I Just Have To Order Steel

Another project just popped up that is going to have to move everything else down a notch.

The small wheels on my walker I use to do chores and go back and fourth from the shed and barn is falling apart from all the bumps. I need to whip one up out of one inch square tubing with my 24 inch wheels on the front and wide 8 inch on the back. I put a five gallon pail of water in the seat of my current one. With the large wheels on the front I can make a platform for two five gallon pails between the stub axles and still put a seat between the handles. It will not need to be folded. That is what is weak with the one I am using now. Jig and weld up two side frames and weld in about five cross pieces. Tack in some expanded metal to set the pails on. Tubing and two 5/8" bolts for axels is all I will need to buy. There it is, an old mans walker feed cart or walker garden cart by adding more cross pieces to form a basket.

Dick I know I should not ask but I am a redneck hillbilly and will anyway. LOL

What health issue do you have that causes you to need the walker and I think I remember you using a wheel chair in a shop???

My reason for asking is that my wife has diabetes and it is just starting to effect her mobility. I am trying to think ahead for things that I can do/make that would help her in the future.

Also even though my Father is in an assisted living home now I still do bring him out to the farm a few times each month. He had a stoke a while back and he can get around be is getting more feeble as he gets older.

So a super duty walker like your talking about could easily be used more than I think it would.

I have Neuropathy! I do not have diabetes which most that have Neuropathy have. I have nerve damage that effects my left hand and both legs and feet. I have been gradually loosing the strength in these areas. I have toe drop that causes my toes to come down as I take a step which causes me to trip over a blade of grass, or so it seems, sometimes. This weakness has cause me to loose my balance when standing in one place. I can not take full stride steps without staggering.

God has blessed me with the ability to learn do many things over the last, almost, 77 years which I refuse to give up. One of the blessing God has given me is the ability reason out a way to keep doing those things. Giving up is in the thought mind which can be shut out with positive thoughts.

Dealing with life's natural difficulties with aging and poor health is never easy.

I commend your ingenuity and determination. Too many in my family chose to simply give up when faced with health related adversity. Instead they chose to limit their lives to recliner and bed and passed on in their 40's, 50's and 60's. None that gave up made it to their 70's. The ones that pushed themselves made it to their 80's and 90's

Have no idea if you have the capability to weld it, but have you given aluminum consideration? With careful material choice could get equal strength to steel but without the extra weight. weight savings would provide more cargo carrying ability for manhandling.

Have an idea for you. Get a motorcycle starter off an old motorcycle that has the #25 chain sprocket on it. Put a sproket on one wheel and a push button switch. This will let your get out a tight spot, especially with 5 gallon buckets on it.

This will also let your remaining strength keep you going longer. Know you can figure it out.

Sounds to me like you may want to build something like a motorized Georgia Buggy to get around with. You can stand on the back or put a seat on it. I used one when I put the concrete floor down in an already built pole barn. They are nice.
Georgia buggy on ebay.

Well Dick Thank you for your candor. My wife is in the early stages of Neuropathy. So she is just starting to have the balance issues and weak muscles.

I had complained to the Doctor for over five years about getting weaker in my legs. He said it was just aging and I was working to hard. One Sunday while watching Fox Sunday House Calls one of the Doctors said if your little finger is numb you need to see the Doctor right away. My Doctor then sent me to a Neurologist and they hooked me up to a magneto or something with wires to needles stuck all over my legs and back. My blood tests always came back good. The early stages were glossed over.

Sounds like you need to get a pattend on it before someone else makes your millions!

I use a Craftsman 18 hp lawn mower and trailer when the snow is not to deep for it or muddy enough for it to spin. I use a loader tractor some of the time as well. It is an idea though.

Would never sell as most people use a walker for an excuse to not work rather than figure out how to get the job done with a walker. Dick L , keep on truckin, there aren't many of you left. Git - er - built !

Something that I would like to see someone make is a wheel chair that the rider could steer with their foot.

You have inspired me! What a great outlook on life. Best of luck.
Neil

Dick, I had/have the same thing. Everything was going numb before they finally sent me to neurologist. Three cervicle vertebrae had no disc left between them and had rubbed together so long that bone spurs were growing (natures way of bone healing process) into my spinal cord. Cervicle spinal stenosis. Three hr. surgery and bone fuse/spacers on one part and titanium plate screwed in front to hold all apart and stabilize until healed up (about 9 mos.) I have one whole arm/hand that is numb and two fingers on other and my muscles all work at same time against each other which is very exhausting and creates weakness. When I put on left glove, I have to feel with right hand to make sure my fingers are all where they need to be. They told me 75% of all people have this in later yrs to some extent. Most blame it on old age and nothing gets done. Sometimes because of age , surgery shouldn't be done because one would never recover. I've had it relatively early in my life and it's been 2 yrs now and what I have now, I will have to live with. Had to change a few things and get rid of some equipment that I just couldn't utilize anymore,safely. Lot of my nerves were damaged and may not regenerate. it was either surgery or wheel chair for me. I'm happy with what I can still do albeit slow and unorthodox sometimes. Just got to where I can ride bike again so can't wait 'til spring. left leg has "drop foot" can't feel much with left toes and have "skid strip" in shower basin because I can't feel "slippery" and everything is slow to respond if I loose balance. If I'd had this surgery 5 yrs sooner (they knew my neck was bad) things wouldn't have been damaged like they were. Anyone reading this please pass it on to anyone you know that has been diagnosed with "carpo tunnel" because of numb hands. Lot of people even in their 40,s have this and is mis-diagnosed. Good luck on your walker/truck Dick. RB

I keep hearing about more people having Neuropathy that have not pushed. I feel sorry for them. I am glad to hear of your progress with it. Thanks for telling me about your dealing with it.

Dick, the plan sounds good, but assuming that the larger wheels will carry more of the weight, it sounds like you may want to strengthen the point where the stub axles will attach, maybe double up on tubing in that area.

My handicap brothers wheelchair has a pedal, think
of it like a gas pedal. forward backward left right
toggle type ... MTP...

Just been diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis. Going back to the doctor Tuesday. Yep had the carpo tunnel surgery a couple years ago didn't help much.

My bariatric wheelchair wheels are good for 800 pound people. Probly won't load it up quite that heavy. I made up a set of duals for a guy a few years back that never got paid for. Might put those on for more flotation in soft ground or grass.

My old craftsman has the old gear box tranny. Mower deck has seen it's better days. It needed new rear tires, so I put bar like tractor tires on back. Nice to pull a 3 ft disk with.

As for snow, I use my backhoe or mule 4x4.

I was thinking more of a Georgis buggy because he may have difficulty getting on and off mower and loader. Mules are nice, easy getting on and off.

Sorry to hear, Mark. Any questions I can help you with, my e-mail is open or 989-772-0111. RB

Go for it! I have a Lincoln tombstone welder that feels like a chunk of lead when I need to move it. So I attached two golf cart wheels to it using the holes already in the housing. I am amazed at how easily it maneuvers around the barn lot and corral when the pipe fence needs repair. It looks like one of those monster mudder trucks.
Butch

Randy, I'm glad you were willing to tell about this. I had on-the job injuries to cervical vertibrae in '95. Doctors said at the time it was not bad enough for the fusion surgery, but it would eventually get to that point. I'm experiencing those things you have described, but I was blaming it on the cholesterol medication the doctor has me taking.
Butch

well dick my bet is this is what you have Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease it a deterioration of the nerves causing your muscles to deteriorate i know as i wear brace to walk can get a round good just by-god i cant stand with out a cane or tobacco stick if i am in the open it a real pain in the but, the VA provide my braces. in less you know i have then you cant see then as they fit inside my boots and are hidden by pants legs but most people know i wear them as some time with this problem you can be miss take as a drunk the way one walk and stands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcot%E2%80%93Marie%E2%80%93Tooth_disease

I/we spent/wasted almost a year "experimenting " ,blood tests, trying everything. My extreme exhaustion and numbness were main complaints. Thyroid meds (which tests showed I needed) had torn rotator cuff and while having that done on same arm they did carpo tunnel because their nerve test showed it. No relief from carpo at all. Finally sent me to neurologist for MRI on neck. Bingo!! They set me up for emergency surgery and called work and told them I would be off for a while and made me wear collar right away until surgery at end of that week. I'm actually in worse shape than when I went in to surgery but like they said "it's your spinal cord and we can't just take it out to do the repairs". When you instantly "wake up" a pinched inoperative nerve, it has no idea what to do or send or maybe won't work at all. The swelling from surgery had my whole left side completely parallized even after anestesia wore off for about 3 hrs until they could get swelling down. I could walk with walker in 2 days and then went to inpatient PT for 7 days and walked out. Still walk funny and lot of dead/numb areas but could have been a lot worse.They say you probably won't get much back that you have lost but it won't go any further. Some things have gotten better in two yrs but some worse too. Frustrating some days but I look around at people a lot worse off than me. Heck, 35 of my High School classmates (out of 200 0r so) are gone already (class of '69) so I can't complain. I've always said "getting old is easy, doing it gracefully is the hard part".