How To Maintain A Wheelbarrow
Imagine moving into a new house and finding a rusted and old wheelbarrow in the backyard. Would you just throw it away or learn how to clean wheelbarrows? Maintenance of your wheelbarrow is very important. It’s quite an essential gardening tool and really takes the entire burden out of your back. Once we’re done teaching you some simple steps, your rusty eyesore will only be moments away from turning into a good-as-new piece of valuable equipment. So, how do you maintain a wheelbarrow? These essential tips are also useful to know for keeping on top of wheelbarrow maintenance to prevent future damage!
Things you will need
Sandpaper
Wheelbarrow primer and paint
Expanding foam (optional)
Linseed oil
Step 1
Remove any rust on your wheelbarrow
Before you begin learning how to maintain a wheelbarrow, it’s important you get rid of all the surface rust that’s accumulated over time. Removing rust is a vital part of wheelbarrow maintenance. This can easily be done with the help of the WD-40 Specialist Fast Acting Degreaser. The solvent-based spray degreaser helps to quickly remove stubborn soiling such as oil, grease, dirt and grime without leaving any residue. What’s more, it’s helpful for removing rust effectively.
For the tub of the wheelbarrow itself, you may have to use a wire brush or low grit sandpaper to rub off all the rust once it has been loosened. Once you’ve dealt with the tub itself, you can move onto other components of the wheelbarrow.
Step 2
Prime and paint your wheelbarrow
Next step is priming and painting. After you’re done with all the sanding and grinding, your wheelbarrow is ready for a makeover. Before you begin, is best to get the bare metal coated with rust sealant primer. Once the wheelbarrow is primed, you can now go about the paint job.
Step 3
Maintain the wheelbarrow's wheels
You’re getting closer to knowing how to clean and carry out full maintenance of wheelbarrows, so what’s next? Well, the wheels of a wheelbarrow often contain a lot of rust. This may be because these are driven over rough grounds, debris, thorns, and so much more. In some cases, the wheels may need replacing which can be quite costly.
It is vitally important to maintain the wheel and the axle of your wheelbarrow. If both components fail, then your wheelbarrow will stop rolling – not doing its job properly. In order to keep your axle working effectively, all you need to do is give it a good squirt of an excellent lubricant. We recommend using WD-40®’s Multi-Use Product for lubricating your wheelbarrow. Using WD-40 will also prevent the axle and wheelbarrow from rusting, and also help to repel dirt.
If you want to prolong the life of your wheelbarrow’s wheels, then you should have them pumped with expanding foam instead of simple air. By doing so, you can make them potentially indestructible. The cost of expanding foam may only be a little more than having them pumped with air. We recommend cleaning your wheelbarrow on a regular basis to avoid replacing the wheels.
Step 4
Check out the wheelbarrow's handles
The handles are very often the most overlooked part of wheelbarrow maintenance, with the wheel and barrow traditionally being the prime focus for any related updates to your cart.
If you’ve noticed your wheelbarrow’s handles are getting rough, then get your sandpaper ready to give them a new lease of life and make them much easier on your hands! Alternatively, you can also occasionally run them down with linseed or any other type of oil, making sure that the handles are dry before storing.
Step 5
Storing your wheelbarrow
Lastly, it’s important to pay attention to where you store your wheelbarrow. After it’s been given a good thorough clean, you should make sure it’s stored in a dry area. Even if you think you can’t dry up your wheelbarrow before storing it, this shouldn’t be a problem.
All you need to do is make sure that the wheelbarrow is left standing against a wall instead of sitting. By doing so, you will have allowed it to prevent rust more effectively while also drying faster.
So, there you have it!
See, learning how to maintain a wheelbarrow wasn’t that tough. Just make sure you give it a good clean after every other usage, or at least on a weekly basis. Get your garden Spring-ready with other great pieces from our blog, including How to Clean Gardening Tools, how to clean sprinklers or even get ready for those long summer days with How to Clean a BBQ!
The uses shown and described for WD-40 Multi-Use Product were provided to WD-40 Company by the users themselves. These uses haven’t been tested by WD-40 Company and do not constitute a recommendation of suggestion for use by WD-40 Company. Common sense should be exercised whenever using WD-40 Company products. Always follow the instructions and take heed of any warnings printed on the packaging.
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