Cart

Since my primary hobby and relaxation comes from driving my horse, but that is limited due to my wife’s needs, I decided to build a cart to haul her in her power wheel chair.

After coming up with a design I purchased torsion half axles and the narrow spare tires from a junk yard.  With these components in hand I refined my design and took it to a local professional welder who then fabricated the basic frame.  The axle is dropped 8 inches between the wheels to make it low enough for the wheel chair.

After getting the basic frame I brought it home to fabricate the supporting frame for the wheel chair.  I wanted to do this myself because I am pretty much guessing at the exact location which must be so that the cart can be balanced with the wheel chair in place.  The idea is to lock the wheelchair in place and adjust the balance by having the driver move slightly foreward or backward as the terrain dictates.  The key to this working is to get the wheel chair located perfectly.  Other considerations are the weight of the ramp which may be partly or totally offset by the shafts.

Today (June 7, 2009) I finally got the wheel chair support, the shafts and the ramp mounted and was able to test by loading Marguerite in her chair onto the cart.  It worked!  The location of the chair, when balanced, is almost exactly where I had estimated it would be and everything was perfectly solid.  I even pulled Marguerite around in the cart.

When loaded I can stand with one foot in front of the axle and the other behind and either lift or lower the shafts by shifting my weight very slightly.  I’m very encouraged.

There are many problems to be overcome, but right now the issue is how to make a quick release jack.  There has to be a jack on the rear to keep the shafts from flying up as the chair climbs the ramp.  Currently I have mount and screw jack (a modified car jack) and it works fine, but takes too long to either screw down or up.  It need to be fast as this is probably the most dangerous part of driving a horse.  It is important to be ready to go quickly.  That doesn’t mean you immediately take off, but you want to ready if the horse becomes restless and starts to move.  I can’t have the jack base sticking in the ground.

I also need a quick way to fasten and hold the ramp in a raised position.  I think I’ve got that issue resolved and will test my idea as soon as I find time.