Utility Box Project for '02 CC

[Land Owner]

I needed a box, so I built one. It is 3/4" plywood (mostly) with two 2" x 12" short sides that are removable. The short sides are held in place with removable lag screws and there are four pins in the bottom of each short side to prevent lateral (sideways) movement.

[Land Owner]

The hinges in the bottom make the box "collapsable" by removing the short sides and folding the long sides down. Then the box becomes a platform, which has some advantages.

The biggest problem was keeping the original vertical back seat hand support as close to OEM as possible. A small amount of bending and four additional drilled holes through the double tube uprights was necessary to make the normally vertical hand support into the horizontal member in the photo.

Everything may be returned to OEM, except the four drilled holes in the uprights and two drilled holes in the 3" x 3" aluminum angles that support the box.

[Land Owner]

I had been using a wheel barrow to transport loads of dirt across the yard. That got tedious and exhausting. So the box, with one side removed, is a great dirt hauler.

Currently, the design has four inherent flaws.

1.) When the box is fully loaded, the additional weight and offset location of the load will lift the front wheels off of the ground. The driver's weight and a relatively slow operating speed is sufficient to maneuver and power the cart.

2.) When the box is loaded, the wheels rub the frame of the cart. It now needs a a clutch spring, lift kit, larger diameter tires, and heavy duty springs.

3.) If the box is overloaded or the cart abused (operated too fast), the two 3" x 3" aluminum angles that support all of the weight could tear out the aluminum welds at the bottom of the twin vertical tubes. Not a pleasant prospect. But then, I don't intend to overload or abuse...

4.) Extending the box supports rearward without adding ground clearance (aspect ratio?) does "bottom out" if crossing a depression. This too can tear out welds. Caution is the word until #2 is completed.

[kevinandrew]

you would be better off to use a dump trailer. check out tractor supply, or walmart, or craigslist in your area. i bought a 17cubic foot dump trailer for my lawn tractor several years ago, but i mostly use it with my golf cart. pushing a wheelbarrow around five acres was just too much of a work out for me. the golf cart handles find even when fully loaded. i have moved several tons this way. the cart new cost me less than $100.00 and has probably saved me from having a heart attack (priceless).

[Land Owner]

It is not altogether for hauling dirt. It is intended for hauling deer in Hunting Season (HS). As it is not now HS, I can't test it for its intended purpose, so the dirt will have to do - for the time being anyway. Also, hauling seed, fertilizer, implements of food plot construction, the trash cans for kids to curbside pickup, orange picking, etc.

When the lift kit is installed, and I believe it should include the trailer hitch/receiver, then the lawn tractor dump trailer will indeed be the right choice as it is independently supported on two wheels and an axle that would then use the cart for forward and reverse.

[kevinandrew]

how big do deer get in florida? in indiana they don't get much over 200 lb. ever. it seems like maybe having a full grown neighbor in the cargo box could simulate a dead deer.

[Land Owner]

Guaranteed, a 200# Florida deer would be one Big Boy and would probably make the local paper. So, my kids (2), standing in the box equal 175# and that is a sufficient load test.

Even so, that test is "Ritually Unclean!" It is not the intended test, which would otherwise make me a Happy Camper. Know what I mean? That test will be this Fall in South Carolina...to see if the new CC can hunt!

[kevinandrew]

how you gonna kill this deer??? with a 9 iron?

[Land Owner]

It's a "superstition" thing. If it can't hunt, then it gets sold for one that can. Had a brand new 8-cyl gasoline PU truck like that in '99 that got smacked by a deer when it was only 9 hours old. Killed the deer but took $4,000 worth of front end damage . That truck wouldn't hunt AT ALL after that incident. Worst hunting season I ever had until I got rid of it. After which, with a new DIESEL PU truck, hunting returned to "normal". It's like that.

[kevinandrew]

i got a local deer with my plymouth neon last year. flipped it like a pancake. only damage: small dent on the hood. neon vs. deer. car: small dent, deer: wild cart wheel and wopper head ache. i don't hunt, but if i did i'd use the neon. it's already tried and proven. when is car season?????