Garbage can tow dolly?

[Brad_bb]

My house and my mom's house are far from the start of the driveway at the road, where we will be getting garbage pick up by the end of the year.  Right now we still have a dumpster for our construction.  Anyhow, we're going to need away to get the garbage cans up to the road.  I'm thinking something like a Tow Dolly pulled behind a side by side (Ranger).  With a tow dolly there's no axle but only spindles on either side.  The garbage cans would load between the wheels (2 of them).  If I build it, the tongue would be shorter than the car one so it would be closer to the sxs.  Has anyone ever seen anything like this commercially?  I can't find any such thing on the web.

[RetiredTech]

  I never thought about a tow dolly for the garbage cans. We just throw the can in the back of the side by side and run it out to the main road. I'd be interested to see what you come up with. The cans do get heavy sometimes. Maybe something lightweight and easy to move around with bicycle or motorcycle wheels? Keep us posted.

[aigheadish]

My driveway is about 300 feet long and one of the improvements I've thought of making with my similar style cans is to add rubber or pneumatic tires, instead of the incredibly noisy and bumpy and gross plastic ones. 

I've dragged a can with an open car door, just once, as I'm afraid the can will knock into the car, though it didn't the time I tried it. If I had a vehicle I cared less about I'd just do that but only for one can.

If I went with a trailer I think I'd be inclined to use just a simple bar that you can hang a few hooks on and maybe a strong bungee or rope to hold the cans closed. Maybe that depends on the driveway material too... Mine is gravel and quite bumpy, it's not uncommon, at walking speed, that my can wants to twist and turn and fall over. 

[Big_eddy]

What about one of those platforms that mount in a trailer hitch receiver on the back of your sxs? And a bungee cord if the road is bumpy or you drive like Villeneuve.

[YellowHammer]

We use our forklift these days, it'll do two at once with a strap to keep them from falling off down the 1/4 mile driveway.  What about your tractor FEL?  I used to just lift up using the loader bucket teeth, putting in the open gap of the handle lid hinge.  My tooth spacing was about perfect for that.  Drive up, lift up, drive off.  

[doc henderson]

If they are full, they can be heavy to lift, and might spill paper and such.  can you make a little wheeled platform and attach it to the can, so you just hook on.  if you have several cans at different locations, you could make a hitch pin on the back, and hook them together and tow in tandem.  A little trash train.  Woo woo!  

 I think a bit of square tube and angle with a simple bolt for an axle would work.  maybe even reuse the wheels.  it will have to be small as they use a lift on the trash truck, and this may be why this will not work.  may have to set it off.  seems like a small trailer would work without too much fanfare.

[SawyerTed]

Seems like there's a hundred different types of trash can hitches.   Some handle two cans.  A hitch type drawbar would be easier than dealing with hitching a dolly every week. 

Upgrade the axle and tires on the cans and tow with a short tow bar.   It would be pretty simple to build a T type hitch attachment for two cans.  

Seems like that would be less work than fabrication of a dolly. 

Or a hitch hauler with ramp.  

[JJ]

This was posted by another FF member as a log arch.  I forget who but I though was genius idea..

[Brad_bb]

Right now the driveway is gravel. It may eventually be asphalt, or part of asphalt.  It's 1300 ft to my mom's house to the road, and 2400 ft from mine.  My mom is in her 70's so if she had to do it, there would be no lifting.  I'm thinking a platform that is very close to the ground, like 3", or a lever with a cam that would lower the platform to the ground and lift it off the ground.  That way she could just roll the can onto the platform.  Of course I'll do it most of the time, but it must be such that she could do it. The platform should hold 2 cans.  I have the feeling that I'm going to need to design and build it.  Now I'm trying to think of how to make it raise up and down simply. 3-4" lift should work.  I have a local store nearby that has spindles hubs and wheels.  I might want to go with a larger diameter lighter weight wheel over a trailer wheel though.  Sort of like the ones on my timber cart.  I'd also prefer foam filled tires so I don't have to deal with tubes and flats.

The "store"  has these 26" dia flat free wheels that just use a simple 3/4" axle.

[doc henderson]

If you have looked at a torsion axle, the spindle is on a lever arm and the suspension is from rotating inside a rubber insert.  you could make something like the spindle with a lever arm that can cam up and down.  you could have a foot pedal that rotates and lifts the can off the ground.  If it remains in place, it must be compatible with the dumping mechanism.  the bigger diameter wheels will make it better on the gravel.  Would your mom walk it, or pull it with the atv?  

[Ljohnsaw]

This was posted by another FF member as a log arch.  I forget who but I though was genius idea..

Well, that looks familiar!

If you left the back open and fabbed up a hanging platform? On the front a hitch?

[JJ]

What I was thinking with John's bicycle log arch, is a hook on the bar going through bike cranks of the arch to slip under the pickup bar on the trash can:

It should easily cart 2 cans, but maybe make hooks slide on bar, so moving 1 can will not be unbalanced.

      JJ

[Crusarius]

Do you have a plow mount on the front of the SXS? you could easily build a platform that connects to the plow mount and use the winch to raise and lower it. 

You Could make it easy to take off or make it so when not in use it can flip up against the front of the machine and act as a brush guard.

Drive up to the can, roll it on, lift it up drive to next one do it again then drop them at roadside.

[Al_Smith]

I've got one just about like the green thing in the picture .My trash pick up is 600 feet from the house to the road .I just tie it off to my golf cart and give it a ride . You can buy them and they used to be around 90 dollars .Mine came from a previous trash hauler who sold out to the company that now owns it .In other words it's a  freebie