The Black Cart

My Black 4-Wheel Combined Driving Carriage

(aka: The Cart From Hell)

The cart I use currently and describe below works great for us now. My husband has spent many hours ironing out the kinks. I am constantly aware and very concerned about the total weight my guys work with. They are each pulling their own weight plus 100 lbs during marathon with my heaviest navigator

My husband, Mike, calls it the cart from hell. I ordered it over the internet, March 2005, with lots of one on one conversations with the builder. VSE 4-wheel carriages are not a common item. A few of the places making combined driving carts for horses and ponies are beginning to make down sized 2-wheel versions for miniatures but only 2 that I know of make 4-wheel. Just my luck I picked the less desirable manufacturer.

Mike says the front part of the carriage was built by a knowledgeable craftsman. The back part built by someone after a Friday liquid lunch before a three day weekend. In other words by someone whose goal was to get it out of the shop, screw the detail and too bad if it works or not

I had a few requirements that were not negotiable. It had to be sized to fit into the back of the van for transport, would be of no value to me if I could not take it to competitions. The next was friction brakes. The last thing I asked for was light weight. The cart arrived with none of these features, though they were promised. One thing that went as agreed, the cart was built and arrived here on time.

It arrived assembled all except the wheels and the back step. On the surface it looked great. First thing we noticed was it looked very tall. The width was correct for transport but with the seat bolted on it was too tall to load. To fix this we had to remove the tracks used to adjust the seat, lower the back rest to below the seat rail and figure a way to bolt it to the cart. That worked but I still need to loosen the seat rails and let them drop before I can get all the way into the van

The wheel alignment problem was corrected when we straightened the rear axle. To do this the brackets holding the axle needed to be re-drilled. Not the "Just tighten the bolts" answer that came back from the manufacturer.
		Above is a picture of the back step bracket/bolt alignment. We tried to bolt on the back step. Not happening. No matter how we try one hole will not line up. Mike had to get out the torch and heat it to get things to line up.

The brakes are an on going problem. Instead of compression brakes, they gave us "for free" disk brakes. On the surface that sounds great but like the saying goes nothing is ever free. Nothing on the back of the cart lined up, the axle was crooked (we fixed that) the discs for the brakes were warped (we tried to fix that) the brackets that held the calipers were in the wrong place (we fixed that). The linkage for the brakes is another story. It's made out of all-thread bar with a multitude of double nuts and engages with the help of bungee cords. How professional is that? It needs constant adjusting to work at all. By the way when I say we I mean Mike. I paid a lot for this carriage; his feeling is that it's new and should not need all this work. He is right.

I contacted the manufacturer concerning the brakes. Her reply..." Also you keep complaining about something you didn't pay for. The vehicle is close to 200 and it is a full cut under and brings your ponies closer for quicker turns. I am done with your project." (didn't pay for = free brakes) (close to 200 = 270)

My latest fiasco is trying to get different wheels for it. It seems that the bearing set up is unusual and the wheel maker is having difficulty making something that will fit the axles. The reason I am changing the wheels has to do with weight. The cart was promised to weigh 200lbs. It weights 270lbs. By changing out the wheels I hope to cut the weight by 50lbs. Also the current wheels have pointed rubber which sinks in all but the hardest mid summer dirt. I am getting a flat 1 Ľ wide rubber wheel which should roll over instead of sinking; the lighter weight should help this problem also.

Anyone interested in the full story, email me and I will be glad to share.