"The People Hauler"

[TBigLug]

So, back around the plow days at Kenny’s, my uncle approached me with an offer. He wanted to get out of the people hauling business at Arend Tree Farms over in Waterloo. Me being the adventurous type, decided, sure, why the heck not. Oh yeah that’s right, I don’t have a wagon. So, grandpa and I decide to build ourselves a wagon.

Over the next couple days I’ll chronicle Heather and I’s journey through the process of turning a rusty piece of steel into the pride of our fleet.

Sorry about the back to back short posts, but it’s gonna take ALOT fo posts to chronicle this journey while being limited to only 4 images per post.

[TBigLug]

Here’s what we started with, an OLD John Deere running gear with a decrepid old flatbed rack on it. We bought it years ago because it had a really nice gravity box on it. Once the box went on a differant running gear this poor little wagon just sat in the treeline. It always steered great even though it hadn’t been greased in decades. The tongue never did go up and down so that needed some attention.

[TBigLug]

[TBigLug]

And the tires, did I mention the tires!!!

So, being the proper redneck I am, out comes the BOBCAT!!! Little jostle here, little lift there and she’s ready to give up her deck.

Now, manhandle off the old saggy beams and crosspieces and we’re ready to get to work.

[TBigLug]

I discovered why the tongue wasn’t going up and down. The bolt that it pivots on was seized up tighter than a drum. Once we got the little lock bolt out, applied a HUGE amount of heat to it and used several 36″ pipe wrenches to pull the bolt out, I wire wheeled it down, applied a liberal coating of anti-seize to it and it worked out great.

So now, at the end of day one, this is how she sat. Miserable still, but stripped of her parts! More tomorrow.

[Rod44]

Keep the pictures coming!

[cousin jack]

Great stuff, keep them coming, How many dogs and cats do you have, there seems to be a different one in each picture 🙂

[TBigLug]

@cousin jack 11557 wrote:

Great stuff, keep them coming, How many dogs and cats do you have, there seems to be a different one in each picture 🙂

Let’s see, 12 cats, 2 dogs. All uber friendly and forever underfoot!

[TBigLug]

Well after stripping the running gear down and throwing two coats of John Deere Green on it was off to Lowe’s for a load of lumber. Lumber needed…

4- 2x10x16′
5- 4x4x8
17- 2x6x16′
7- 2x4x8′

Every stitch of it is treated for long durability.

I built the main beams by gluing two 2×12’s together, deck screwing them every two feet and bolting the braces through them. Here’s the braces after a coat of paint. They’re 2″ angle iron, about 3/8″ thick 11″ long. Can you guess by the brand placement what type of paint I was using?

[TBigLug]

Here’s a walkaround of it after I got the main beams together and painted and the 4×4’s mocked up. BTW, all the lumber was painted on all four sides before assembly (minus the inside of the beams that were glued together).

[TBigLug]

Here’s a shot of the new ash tongue we picked up, all painted up and ready to go.

Here’s the new 42″ neck yoke, tongue hardware set and a used set of eveners before they got painted.

[TBigLug]

Here’s the eveners and neck yoke after paint.

[TBigLug]

I got the deck screwed down. Next time I do this though I’ll build some pipe clamps so I can dra the boards together so I can eliminate the gap between them. Lowe’s doesn’t sell 14’ers so I had to rip down the 16’s.

[TBigLug]

I put on a short rear standard. It’s only 4′ tall but works plenty good for a people mover. I also capped off the sides with 2×6’s. I think it gives it a cleaner look than seeing the ends of the 4×4’s.

[TBigLug]

Here’s a shot of the lettering Heather did on the side.

And here’s a shot of the unfinished rear. First new SMV sign we’ve had in 10 years! The other horse shoe was drying and the snaffle was in the dog’s mouth! lol

Here it is finished.

[Author]

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