How to cart firewood uphill?

ireneburrows

making an uphill pulley to bring firewood 100mtrs uphill. I'm an old lady can't carry it up

EricL

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's wonderful to have you join us and thanks for sharing your question about how to cart firewood uphill.

This is a wonderful project to build, but it will present some challenges. In regards to what pulley to use, I suggest having a look at the Zenith 50mm Zinc Plated Fixed Pulley. This has provisions for you to screw or anchor onto a piece of timber or a post.

Next, I recommend using a Saxon Steel Mesh Garden Cart to load the timber into. For the rope, I suggest having a look at the Syneco 6mm x 100m Twisted Rope. One of the challenges I foresee is how to join the rope in such a way that it will still go through the pulley without getting stuck.

The entire pulley system must always be on tension to prevent the rope from jumping out of the pulleys roller. If it slacks off the rope gets tangled up. If you can manage to build it with those two issues addressed, then there should be no problem hauling that timber up the hill.

Another possible option is to use a Makita 18V Brushless Wheelbarrow With Pipe Frame - Skin Only. It's electrically powered with batteries and is powerful enough to assist you in bringing your firewood up the hill.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1, @Nailbag, @TedBear and @JoeAzza for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

ireneburrows

Thanks very much Eric. Several goods ideas which I will check out. It would be interesting to see if the Brushless Wheelbarrow idea works. That seems the last trouble. Yes it would be great to ask the more experienced members. We are bound to come up with a solution with all these brains on the job

Regards,

Irene

Nailbag

Hi @ireneburrows I like the idea's that @EricL has suggested.

Since you have mentioned your "older" both may still have their limitations especially over 100m to consider.

The Makita motorised wheel barrow will still require you to physically lift and hold the barrow and its loaded weight off the ground, then the motorised wheel will do the rest of the work. If you keep the load light and the ground is firm and stable, then this maybe the simplest solution. Just note the wheelbarrow doesn't include batteries (2) and charger. If purchasing buy higher capacity batteries (min 6A) for increased runtime and performance.

The pully system is also a great idea, but you may need the assistance of an electric motor, which a local engineering company could assist.

As a 3rd suggestion, I would investigate companies that do accessibility lifts. This External Lift just to give you an idea of the concept. You need one with a bucket for the timber.

Regards, Nailbag

ireneburrows

Hello Nailbag thanks for your suggestions. Both the lift and makita wheelbarrow are way too expensive. I think I will go with the saxon cart up as far as the steps that are in the way and then will have to see if I can find someone to put in a good solid post and use that to connect the pulley and rope to the house. I noticed some gorilla bags at Bunnings. I can put firewood into one of those in the cart and then transfer. It will be a long job but it keeps me fit and better than paying for firewood.

Regards and thanks for your help. I am still open to ideas, and anyway I can find a person who makes holes and puts in posts

Dave-1

Afternoon @ireneburrows

I had a few suggestions and put them down last night... Think something went wrong 😕

I have used this guy Gorilla Carts 115L Poly Dump Cart I call it "The little trolley that could" as it really makes life easy pulling concrete rubble and stones up my sloped block. I have tendinitis in my arm so a wheelbarrow was out of contention. This solved the problem and over very uneven ground even.

I looked up some 100m long winches yesterday to pull the cart up a hill but the prices were around $2000. Bunnings also sell a remote switch for winches Sunrise Wireless Remote for Electric Winch but no 100m ones.

Any chance of a few photosof the block? Also of the elevation if possible? It may help with some other ideas I have.

Dave

ireneburrows

Hi Dave. So you think the Gorilla Poly Dump cart is better than the Saxon Steel Mesh Garden Cart? It looks like it might be a little lighter. I think I would check them both out. The 100mtrs it seems was a bit of an over estimation. The entire length is probably more like 50mtrs. But I have decided to pull whatever trolley I get to the beginning of the steps and put a pole. That is, get someone to dig a hole and put the pole there and start the pulley/winch from there. There are trees and bushes to contend with but I think it will be ok. The Sunrise remote for the winch looks good.

I did take a video and tried again, just now, and on the first post to load it but it says it is not one that is supported, so I can't do much about that unfortunately. A picture tells a thousand words. I tried to take photos but don't have enough storage even though I put an extra 64GB card in. Will have to try to figure it out somehow and load them tomorrow. Don't know how to figure out the elevation. Usual Ferny Creek steepness!!! I push a wheelbarrow up with considerable difficulty but the young guys don't have too much trouble although everyone feels it's steep

Dave-1

@ireneburrows

Have a look through my bookmarks on my profile and you will see how well the cart gets used. I like it mostly because of those nice rubber wheels, they let me carry the cart full over and up the hill, plus reverse it down the hill. Some bunnings stores actually have ones in the aisle that you can check out I originally was going for the larger one as it was on special until I saw the put together size and went "nope, no way" It had a metal tub as well. The 115L one is really something that just works.

Uploading videos - I think if you have a youtube account and upload the videos to that and then put the link in here we could see it. Thats an involved process tho.

I cheat with my pics, I upload to facebook wirlessly and then when I sit down to do the project descriptions I download the pics It works.

I also thought of a pully sustem, much cheaper and involves you walking down the hill lightly pulling the rope.. How do Pulleys Work? is an good explanation on how they work tho this one talks about pounds instead of kg's

With your long driveway, you could have a double pully up top and an attachment plus a pulloy on the trolley. Then the rope up near the house you just walk down your driveway and it will pull the cart up the hill easily (instead of the $2000 winch)

I was just after a photo that shows the elevation However if you want to work out the elevation.

Get a long piece of wood, 1m or 2m or even 3m

Then using a level, have one end rest on the high side of the slope, and raise the other end of the timber until the level shows the bubble in the middle.

At that point you meausure down from the 1m, 2m or 3m mark

so 1m:1m = 1m fall for every meter traveled

a 1m to 0.3m fall means for every meter you travel the ground falls by 30cm.

1m to 10cm means its a nice slow slope

I have a yard that is steeper at the front then slopes slowly so I have multiple slopes to figure.

The last bit, you pull that gorilla trolley So much easier then a wheelbarrow!

Dve

TedBear

Hi @ireneburrows , the project seems to be getting pretty high tech.

If you wish to keep it simple, Id suggest getting a decent wheeled trolley such as the https://www.bunnings.com.au/gorilla-carts-115l-poly-dump-cart_p0129998

recommended by Dave-1

then put a large diameter double pulley on the upper post and a single pulley on the trolley.

Attach the rope to the trolley, up through the pulley in the post, back through the pulley on the trolley, back through the second pulley position on the post. That way you will have a mechanical advantage when pulling the trolley up. You will have to pull more rope to get it up, but you will feel far less of the weight of the load as you pull it up.

You haven't supplied details of the terrain the trolley will run over. Is it paved or rough? If it isn't paved, putting some timber edges along where the trolley will run will help to make the journey smoother and less likely to tip over.

Nailbag

I do like my tech @TedBear 👍