Garbage Can Carrier

[Provincial]

We live in the country and our driveway is about 1/4 mile long, gravel, and uphill. In order to get our garbage can out to the County road, I built a mount to fit a hitch receiver that holds the garbage can to the back of my pickup.

The mount shown is the second version. The first version did not fold. I would leave it at the end of our driveway when I dropped off the trash can, and one day it disappeared. I don't know if someone stole it for scrap or to use it. Since the current design folds up, I just throw it in the pickup bed.

This version folds up to store in less space and also to provide some "give" if it drags on the ground. I use a cheap motorcycle tie-down to hold the can on the rack. The rectangular tube welded on the sides of the lower weldment is for holding a larger can, but they line up well for the wheels of the smaller can.

The vertical tube has holes at different heights. I try to have 3-4 inches of ground clearance, but we don't get much snow here.

I rarely fold the receiver tube, but it also allows some movement if the rack high centers. I put the eye on the top of the vertical tube to provide a hanging point for storage, but I haven't put up a hook for it yet.

The cross tube was curved on the first version, but I decided it wasn't necessary. The eyes on the ends were chain links on the first version, but I bent 1/4" round bar to make the current version.

All the brackets were made of 1/4" flat bar. The receiver tube is 2" square tube. The vertical tube is 1-1/2" and the rest are 1" square. The 1x2 rectangular tube is improvised to hold the larger can. It could be eliminated by making the lower weldment 4 inches wider. All the tubing is pretty thin walled to keep the weight down. I can't see where there is any reason to use anything but thin wall tubing. I could have saved a little weight by using thinner flat bar and welding washers at the pivot points to reinforce them.

I have been using this (and its first incarnation) for over five years without a problem. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

 

[Warrenator]

Love it! I was hitching mine to the bumper of my pickup and rolling/dragging them behind..... my wife accused me of being a redneck. Will have to build a version of this for 2 cans.

 

[ilovevocs]

That's nice. I should build one for my dad. He just rolls his window down and puts his arm out the window to drag the can as he drives.

 

[zak77]

What fun is that?? Be like my neighbor and just put the handle for the trash bin on your tow ball then pull it to the curb. Then forget to drop off the can at the end of your driveway and drive off for about 10-15 minutes before realizing your dragging your garbage can down the highway at 50mph. I was pretty impressed it was unscathed so that's one well built garbage can. Unfortunately he's done this a few times.

 

[SteveH-CO]

When I was a kid, my father built a go-kart using a similar frame, so I copied it for my trash cart. My trash pickup site is 0.1 mile from my house.

My requirements were 'parked outside, weatherproof, cheap, tough, garbageman-proof, towable, not worth stealing'. I thought about making a flip-over can cover to keep out raccoons until we had bears, so now I store the garbage cans indoors until trash day.

I have a steep dirt driveway, so the pieces of flooring sticking up keep the trash cans from tipping off this trailer. Tires from Harbor Fright. The 'kickstand' is a recycled piece of a garage door opener rail, and keeps the trailer upright from sitting at too steep an angle when unhitched.

I have yet to get on I-25 towing my trash trailer at 75MPH, forgetting to remove it, but it could happen.

 

[Provincial]

Good to see that his thread has picked up some momentum! Some good comments on our shared challenge of getting the cans to the street. I knew that I wasn't the only one with a long driveway.