No-Nonsense Feed Carts
Put a barrel or two on wheels and you can feed your flocks and herds with ease, including diagrams, photographs andinstructions.
March/April 1982
By the Mother Earth News staff
If the drudgery of lugging feed to your livestock has you searching for a more convenient way to get that barnyard chore done, you might want to have a go at building one—or both—of MOM's meal-bins-on-wheels.
The two fodder wagons pictured here (the larger one is made from an everyday 55-gallon drum, and the smaller from a less common 35pound grease container) are similar in design but unequally sized, allowing the builder to match his or her cart to the dietary needs of the critters to be fed. A pair of rear wheels, a swiveling front caster, and a pull handle make for manageable barnto-yard journeys, and a swing-open lid keeps the feed dry and safe from rodents between fill-ups.
Some cutting and welding are required to make the carts, but both of the tasks are pretty much basic in nature . . . and many folks will have the necessary scraps of metal and tubing (maybe even the wheels) lying around. Furthermore, as is the case with many of MOTHER's projects, the design is flexible. Don't be afraid to use water heater tanks, lawnmower wheels, or any other ready-to-hand components that'll get the job done. (After all, that's what making do is all about!)
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LARGE DRUM CART
With its big sturdy wheels, ample capacity, and tightly sealed lid, our larger carryall is quite a deluxe model. Kick off its construction by scribing a line across the diameter of the drum's top. Then measure 6 inches in from the edge along the mark and—using that point as a reference for your cutting lines—split the barrel as illustrated. File or grind any rough edges, replace the newly formed cart lid, and mark and drill mounting holes for the two butt hinges and the handle. Some short 1/4" bolts and matching nuts will secure those components nicely.
Next, cut a 34-1/2" piece of 1/8" X 1" flat stock. Form two contours in the strap, using heat if necessary, to correspond with the ribs on the barrel . . . and tack the strip to the facing edge of the lid with a series of welds.
Now, use your torch to trim the two wheel and two caster supports from suitable pieces of scrap metal . . . and while you're about it, cut the pipe stanchion, the axle strut and collars, the handle mounts, and the handle itself to length. Then simply drill a 1-1/4" hole in the lower caster support, near the narrow end . . . weld the stanchion to its tongues . . . and fuse the resulting assembly, hole down, to the drum (again, as shown in our illustration).
To attach the cart's rear axle, drill two 1/2" holes—one 1/4 inch above the other—in the smaller end of each of the two wheel supports. Then weld the axle strut into the plate's uppermost openings, and temporarily slip one of the 1/2" X 7" bolts through a wheel to find out how much axle is taken up by the hub. By pushing the protruding part of the bolt through one of the remaining holes in the support, you can determine exactly where to weld the collar and nut to the strut for each side. Finish up by tacking the upper part of the wheel supports to the sides of the barrel at its widest point. (Keep in mind that we used 16" motorbike wheels on our wagon . . . if you get your rollers from a different source, you'll have to find an axle of a dimension compatible with your selection, and you might even need to adjust the height of the support plates to suit the wheels you've chosen.)
If you can't locate a large caster assembly for the front of the cart, simply make one by welding two 3/16" X 2" X 6-1/2" X 7" plates to a 3/16" X 2-1/2" X 7-1/2" strap, at right angles, with the components' 6-1/2" and 7-1/2" edges touching. By bending the protruding 1" tab "around the corner" and tacking it to the side plates' 7" edges-then drilling 7/16" holes, in line, through the base of the parallel forks—you can duplicate a factory-made caster frame . . . and will only have to fasten a swivel plate and pipe post to one end of that component's flat upper surface, and install the wheel, to complete this particular fabrication task. (Note: The swivel plate can be eliminated if you simply weld the post directly to the caster frame and smooth its outside surface so it can spin freely within the stanchion when installed.)
The handle mounts are merely two short lengths of flat stock—each with a 1/4" hole drilled in one end-which are twisted slightly so the faces are parallel when the tabs are welded to the barrel's curving sides. Fasten these supports just below the bin's upper edge, and be sure to lay a bead or two across the heavy lip at the corner of the drum—where the mounts contact it—for additional strength.
