Wheels/axles for chicken tractors?

[JMotuzick]

Threaded rod can be bought normally in 6’ lengths. Home improvement stores (Home Depot, TSC, Loews) sells it in 3’ lengths. Try more indrustral type stores if you want longer then 3’.

My plan to upgrade the wheels on our tractor this summer will include a piece of 1/2” rod inside a piece of 1/2” emt (electrical conduit) the rod should stick past the emt about 2 or 3”. I’ll use a 1/2” wing nut/large washer to hold the wheels on when in use. The wheels I’m using are from the front of a old garden tractor and fit perfectly over the EMT. The emt will stick through the entire tractor and out the other side. The length should keep things stable and sturdy over years of use on rough ground.... this is of corse all Theraredical I have not tested this.

 

[mandelyn]

We did ours on lag bolts and cut the extra length off. I know for sure it doesn't weigh 400 pounds though. I was after a tractor I could walk into and now we have 3 of these.

This is the back, the front has a full size people door.

 

[aart]

We did ours on lag bolts and cut the extra length off. I know for sure it doesn't weigh 400 pounds though. I was after a tractor I could walk into and now we have 3 of these.

Well, that's a good way to keep the axle horizontal!!
But how does it roll on bumpy and/or soft ground?
Doesn't look like much clearance.

 

[mandelyn]

Well, that's a good way to keep the axle horizontal!!
But how does it roll on bumpy and/or soft ground?
Doesn't look like much clearance.

The first two we built roll great, with about an inch more of clearance. I had concerns over predator access, so the 3rd one we dropped a little lower. It's great on flat ground. Bumps made it a two person move. We ended up parking it and throwing panels up, to make a seasonal grow space for Turkeys. We tugged it through some pretty rough ground to get it into it's spot.

The fact that it has those wheels though, it can move anywhere on the property and we can shift the panels too, so once grass is gone we can move the whole set-up. It's not a tractor I'd feel like moving every day though.

 

[aart]

The first two we built roll great, with about an inch more of clearance. I had concerns over predator access, so the 3rd one we dropped a little lower.

That's the kicker, eh?
Am thinking about how to make those axles easily removable, for higher clearance when moving and no clearance when in place for predator protection....maybe if that second bottom rail was outside the coop? Studs/uprights on sides could be flat on inside of frame....just some thoughts(I can't help it but look and see)

 

[mandelyn]

That's the kicker, eh?
Am thinking about how to make those axles easily removable, for higher clearance when moving and no clearance when in place for predator protection....maybe if that second bottom rail was outside the coop? Studs/uprights on sides could be flat on inside of frame....just some thoughts(I can't help it but look and see)

Hahaha I always look at how to engineer things differently/better. Husband over engineers and so he was thinking on a lever system to rise and lower the wheel/axle.We have PVC spacers on the bolts to keep the wheel in position, centered. I wonder though if a bit of round stock with holes could make a cotter pin a securing method, so that you just run the axle through the wheel and holes and then pin for movement. Just one set of 4 wheels could move X number of tractors every day or 3.

It took 3 years but we had our first predator access incident in tractor 1 and 2 over the summer. Lost 3 total on separate nights, the rest unharmed. A dip in the ground plus the clearance allowed access. With that in mind I've only ever put the spare cockerels in them (with no future breeding merits), in a sense as the "front line" to show us what we might have lurking. My money is on a young fox.

 

[aart]

Hahaha I always look at how to engineer things differently/better. Husband over engineers and so he was thinking on a lever system to rise and lower the wheel/axle.

I did a lever system, it worked OK, buyer had rough pasture tho and I think they gave up on it(long story).

We have PVC spacers on the bolts to keep the wheel in position, centered. I wonder though if a bit of round stock with holes could make a cotter pin a securing method, so that you just run the axle through the wheel and holes and then pin for movement. Just one set of 4 wheels could move X number of tractors every day or 3.

Problem with pin is access to 'other side'.

 

[mandelyn]

Well that's why it has to be people height, so that you can get to the other side.

 

[aart]

Well that's why it has to be people height, so that you can get to the other side.

But then it takes two people to manipulate the axles.