Hay wagon deck

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Rick Kr

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

Getting ready to start redecking an old Montgomery Wards wagon.

Some people run 4x? for main beams, 4x4 cross sills, then the decking length-wise.

Others run the main beams, skip the cross sills, then run 2x cross ways.

Whats the best? This will be a light duty wagon 99% of the time. The wagon currently has 4x4 cross sills, a few will needed replaced.

Then the decking? Treated or oak?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

 

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Don-Wi

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

Some of it depends on the running gear and how much clearance there is between the wheels and the deck. I personally put the 2x's right on top of the stringers, and don't use 4x4 cross beams. Less wood to buy that way, and it's easier to replace one 8' board instead of one that runs the full length of the wagon.

As far as oak or treated, it's your call. Oak would probably be best, but I've built 2 out of treated and so far they're fine.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

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RodinNS

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

If it was mine there wouldn't be a stick of wood in in.
10" I beams for stringers. 2" HSS or 3" channel for cross members and decked off with 3/16 or 1/4" deck plate. Last forever at half the weight.

Rod

 

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Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

Rick,

I have an old home modified hay wagon that was at one time a horse drawn wagon. I rebuilt it a few years ago using 4bys for main beams, 4 bys for cross siles and 1 bys for decking. It's all sawmill, rough cut oak. I've treated it with Thompson's Water Seal a couple of times and once with Behr water proofing stain.

The deck on my wagon is too high. I have a hard time lifting bales to the fourth tier when I'm picking them up from the field. You might want to consider the height that you'll end up with for whatever way you rebuild it.

Good luck,

Tom in TN

 

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paul

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

It's a height issue for me too, just so the wheels don't rub, I'd keep all the cross bracing stuff as short as possible. Lower is always better, whether throwing bales on it, or driving down a hill, etc.

I have a couple 17x8 wagons with 1 inch actual decking running across, with 2 long stringers plus a flat 2x6 running under the bottom sides of the decking. One has some small angle iron running angled from the edge of the deck to the bottom of the stringers, to make it quite sturdy, could get by with 3/4 inch decking on that one.

 

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cj in wisconsin

Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

I built mine strictly with white pine rough sawn, used 3x10 stringers with 1 1/4 cross boards all tied together on the ends with a 2x4 , does not sag or bow and I have hauled 185 square bales on it many times. 10 years and they are still holding up just fine, and they are light and low to the ground. Just need to find big enough trees that the stringers dont have any knots.

 

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GeneMO

Well-known Member

Location

Pilot Grove, Mo.

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

For the floor itself, it really needs to be 2X6 or 2X8, Tongue and groove, treatet pine.

That is what you would use for a wagon floor, expecially if you intended to haul grain. We used to put gound corn, wheat, and even clover seed in ours.

Now you said hay wagon. If that is all you will use it for, I guess you could for go the tongue and groove.

Good luck, Gene

 

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J.C.in AZ.

Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

When I Farmed in the 60's and 70's I built 4 Hay Racks 8'x16' useing Rough Oak Stringers 4"x6"x16' with 4-4"x6"Cross Braces,one at each end and 2 spaced evenly and Decked them with Pine 2"x12"x8' with a Pine 2"x4"x16" Railing on each side with a back end of verical 2"x6"x5' Pine attached to each Stringer with 4- 1"x6"x8' Rough Oak Boards bolted horizontal to these vertical members. I prepainted all the Boards and used Galvanized Carriage bolts to assemble them.They were still in good shape at my Sale in 1972. I kept them shedded all the time in the Alley Ways of two Cribs we have. Cribs are still used, Hay Wagons? JC

 

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John B.

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

What ever kind of deck you put on don't paint it. My dad did that and after a few loads of straw the deck was so slippery it was like ice.

I put a coat of clear polyurethane on it when we finished hauling straw that day then took my siphon sand blaster and sprayed sand over the wet polyurethane. It made an excellent slip free surface after that.

 

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RayP(MI)

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

Best bet is something like linseed oil.

 

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Paul from MI

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

Built three of them in the 80's and they are all still going good. Used treated 4x6 stringers with 2x4 treated cross pieces every 2'. Then actually built the deck out of 5/4x6 treated deck lumber. Space deck lumber close together so when it shrinks you have about 1/4" gap between boards. Can be left out if needed. Good luck,
Paul

 

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IaGary

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

This one was built in 1965 and never set inside.

1x12 cedar boards and steel frame all original.

Took this picture last summer.

43 years old.

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank">

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Not a very good picture but you get the idea.

Stringers are 6" channel and the cross stringers are 3 inch channel.

 

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dwrk

Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

My "best" wagon is a running gear with an 18' length of old school bus chassis fastened onto it and 2x8 cedar across the chassis.

 

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farmer boy

Well-known Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

We built a cedar wagon this summer. 3x8 sills length wise and 2x varoius size of rough sawn cedar width wise. On the sides it has rough 2x4 length wise on the top and bottom to hold the wood together and as something on the sides to hold items on the wagon. The sills were a hard wood which I forget now off a forage wagon. It had the sills length wise and 2x6 cross wise with tongue and grove lenth wise.(rotted) We decided to cut the 2x6 off because they were not needed and it was a height issue for a hay wagon. Added 5.5 inches of height and some were rotted. Another thing we've discovered over the years is that you want at least 5' of tongue past the front of the wagon . More if you have a wide tractor that will be used on it regularly. (Over 135 hp)

 

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Lee in Iowa

Member

• Dec 23, 2008

• #1

I really hate to be disagreeable again, but using calculaters I found on the web a 9 foot by 18 foot by 1/4 inch steel deck would weigh 1653 pounds, 3/16 inch would be 1240 pounds. My 9 x 18 deck of treated 2x6s come in at 700 pounds figuring on the heavy side. It sits on 10 inch I beam stringers so that would be the same and I need no cross members, and mine has already hauled thousands of 5x6 round bales 8 at a time so I know it works. Lee

 

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Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Dec 24, 2008

• #1

I bought a couple 8x18 thrower racks that had double 2x8 stringers on each side, but they should have been triple 2x8x18. When the double wides buckled a bit, I added extra 2x8 cross supports.
Cross supports above the stringers were 4x4 pine. The decking was 15/16 pine, (ie- planed one side) no paint or treatment, but spaced a half inch to drain water. Lasted about 30 years.

 

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Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Dec 24, 2008

• #1

Saw an expanded steel deck on some new wagon literature.

 

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CHRISCO

Member

• Dec 24, 2008

• #1

If you do paint it buy some black beuty sand blast sand and put that on the top coat of paint before it dries.

 

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Rick Kr

Well-known Member

• Dec 24, 2008

• #1

Thanks for all the input.

Currently it is what I consider a thrower wagon. 8' tall sides except the front. Gonna start taking that off today then I'll be at the deck.

I figure it will have a max of 6000lbs on it at one time. 15 balled and burlapped trees @ 400lbs.

Thanks for all the info.

Rick