The wheel on the cart goes round and round -- until it breaks. And then what?

Barb D

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In my WIP I'm borrowing some characters from Hamlet/Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead. In my story the Players need my time-(and reality)-traveling teenage (ttt) football player to help them get to Elsinore. One scenario I've come up with is that one of their cart wheels has broken, and they use him on one corner of the cart to "play the part of a wheel."

My own real-life 17yo son says he would turn their 4-wheeled cart into a three-wheeled cart with the weight at the rear, and that they would need him to keep re-repairing it.

Would either of these work, for a journey of say a mile or two? Any other ideas, either for the cart wheel idea or for another way to force the ttt and the players to stick together for a while?

They won't give him his magic time-travel coin back until they're at the castle, so he's motivated to help them.

FWIW, here's a clip of the movie of R&G are Dead, which includes a cart. In my version the cart is smaller and the wheels are solid wood. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgxlbQSV1UY

And here is what I have written:

Getting the cart to the castle was sheer torture. The horses would roll it until it stopped on the broken part of the wheel, and then three of us would lift the rear corner until it got to unbroken wheel. Roll, roll, roll, clunk. Lift. Roll, roll, roll, clunk. Lift. It was slow going, but fortunately we didn’t have far to go.
 

jclarkdawe

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Actually, you'd probably put on a spare, although this would also depend on the load. A light wagon could be done this way, but a heavy freight wagon no.

Heavy wagons would usually carry a spare and jack if they were going any distance from civilization. Here even without a spare, walking to the castle, getting the wheel fixed, and walking back would probably be more time efficient. If you didn't have a jack (a later invention), you'd cut down a good size pole, put down some blocks, and use the pole as a lever. Muscle counts here.

Wagon wheels were usually held on by one bolt onto the axle. A wrench would usually be carried to remove it.

Remember that it makes a difference between whether you break a rim or a spoke. One spoke and you'd fish a piece of wood bracing the spoke and go slowly the mile.

Replacing a wheel for a good wagon team would probably be less than an hour, but like getting a flat tire on your car, it's going to take time.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

FinbarReilly

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I'll go with a handy-dandy: Depends on where the load was. If it's in the back, and it's not possible to move it forward, then no, a regular person isn't going to be able to help if the load is beyond his normal lifting amount.

However, if it's in the front or can be shifted there, and is extremely short range (like a mile or so), the person may be able to help my shifting the weight forward. Keep in mind that the person is straining, so there are severe limits on how long he can do that...

FR
 

hammerklavier

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Shift as much weight onto the corner and side opposite the bad wheel. Probably wouldn't lift the cart, just push it or grab hold the broken wheel and push it past the broken part.

However, the best solution would be to fashion something (like some sticks) in roughly the same shape of the break. Go slowly, and each time the break comes around, shove them under the broken area.
 

jclarkdawe

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In thinking about your question, I'd think of having the axle break. I hadn't noticed the solid wheels, but my guess is they were rather hard to shatter.

You can easily break a wagon's axle by the wagon sliding on a rock. A broken axle is time consuming and labor intensive. And it involves a lot of teamwork.

Basically you have to empty the wagon and jack the appropriate end up. You remove both wheels, then slide the broken axle out. Although you can do this with one person, you really need two people and more are better. Once you get the axle out, you need to find a nice straight tree about eight inches in diameter.

You chop the tree down, and cut to length. You then take your axe and start trimming the tree down to the right diameter (you use the large diameter because you need to get rid of bark and the softer outer wood). You start on either end, and then go to the other end. While one person is whittling the center down, other people can work at getting the ends ready for wheels.

Best case scenario is about four hours. Plenty of times for a good argument, especially against the driver for allowing this to happen. Lots of heavy lifting (try picking up a log six feet long that needs to be finished sized at about 4 inch diameter). Selecting the right tree takes time as this is a permanent repair (at least until it breaks again).

It involves a wide range of skills from shaping with an axe (you can learn this quickly with on-the-job training) to shaping the hubs (very exacting work as you want the wheel to spin but not wobble and you've got to be able to thread a bolt through it).

And into it not wanting to wander far because of dangers, and you can have a good scene.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe