[horsegal301]

Hey all -

My friend is buying a cart and we're taking a 4 hour trip to pick it up (very nice, in her price range, but a haul to get there!), but I haven't the slightest idea of how to get it home.

We have a truck and a ramp to get it into the bed, I'm just wondering how to secure it to the truck so nothing happens. I was planning on wrapping the shafts in polos to keep them protected, and someone else said they use a ratchet strap to hold it down. I'm not familiar with how they work, but I want to make sure it's run through the right way so I don't crush or crack anything. Anyone have an example of how they tied a cart down to the bed of their truck? Perhaps a photo? That would be TREMENDOUS help.

[butlerfamilyzoo]

I use two ratchet straps. I dont have a pic. But i hook to the front corner of the truck bed, wrap it twice around the axle and then back to the front corner of the bed on the opposite side (preferably down low if your bed has a ring at the floor), and then from the back corner of the truck bed, wrap twice around the axle and then down to the opposite back corner, again, at the floor if you have a ring there to hook to. Tighten it down well to eliminate bounce. If you are worried about taking off paint/varnish from the axle, wrap it in a towel first.

For the shafts, i use a bungie to keep it "stable" but not FORCED. It's ok if they wiggle, but you dont want them wildly bouncing and you dont want to force them as they may crack under pressure or warp some on the trip.

I've put shafts over cab before, and facing backwards with shafts on the bed door, wrapping shafts in towels and i go over it tightly in a couple spots with duct tape, but dont touch the duct tape to the paint.

[Christa P]

Velcro on shipping boots are VERY useful to protect shafts.

Christa

[singletreestable]

The best way to secure a cart would be to have a rack on the truck, some fit in the holes on the bed,
they look like this:
http://www.americanlisted.com/maine_..._13802257.html

Then you put the shafts (wrapped to protect them) on the rack and strap them down with a ratchet strap, then ratchet strap from the axel, one forward and one backwards to keep the cart from moving...
Wish I had seen this post earlier I just picked up a cart and had it in my truck this way I could have taken pics for you!

[Drive NJ]

I made the rack for our pickup out of 2x3 boards - they fit into the stakeholes in your pickup
cut one in half and fit the other two onto it so you have a post that goes into the stakehole - then the lower board across
the higher board I have just above the height of the truck roof - so the shafts dont rub on the roof

I bungee the shafts to the rack
then have a ratchet strap from the lower board of the rack to the axle - one on each side of the truck

then I use one more ratchet strap to hold the back of the cart
hook it into one rear stakehole - thru the back of the cart - then hook to the other stakehole and tighten

You do not want to do anything that is going to compress the springs of the cart when you tighten as it could damage the springs

It is not as hard as it may seem

congrats on getting a new cart