Rouge River Workshop: A Wheelbarrow Restoration

My next door neighbour has a decrepit old wheelbarrow languishing down by her shed. It's in rough shape.

She's graciously let me have the wheelbarrow for a restoration project. Here's a view of it upright at my place.

The wooden parts will have to be remade -- they're beyond salvage. The tub and the other steel parts are in reasonably good condition. The tire is a write-off; I know that because I've tried to repair it before, and it's a cracked ruin that will never hold air again. I happen to have a complete replacement wheel/tire on hand, so that's taken care of.

The first order of business will be to dismantle the thing, so I can get the dimensions of the one complete handle/rail for recreating a pair. That's liable to be a bit fraught -- the fasteners are probably all seized.

I'll start with the front cross-brace.

And the axle/wheel assembly.

Once I get the axle/wheel off, I'll go no further until I've done a trial fit of the new wheel.

Here's the front cross-brace off and reasonably well straightened out.

I'll need new carriage bolts. They're 5/16" x 2 1/4".

I got lucky with the axle fasteners -- they weren't seized.

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And here's a view of the new wheel/tire in place.

When I add the setscrews to the collars, I'll be able to lock the wheel in place axially on its axle. That will make for a stable, trouble-free wheel installation.

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Progress -- MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015

Here's the wheelbarrow with new wooden parts, and all new fasteners.

Now it needs to have its handles formed, and everything painted.

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All Done -- MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2015

And there we are -- looking much better than in the first photo.

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Update -- TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2019

The weather is finally turning springlike, so I went to look in on the wheelbarrow. Its tire was completely deflated. I reinflated it. The next day, the tire was again deflated. So there's an end to it -- I'm not going to muck about with an unreliable wheelbarrow wheel. I went and bought a flat-free replacement, like so.

Is that sharp or what?

Of course, this wheel replacement couldn't be easy. Where would be the fun in that? There are a couple of snags.

Snag No. 1

The old wheel has a 3/4" bore, so the axle is like so.

The axle is 3/4" diameter in the middle where the wheel bears on it; 5/8" diameter at its ends where it's held by the axle brackets.

I could go either of two ways to resolve that issue:

I could go get a three foot length of 5/8" diameter rod from the Home Depot.
I could turn down the axle to 5/8" diameter overall in my lathe.

Option '1' is tempting, but option '2' is cheaper, and way more challenging, so I'll give option '2' a try.

Snag No. 2

The new wheel's hub is too wide to fit between the wheelbarrow's axle brackets. I'll have to cut down the axle brackets' noses to enable the new wheel to fit.

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So here's the commencement of Snag No. 1's resolution.

I've centre-drilled one end of the axle to take a live centre.

And here's the axle chucked and centred, about to be turned down to 5/8" diameter.

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And Now I Remember How The Axle Was Made

It's not 3/4" diameter rod turned down to 5/8" at the ends like I'd been thinking; it's 16mm diameter rod turned down to 5/8" at the ends, and bushed up to 3/4" diameter at its centre with a length of steel tubing and epoxy. The rod was salvaged from a scrapped plotter back when I worked as a printer technician. I had to turn down its ends just a bit so that 5/8" collars would fit it. Here's a view of it with the bushing material completely stripped away.