Radio Flyer Project

We have had a wagon buried in the garage for nearly a year now. It was “broken” but I hadn’t taken the time to figure out what it’s problem was.

With the influx of nice weather we have had over the past few days I took the opportunity to dive into the project. The wagon felt really wobbly and clearly had some problems. Initially it looked as though the only issue was four flat tires, and some loose screws.

In the process of resolving those issues it became clear the wagon had bigger issues:

What isn’t clearly shown in the picture is that the bracket holding the rear axle leans slightly towards the front wheels. What is pretty obvious in the picture is that the wagon has been braced and drilled for something else to be attached between that rear axle and the middle of the wagon.

My initial plan involved a 2×4 shaved to the proper angle, some glue, and a big U-bolt. When I was wondering around my local hardware store looking for a U-bolt I found some angle iron intended to be used in building shelving, and realized I could produce something far stronger:

This also meant I needed to buy a hack saw… although, my being always somewhat budget focused meant I got a really cheap one… all the same, what you see in the picture is cut, drilled, bolted, and painted to match the rest of the undercarriage. Not too shabby, and it was fun to actually use my new bench and vice!

On to installation:

Notice any problems? I may have been too optimistic about the reach of those bolts, so back to the hardware store…

Now for a brief tangent, that I feel sort of torn about. I think it’s great that my local mega hardware store stocks things like loose bolts and the like. The problem comes when you need to check out. The poor people manning the register simply aren’t used to dealing with it. I spent over five minutes to check out with $0.50 worth of fasteners. It tried the patience a little.

Ok, so back in the garage with some longer bolts:

Maybe I went a little long this time… at least I didn’t need to make yet another trip to the store.

After putting the wagon back on it’s wheels, I was happy to find that it was really solid. Now the only real concern was the ugly stain on the bed.

Soap and water wasn’t as effective as I had hoped, but it still managed to fade the stain substantially. Makes me wish the factory had put a real sealant down so that things couldn’t soak into the wood grain. Having done what I could, I put the fences back on and it was looking pretty good!

You may be thinking, “but what are they going to do with a wagon?” Well friend, as luck would have it, right before I sat down to write this, Heather arrived home from the store to demonstrate:

Getting a load of groceries up to the third floor isn’t the easiest thing in the word, but the combination of a wagon and the elevator works out pretty well.

(Alternative answer: “What can’t you do with a great wagon like this!?” )

-Jordan