Ohio Steel 12.5cft Dump Cart

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ADK_XJ

Feeling the Heat
Nov 18, 2014
325
Saratoga Springs, NY
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Just picked up my new tow behind wood hauler for the ATV - I've exhausted all the supply I can get to with the Jeep and 5x9 foot trailer on our new property. Now it's into the deep woods for the big scores!

Got this right at TSC for $300 flat. It's shaped structural foam / poly bed with the foot dump latch and a 180 degree swivel mechanism. Only had time to bring in a few loads of ash after work but I'll report back as I kick the tires this Spring:
 
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Nice. What I noticed with my Brinly cart is that the rear lip broke when dumping out big rounds. It's still holding together, but the lip is just about off at this point.
 
Nice. What I noticed with my Brinly cart is that the rear lip broke when dumping out big rounds. It's still holding together, but the lip is just about off at this point.
Ok, I'll have to watch for that. It's funny that I've been researching carts for probably 2 weeks and your reply here is the first reference I've seen/heard to Brinly. Looks like HD carries the 10cft but not the bigger 17cft. If it did, I'd probably be kicking myself right now.

Do you have the larger one?
 
I don't recall what the size is. I've moved a lot of wood with it. Just saying those big rounds can do a number.
 
I've been using the same Ohio cart for 4 years. Holds up very well, even to my extreme abuse.

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Nice! I'm looking forward to doing some of those heaping loads with this one - although my old Yamaha Kodiak doesn't have low range, so we'll just have to see how much she can handle!

Bet the JD handles it no problem.
 
Heh... I have trouble even remembering it's there. When I bought it, I had a 12 hp vintage Cub 123. The Deere could use something bigger, but this stores nicely.
 
I've had that cart for four or five years. No issues. I moved a lot of wood in it. First few jobs I was moving 18 inch rounds, but there a bit heavy and bow the sides. Splits, are much better. I loosely fill 2 feet above the sides. I think they rate it at 1200 LBS. That maybe a stretch. The large balloon tires and high ground clearance is great. As I recall, nice size axel, it may even have wheel bearings and not greased sleave bearings, but not sure about that. No problem going thru the woods. The fixed rear tail is not so good, but only a issue when trying to get those huge rounds up in it. I keep mine inside. Sun light will UV damage the plastic, making it brittle. I was going to build a wood box to line the floor and sides, but never did. The inside is still perfect. But I'm gentle on the equipment.

I got mine at Tractor supply for about $250. Nice cart for the money.
 
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I keep mine inside. Sun light will UV damage the plastic, making it brittle. I was going to build a wood box to line the floor and sides, but never did. The inside is still perfect. But I'm gentle on the equipment.

I got mine at Tractor supply for about $250. Nice cart for the money.

Good point on sun damage — mine will be living in the barn, probably hooked to the ATV 90% of the time. $250 is good, I rarely see big discounts or rebates at Tractor Supply so I accepted the 3 bones.
 
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Nice. What I noticed with my Brinly cart is that the rear lip broke when dumping out big rounds. It's still holding together, but the lip is just about off at this point.
That's what happened to my 12.5 craftsman. Besides and dump cart us less than ideal going uphill on 2wd tractor (I use one of my 70's cub cadets) the plastic just couldn't hold up to wood rounds. A few cracks developed but what did it in was one heavy load going uphill and I hit a bump. The cheap latch mechanism flexed and let loose. A few hundred pounds of rounds smashed the back of the cart against the ground.

The amount of trips I had to take was consuming a huge amount of time anyhow, so I built one custom, angle steel, wood, with real axle/hubs/wheels/hitch at around 30cuft. That helped immensely and only spent a little more than the much smaller/weaker Polly dump carts.

Good luck! Hope your luck was better than mine!
 
The amount of trips I had to take was consuming a huge amount of time anyhow, so I built one custom, angle steel, wood, with real axle/hubs/wheels/hitch at around 30cuft. That helped immensely and only spent a little more than the much smaller/weaker Polly dump carts.

Good luck! Hope your luck was better than mine!

Thanks, let's hope so. Would be curious to see the 30cft you put together - care to share a few pictures of it?

So far so good, though. Hauled in just about a cord of C&S ash from the back 9 after work tonight before the sun went down. Would say my favorite feature so far is a small but important one: the hitch collar on the cart rotates around the hitch tube to compensate for side to side motion in the cart over uneven ground. Does a nice job in keeping the cart steady and level. Here's the piece I'm referring to from a promo pic - the outer collar will do about a 30-40 degree swivel either direction when the pin isn't set through the back hole:
 

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Thanks, let's hope so. Would be curious to see the 30cft you put together - care to share a few pictures of it?

So far so good, though. Hauled in just about a cord of C&S ash from the back 9 after work tonight before the sun went down. Would say my favorite feature so far is a small but important one: the hitch collar on the cart rotates around the hitch tube to compensate for side to side motion in the cart over uneven ground. Does a nice job in keeping the cart steady and level. Here's the piece I'm referring to from a promo pic - the outer collar will do about a 30-40 degree swivel either direction when the pin isn't set through the back hole:

That was another issue I had, out back on the gas pipeline clearing it was at a pretty good slant and the whole frame of the cart would twist. I just went with a ball hitch and figured that would provide enough rotation, but looks like yours has a good solution.

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Was just going to get the 1,000# hubs but they were out of stock and these were only a few bucks more. Kind of overkill but hey it should never fail! 2" ball so I can put it on tractor or truck, etc.

Used a couple pieces of 1.5" angle steel (3/16 if I remember) for all the framing, and got one piece of 2" square I used for the axle and tongue. 5/4" PT deck boards for the bottom and removable tailgate, and just some scrap PT plywood for the sides.

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I used a set of cub cadet rear wheels I had, so they are nice and wide 23x10.5x12
Was a lot of work throwing it all together, but well worth it for me and a fun project. There were several aspects of it I designed specifically for my purposes, so nothing you could buy over the shelf came close for what I needed. I spent a little more, yes, but I think I got A LOT more out of it. Only thing was I wish I had a bigger welder! Welds are good enough I think, but I wouldnt trust em on the road. So far bouncing heavy loads over ruts and groundhog holes I haven't had any failures yet.
 
That was another issue I had, out back on the gas pipeline clearing it was at a pretty good slant and the whole frame of the cart would twist. I just went with a ball hitch and figured that would provide enough rotation, but looks like yours has a good solution.

IMG_0653.jpg

Was just going to get the 1,000# hubs but they were out of stock and these were only a few bucks more. Kind of overkill but hey it should never fail! 2" ball so I can put it on tractor or truck, etc.

Used a couple pieces of 1.5" angle steel (3/16 if I remember) for all the framing, and got one piece of 2" square I used for the axle and tongue. 5/4" PT deck boards for the bottom and removable tailgate, and just some scrap PT plywood for the sides.

IMG_0659.jpg


IMG_0683.jpg


IMG_4607-1024.jpg


I used a set of cub cadet rear wheels I had, so they are nice and wide 23x10.5x12
Was a lot of work throwing it all together, but well worth it for me and a fun project. There were several aspects of it I designed specifically for my purposes, so nothing you could buy over the shelf came close for what I needed. I spent a little more, yes, but I think I got A LOT more out of it. Only thing was I wish I had a bigger welder! Welds are good enough I think, but I wouldnt trust em on the road. So far bouncing heavy loads over ruts and groundhog holes I haven't had any failures yet.

Nice - very nice.
 
Would say my favorite feature so far is a small but important one: the hitch collar on the cart rotates around the hitch tube to compensate for side to side motion in the cart over uneven ground.
The many who designed that hitch deserves a Nobel prize. I love that I can clevis it onto my draw bar when there's no ball mounted, or hang it right on the ball when I have the ball mounted for moving the splitter. Effing brilliant!
 
The many who designed that hitch deserves a Nobel prize. I love that I can clevis it onto my draw bar when there's no ball mounted, or hang it right on the ball when I have the ball mounted for moving the splitter. Effing brilliant!
And that, too. I'm a big fan of anything that gives you multiple ways of using the same equipment. Also, with a second pin you can lock out that collar rotation but can't think of a reason you'd do that just yet.
 
That second pin hole is for using the ball hitch, unless yours is a little different than mine.
 
That second pin hole is for using the ball hitch, unless yours is a little different than mine.
Hmm, I was using the front one still with the ball hitch because it seemed to keep the Clevis mount piece up tight to the ball itself and sort of lock the hoop in place.I'll have to experiment with it tmrw when I do a couple runs.
 
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Here's the hitch on mine. Front hole, where pin is in this photo, is for clevis or draw bar mount. The rear hole, in the sleeve, is for when you set that big hoop over a ball hitch.

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The pivot mechanism on mine is even farther back, where the round tube goes into the square channel.
 
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Here's the hitch on mine. Front hole, where pin is in this photo, is for clevis or draw bar mount. The rear hole, in the sleeve, is for when you set that big hoop over a ball hitch.

View attachment 157198

The pivot mechanism on mine is even farther back, where the round tube goes into the square channel.
I was (perhaps incorrectly) thinking going through that hole and the collar would lock out the rotation. I see what you're saying, though. Hmm, now I've got to go experiment tmrw.
 
They come configured for a 1-7/8" ball hitch, which would be fine, if our splitters didn't use a 2" ball. I ground the radius on the bottom side of that clevis hitch to fit my 2" ball. I'm thinking I can still rotate it 180 degrees to use with a 1-7/8" ball (my boat trailer is that size, so I have those, too), but haven't actually tried rotating that clevis a full 180.
 
They come configured for a 1-7/8" ball hitch, which would be fine, if our splitters didn't use a 2" ball. I ground the radius on the bottom side of that clevis hitch to fit my 2" ball. I'm thinking I can still rotate it 180 degrees to use with a 1-7/8" ball (my boat trailer is that size, so I have those, too), but haven't actually tried rotating that clevis a full 180.
Now that I did do - another genius design feature, it's like a built in hitch drop/riser to accommodate the height of your ball/mount.
 
Any idea what the round holes (alternating the slots for side rails) on top are for? Rebar maybe?
 
View attachment 157164

Just picked up my new tow behind wood hauler for the ATV - I've exhausted all the supply I can get to with the Jeep and 5x9 foot trailer on our new property. Now it's into the deep woods for the big scores!

Got this right at TSC for $300 flat. It's shaped structural foam / poly bed with the foot dump latch and a 180 degree swivel mechanism. Only had time to bring in a few loads of ash after work but I'll report back as I kick the tires this Spring:
I too looked at that one for hauling with my Atv, but settled on the Yukon Trail warrior from Northern Tool. I had to add plywood to bottom and sides, and "fix" it so it wouldn't swivel or dump. Now I load it up almost too much to the top and works great.
 
Any idea what the round holes (alternating the slots for side rails) on top are for? Rebar maybe?
Nope. I do use the slots for stake sides, as in my photo above, but never used those holes for anything other than holding a Sharpie marker.
 
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I too looked at that one for hauling with my Atv, but settled on the Yukon Trail warrior from Northern Tool. I had to add plywood to bottom and sides, and "fix" it so it wouldn't swivel or dump. Now I load it up almost too much to the top and works great.
That's a good looking trailer, too. If I had a NT anywhere near me I'd probably have considered it. Although, it might just be the picture, but that one looks a little low slung compared to the Ohio. What's the clearance on that?

I like that you have the option to go 2 or 4 wheel on it. That's a really nice feature.