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The Yard Glider: A Smart Alternative to Wheelbarrows, Carts and Trucks

Moving heavy things without the hassle and backaches

By Rain Noe - April 2, 2021

in Tools & Craft

Working outdoors by myself, I regularly face the same problem people have for millennia: How to move piles of heavy things from point A to B. Logs, rounds, lumber, feed bags, piles of bricks and rocks, acres worth of grass clippings, and every weekend alone I move hundreds of pounds of chicken muck. And as I age, I have to figure out how to do these things without destroying my back. Lifting heavy things from the ground to tailgate/cart/wheelbarrow level is a killer.

I just learned about the Yard Glider, which seems like the simplest and most clever way to move heavy stuff:

I'm dying to know what kind of plastic that is--UHMW polyethylene?--but the manufacturer doesn't say in their invention story:

"We are [Eddy and William,] just 2 friends who enjoy working hard, working fast and working as efficiently as possible. We needed a better way to do yard cleanup. The old "tarp drag" system works, but tarps fray, and tear and snag. Wheelbarrows are too small. Carts are ok, but they require too much bending. We are both too old to be bending over all day.

"Along came the idea for the Yard Glider.

"It couldn't be made of metal. Metal is too sharp and too heavy. Metal dents too easily and is not resilient enough for repeated, heavy duty use.

"It couldn't be made of any normal plastic or vinyl. A plastic or vinyl soft enough to be absorb the shock would tear up to quickly. A plastic or vinyl hard enough to handle the friction and the weight, would be too brittle.

"And then, whatever it is made of, metal, plastic or vinyl, would have to withstand the elements…UV, heat, cold, water, etc.

"We found that a plastic with a high enough molecular weight, would provide the strength, resilience, and ruggedness required to meet our demands, and would be strong enough that Eddy couldn't tear it up. "

Check out how it glides over mud:

We don't bag our leaves here, but I wonder how well this application would work:

These guys find it handy to pull by hand:

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The company appears to be doing brisk business, and are getting rave reviews on Facebook.

We've currently got three broken wheelbarrows on the property, and I've been looking for a fourth one to buy and break. Instead I think I'll find a way to integrate a Yard Glider into the workflow here.

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Ken K

3 years ago

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Almost certainly regular ol' HDPE. Does the trick, looks like their stuff. Surface scratches pretty easily so it will lose its factory sheen almost immediately, but is really tough and abrasion resistant. (And it's amazingly tough even when you aim an oxy-acetylene torch at it just to see what will happen, cough.)

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Chuck Mack

3 years ago

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I've done this same thing many times just using a heavy duty tarp.

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steve hassler

3 years ago

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I'd like to see a test repeatedly running over a pointy stone with a heavy load because that's probably the most likely way it will fail.

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Hans Marvell

3 years ago

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Brilliant! I hope they can patent this and earn a fortune on this idea. Well done.

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Sean Thackston

3 years ago

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The simplest solutions are often the best ones. Let us know how it works out if you end up getting one!

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