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[crumbly65]

Sorry for this completely off topic subject, but I've always benefitted from the wealth of common sense and experience on this forum, so I'd thought I'd ask.........

SWMBO and I are going out to buy a new wheelbarrow.  Our old garden one has rusted through after nearly 40 years, and has a permanent slow leak from it's (very, very old) pneumatic tyre.

I'm thinking a galvanised body for the barrow, but I'm wondering about whether to get solid-tyred or pneumatic-tyred?

Any views?

 

[martinthefirst]

I favour Haemmerlin with a pneumatic wheel, they do a galvanised job. Not cheap but last decades

https://www.haemmerlin.co.uk/products/aktiv/original-galv/

[ChrisJC]

The benefit of a pneumatic tyre for hopping over minor obstacles outweighs the very very very very very rare inconvenience of a puncture in my opinion.

I have one of each, and prefer the pneumatic tyred one.

Chris.

[Scotty38]

I have a Haemmerlin too but the plastic bodied version, still pneumatic though.

https://www.haemmerlin.co.uk/products/aktiv-extreme/alpha-poly/

[GlenAnderson]

It’s always easier to push a pneumatic tyred barrow than a solid one.

[Wittsend]

You need pneumatic tyres.

If you are worried about punctures then use Slime:-



I think you can get similar in aerosol cans from bike shops.

You squirt the stuff into the inner tube, it stays gooey and seals any puncture you might pick up 





 

[mrscruffs]

Another vote for Haemmerlin We got our 120L one from Wickes for £53 a few months ago and it seemed to be the best price at the time, we nearly missed it because they market it using the model name rather than the brand name on the wicker website: https://www.wickes.co.uk/Chillington-County-Galvanised-Wheelbarrow-120L/p/167429


I see Homebase are doing the non-galvanised version for £40 at the moment: https://www.homebase.co.uk/chillington-county-wheelbarrow-120l/12835844.html

[Rog-from-Bix]

we use plastic bodied barrows now as the stable waste rots the metal barrows over time. If you get a good quality barrow the solid tyres are the way to go I would not get a barrow with a pneumatic tyre again. The slime stuff is good but doesn't seem to last more than a couple of years before going watery and stopping working.

[crumbly65]

Thanks all!   

To be fair to our old barrow, it has been around for 40+ years, and I think it was second hand when we got it.  It has had all the hard years of house and garden renovations, so our new barrow will have a really gentle life.

I just couldn't decide on pneumatic or solid tyres.  I wouldn't expect any punctures, and there's a tyre fitting old-style garage a couple of miles away who could (and do) repair punctured barrow tyres, should i get one.  I like the idea of a solid tyre type, but think when the ground is soft, the pneumatic will be better at rolling over our lawn.

There's no rough ground, no thorny hedges, so I'm thinking I'm going to go for the largest, pneumatic tyred, galvanised one.

Once again, this forum has proved invaluable, and the the patient, solid advice a measure of why it's such an important resource to me in my retirement.  I'd be lost without you guys, thank you. 

[geoff]

I've never bought a wheelbarrow but have made extensive use of them over decades.

The worst thing with a barrow is keeping it somewhere where it doesn't offend the eye and take up too much space but there is an upside .... this generally means they get moved on to a new owner for free.

This barrow malaise has meant I've " inherited " four barrows over the years from folks eager to move theirs on, usually in nice clean condition too.

Barrows - galv is great and pneumatic tyre is best for gardening and building works ( manure, well I guess it rots everything except plastic ? )

[Old Hywel]

I’ve replaced the standard, paper thin (2 ply?) tyre with a similarly sized trailer tyre, 4.00-8, at a guess. Much more robust, even if the tread is mostly gone.

[w3526602]

Hi,

Appearance wise, assuming like for like, I would have thought that a solid tyre would cost more than pneumatic. Maybe solid tyres are more akin to elasiv bands.

Advice, from experience. Do not leave a barrow leaning against the shed, so that rain water can trickle into the open ends of the handles ... the front bit rusts from the inside.

If I had to push a loaded barrow over a lawn, I would prefer it was on a pneumatic tyre.

A Bedford RL will require four wheel drive, and a low gear, to churn it's way through Arabian sand. But if you drop the tyre pressure from 70 to 20psi. it will just waft, in 4x2 and top gear, over soft sand that is difficult to walk through. I have very little experience of driving over wet grass.

602

[Old80]

I also had trailer tyres fitted to our barrows.....no more punctures!

[Wittsend]

Anyone who can change a bicycle tyre can do a wheelbarrow. Use a couple of (large) spoons as tyre levers.

The thing that "gets" wheelbarrow tyres is being exposed to sunlight during storage. They soon crack and craze, just like any other tyre. You need some sort of cover when the barrow is not in use.


 

[Herald1360]

Storage solution would seem to be to put it in the shed!