Ladder Pony

Make a cart that can be used to haul tools and materials up an extension ladder to a roof, loft, balcony, or upper window of a building or to the deck of a keeled sailboat that is propped up on dry land. Note that some of the accompanying photos were staged for clarity of photographing, so not all safety precautions may be in evidence that would be in place during actual hauling of a load up a ladder.
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Unclesam

Step 1 Going up!

This view shows details of the pony's lower construction. It is basically a three-legged chair, the third leg attached to the middle of the underside of the load platform ("seat"). The lower axle is positioned so that the plywood disks attached to the wheels are below the lower side of the load platform so long cargo objects can lay across the platform without interfering with the wheels. I made my pony's siderails 36" long from 2" by 3" wood (actual 1-1/2" by 2-1/2") sold at home centers as "studs." The lengths of the other components depend upon the distance between the side rails of your ladder. I connected the wood frame members together using wood glue and deck screws. My load platform is an 18" square of 1/2" thick plywood whose corners are notched out to clear the side rails, and glue and drywall screws fasten it. A couple small wood cleats were screwed to the back of the platform to restrain the bottom of a 5-gallon plastic bucket.
I chose 7" diameter plastic non-pneumatic lawn mower wheels running on two 1/2" steel axles secured with washers and push-on nuts. I made the 9" diameter wood wheel disks from 1/4" thick plywood fastened directly onto the sides of the wheels with drywall screws. A 45-degree chamfer on the inside of the outer rims of the disks keep them from riding up onto the ladder siderails.
Photo show details of the bracing underneath the load platform and attachment of the front, third leg.

Comments

[SurferGeek]

Very nice! Timely as well... I will be stripping and roofing my house this summer. Perfect for the do it yourselfer.

[rimar2000]

Very good job.

[gyromild]

nice one, sure is handy to have one of these laying around...

[JakeTobak]

While I don't have any particular use for something like this, it is extremely cool. You get an A+

[nagutron]

Ditto.