How to Make a Billy Cart

Do remember the billy cart you had when you were knee-high to a grass hopper? You know, the one your Dad made for you! Gee, it was a beaut billy cart! Just a piece of rope running from one side of the front axle strut to the other side, and just enough slack so you could steer it by pulling one side, and pushing with all the strength you could muster into your leg and foot on the other. No seat on it, of course; seats were for girls and sissies. And it never had any brakes, either! Gosh, Mum used to get ticked off when you came home with the back half of your shoe heels melted back and worn away.

Well, you reckon the kids are old enough now, so you are going to teach them how to make a billy cart. Actually, "make" is not really the right word here, because we're all blokes around here, reading this. So we'll just have to change that to "BUILD" a billy cart. Now, the first step is to get your hands on a couple of pieces of "rough-cut" 4 inch by 2 inch Aussie hardwood. Not a really hard thing to come by, especially if you know the right people! Now you want one piece that is about five feet long, and two more pieces about a foot and a half long. Theses shorter pieces are for the front and rear axle struts. And speaking of axle struts, we need to come up with two axles, both with two good wheels on each. Ahh, you remember, the old mower that was chucked under the house after it conked out and you couldn't figure out how to put it back together again. So, after carefully removing the two axles from the old mower, using a stealthy love-tap with the hammer, you utilize two "U" bolts for each strut, and fix the axles in place. The rear axle and it's respective strut are bolted firmly to one end of the five foot long piece. The front will be a little bit harder, as you need to have spacers separating the nut from the wood underneath, more spacers for going in-between the front strut and the long length, and more spacers separating the top of the bolt from the wood beneath it., Next up, drill two holes, one at either end of the front strut for the steering rope, making sure they are even, and you have left enough slack rope to be able to steer. Chapter two would deal with the testing and test-driving of the billy cart, but due to the age restrictions in place, this will have to wait for another time.