Power forecarts

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  • October 19, 2008 at 11:42 am #39850
    Rod
    Participant

    As I am thinking about building a PTO powered forecart I wondered if anyone has experimented with using the power plant to assist the wheels? Years ago we had a moped which was basically a bike with an aux. engine. Although I can’t recall how it was engineered and operated I think the motor helped the peddler on steep grades but did not interfere with the free wheeling or peddling aspects of propulsion.

    In the forecart application I can envision using the power plant to assist on steep grades, starting heavy loads etc. I was thinking of some type of slip clutch application like a belt drive around the wheels that you could activate and control with a pedal. The problems of course include being sure the unit didn’t overrun the horses nor add load when not needed.

    Any thoughts out there?

    October 19, 2008 at 7:54 pm #47759
    Donn Hewes
    Keymaster

    Hi Rod, It seems to me to be adding an unneeded level of complication. The PTO cart is plenty complicated / heavy as is. When you have a cart built for an intended use and an intended number of animals to pull it; they should do 90% percent of the work with out working too hard. This allows a margin of error and allows the cart and animals to be relatively productive. It also means that for short stretches you should have enough animals to pull up hill or what ever. I know on my farm there are a couple spots where I have to pick up the hilly windrows before the wagon gets full, otherwise my teams buckle down and pull cart, baler, and wagon up hill at the end of every field. Make it so they work easy most of the time. Donn

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