OK gear geeks, Salt Lake SAR needs some help.

[sfotex]

Salt Lake Search and Rescue has a wheel we put on our litter. The whole thing weighs about 30lbs and needless to say, it's a PITA to lug up Mount Olympus, etc. We've taken it apart and the wheel, rim, and axle weight 22lbs. We're looking to lighten it up if possible. Best I can tell it's pretty much an ATV wheel/tire, about 11" wide and 22" in diameter. We really don't need nobby tires, width and air volume are nice to have though.

Thoughts on how to lighten this up?

[middlefork]

If it is an ATV tire, maybe an aluminum rim? Sounds like the one on it is steel? anyways a thought.

[denaliguide]

time for SAR to hit the gym.

[fourtycal]

time for SAR to hit the gym.

I saw that contraption packed up Rattlesnake Gulch one Tuesday afternoon to haul My friend down. It looked heavy.

I am thinking of a front tire and Spindle mount rim from an ATV sand dragster
A friend of mine has them for his ATV and they couldn't be more than a few pounds. The rim for your rig needs to be centered and probably has a 1/2" axle. I can't seem to find a stock rim that would work right but there are some custom rim places on the internetz. http://www.custommetalspinning.com/htm/wheels.htm
Let us know if you find anything, If it is a dead end for you I would like to work on it more

[sfotex]

I saw that contraption packed up Rattlesnake Gulch one Tuesday afternoon to haul My friend down. It looked heavy.

I am thinking of a front tire and Spindle mount rim from an ATV sand dragster
A friend of mine has them for his ATV and they couldn't be more than a few pounds. The rim for your rig needs to be centered and probably has a 1/2" axle. I can't seem to find a stock rim that would work right but there are some custom rim places on the internetz.
Let us know if you find anything, If it is a dead end for you I would like to work on it more

Thanks for the ideas all. The wheel + 200' static rope + all the other stuff turns any trail into s stair master workout :)

[denaliguide]

ok, so how about this idea. use one of the really fat bicycle tires. http://www.wildfirecycles.com/fatbikes.html they make a tire for a 13" bike that should be small emough. i don't see why it would need such a large tire. i also thought i saw a bicycle tire setup somewhere that had two rims, side by side, on the same axle. gotta be a way to lighten that up.

[JONBOYLEMON]

http://www.marathonind.com/Merchant2...ory_Code=FFGCT

I would imagine a 1 wheel design is going to be hard to beat and if the wheel is so small that you kill the poor soul you are trying to save by bouncing him down the trail it does no good. The above tire might be too small.

Do you break the cart down to get it up the mountain???

[trackrunner]

my thought was the same as denaliguide's two bike wheels side by side same axle. wonder what the other SAR agencies in the state use. I remember seeing a joint Arches/Grand County SAR use a wheel litter in action. I thought it looked lighter than the above example, but I could be wrong. you could PM Bo here at bogley. he is a member of Zion SAR and could tell you their current setup.

[sfotex]

http://www.marathonind.com/Merchant2...ory_Code=FFGCT

I would imagine a 1 wheel design is going to be hard to beat and if the wheel is so small that you kill the poor soul you are trying to save by bouncing him down the trail it does no good. The above tire might be too small.

Do you break the cart down to get it up the mountain???

Right now we just throw it over our back, put the wheel on the lid of your pack, and rotate the frame around until you can grab it with your hands.

We've looked at the mountain bike wheel stuff, but the larger volume tires work better with the rocky trails we have around here and balance the litter batter it seems. The mountain bike litter wheels are around 20lbs anyways, so if we can shave our wheel down to that point we could get the best of both worlds.

[bigred72]

Not sure if this will help...

[Win]

I'm a tire dealer for a lot of specialty tires, can you let me know what size the tire is? maybe there is a lighter tire I can recommend.

Win

[sfotex]

Win,
I'll get the tire size this week and get the info to you.

Thanks!