Chicken tractor wheels?

[docdubz]

What does everyone use for axles/mounting brackets for their wheels? I couldn't find anything useful (that wasn't way too expensive for a chicken tractor) when I was building my tractor and wound up having to rig up some real subpar garbage out of scrap wood and lag bolts.

 

[aart]

It's pretty hard to do well.
How big is your tractor, pics might help here.
You could browse thru here too:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/tractor-coops.17/

 

[JMotuzick]

We had. Set of 4.10-4 tires from the front of a rear engine rider mower. The axle is 1/2” pipe, 4-8 as to big and smaller meat chicks walked right out. Any smaller And it was hard to move.

 

[docdubz]

Right now I have a pair of 8" runflat utility tires on it. They "work" fine but I did have to make a plywood skirt to stop chicks from getting out and the cat from getting in. I can't upload a picture of it right now my internet connection is basically nonexistent right now. But, my problem is I couldn't find anything to serve as a bracket for an axel so I had to sandwich two 2x4 scraps for each side to make an impromptu bracket and that's not working well at all.

I got my chickens into their barn coop so the tractors vacant until I move the chicks out of the brooder so I got a day or two to hobble something better together.

What I originally had in mind was to use the wheel barrow axle brackets but i couldn't find them in any stores.

 

[JMotuzick]

I drilled a hole in the 2x4 that makes up each side of the tractor base. The axle is the full width of the tractor, in my case 6’ plus 6” on each side for the wheels. The axle/wheels are out board of the tractor, but it could be done the same way in board.

 

[aart]

I drilled a hole in the 2x4 that makes up each side of the tractor base. The axle is the full width of the tractor, in my case 6’ plus 6” on each side for the wheels. The axle/wheels are out board of the tractor, but it could be done the same way in board.

Yep, the toughest part of good wheel function is keeping the axle stable and horizontal.
Got pics @JMotuzick ?
How do you deal with the gaps?

 

[JMotuzick]

we Use the tractor for our meat birds only, they start in the tractor At about 10-14 days. When they are young the tractor might sit for 2 days between moves. The wheels stay off until About 6 weeks, this means lifting and installing the wheels and then removing again at every move. Once older these are 8 weeks today, the wheels stay on until they move on.