an eye out for useful attachments…

[dlskidmore]

I’m in a financial position to pick up parts now, but Erin is still very much a puppy, with wild bursts of puppy energy, so I think we’ll stick to tire pulling for now. The last thing I want is to put in the effort to build this thing and have her break it the first time out. 🙂

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