by Ben Hanson

One of the biggest challenges in getting involved in a fringe sport, such as strongman, is accessibility to the training equipment necessary to develop the skills to be competitive. Just as throngs of skateboarders had to built their own ramps in their backyard to emulate Tony Hawk when they first saw the X-Games, aspiring strongmen often have to rely on their own elbow grease and ingenuity to create the tools of their trade.

Perhaps one of the best all around exercises for developing both strength and endurance is sled dragging. Both painful and exhausting, I've recently implemented sled dragging into my rugby team's fitness routine. While I'm easily the most unpopular man on the team on dragging day, our team fitness is at an all-time high and helped propel us to the #1 seed in the Midwest playoffs. In this installment of DIY Equipment, I'm going to show you how to build a tire sled just like we use for only $15.00 each that can easily be stored in the corner of a garage.

The best thing about building a tire sled is that the main component, the tire, can be acquired for free from any local mechanic. You see, garages have to pay someone to come by to pick up their old tires to recycle them. They pay the recyclers by the tire, so any joe schmoe like you or I who wants to take a few off their hands will save them a few bucks and is a welcome face. With the biggest piece of the puzzle in place, here is what else you'll need.

Tools:
A drill and drill bits.
Circular saw
Allen wrench

Free Materials:
Tire
A length of rope, approximately 20' long.* (Free if you're a pack rat like me. If not, see below in 'materials to buy'.)
A scrap of 2x4 approximately 9-12 inches long.
A scrap of plywood at least 3" longer than the inside diameter of the tire and at least 6" wide.
4 (four) 1 1/2 sheet rock screws.

Materials to Buy: (Price at Home Depot)
A length of 1/4 inch nylon rope, approximately 20' long.* ($9.97 for 100 feet)
2 (two) 5/16" x 6" eye bolts. ($0.58 each)
2 (two) 5/16" washers. ($0.18 each)
4 (four) 5/16" nuts. ($0.08 each)
3/4" x 7/8" Pex Pipe ($3.11 for 5 feet)
2 (two) medium carabiners ($0.99 each)

Once you've acquired all of the materials for your sled, you're ready to start building. The first thing you have to do is to drill the holes for your eye bolts. To do this, take a drill bit the same size as your eye bolts and drill two holes about 7" apart on the top of your tire. You will smell burning rubber and you're probably going to encounter some solid resistance as you drill through the radials, but stick with it. Once you're through, thread the eye bolts through the holes.

*Pro tip: Threading eye bolts through radial tires can become very tiresome, excuse the pun. To speed up the process, simply insert an allen wrench into your drill and hook the allen wrench through the eye of the bolt. Press the trigger on the drill, and voila!

Now that the eye bolts are threaded into the tire, you have to create a 2x4 backing to create a sturdy platform to pull against. If you don't, you'll distort the tire while pulling it, possibly causing the weight to fall out. The backing can be any scrap of old 2x4 you've got laying around, provided it's longer than the distance between the holes you drilled for the eye bolts. To do this, drill two holes about 1 1/2 to 2 inches narrower than distance between the eye bolts. After drilling your holes, bore them out to compensate for the curvature of the tire.

With the eye bolts already threaded into the tire, slide the backing block onto the ends of the bolts on the inside wall of the tire. Apply washers and two locking nuts onto the bolt. If you only put one nut on, it will work it's way off over time and you'll rip the bolt out of the tire in the middle of a drag.

Cut a piece of scrap wood to measure 3 to 4 inches longer than the inside diameter of the tire. The width isn't really important, as long as it's wide enough to prevent your weight plates, sandbags, or kegs from falling through to the ground. Once cut to size, insert the wood into the inner lip of the tire and run a sheetrock screw into each corner. Clip the carabiners onto the eye bolts, and you've got a completed tire sled.

*Pro tip: Approximately the first inch of the lip on the inner diameter of the tire doesn't have any radials. Put your screws through this part and you'll go straight through with no problems.

Once you've completed the sled, you'll need some means of pulling (or pushing) it. To do so, you need a length of sturdy rope at least 12' long. You're going to be creating a handle at each end of the rope, so whatever length you choose, the actual length of the rope you'll be pulling will be cut in half. Don't forget that you're also going to lose 2 to 3 feet when you make your handles. As a general rule, the longer the rope, the more difficult the pull, so consider these factors and plan accordingly.
For my rope, I chose a 3/8" nylon solid braid rope that I found at Home Depot for about $10 for 100 feet and cut off a 25' section for my rope. I then cut two 6" lengths of 3/4" x 7/8" Pex pipe (found in the plumbing section), which is similar to PVC piping, but more flexible and not nearly as brittle. Once you have your handles cut, simply thread the rope through the pex pipe, tie it off, and repeat on the other end of the rope.

That completes your home made tire sled for under $15.00. It stores easily in the corner of a garage, closet, back yard, or car trunk. Fill it with sandbags, a keg, weight plates, or whatever else you can think of for hours of leg-burning fun.

Posted by Ben Hanson at 10:06 AM

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Posted by: Rob at November 1, 2008 04:02 AM

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