How to Build a Dragging Sled

[BendtheBar]

This article was created by LTL from the MAB forum. It also appears here:

How To Build A Dragging Sled - Muscle and Brawn Bodybuilding, Powerlifting and Muscle Building.

How to Build a Dragging Sled

Sled dragging is great GPP/Cardio. Given the choice between running for hours on end or running in short bursts dragging a weight, I know which I’d rather do. Problem is that sleds are expensive and in short supply in the UK so I thought I’d make my own. Here’s what you need:



An old car tire. I asked around at work and managed to get this for free from a colleague who had it lying around in his garden.



Sheet of plywood or similar. I got this at the local hardware store from the off cuts bin. Go to a store where they cut the wood for you and they will often have a discount section where they sell all of the leftover pieces. This large sheet (enough for 2 or 3 sleds) cost me around £1.



Eyebolts. You only need one.]



Regular hex bolts. You only need four. Make sure they’re long enough to go through the tire AND the wood.



Some sort of rope. I used webbing as it was cheap and looked easy on the hands.



Bungee cords. These are to hold the plates onto the finished sled.



Mars bar. This was used to stop me going catabolic during the building process.

Tools you need:

Drill, tape measure, straight edge, pencil, saw, spanner.



Stage one: Drill a hole in the side of your tire about halfway up and screw the eyebolt in. Tires are beaded so this will take a while.



Stage two: Loop your rope through the eyebolt and secure if necessary.



Stage three: Create the hand loops. I tried to use duct tape to secure these but it slipped too much when I tried to pull the loaded sled. A simple knot will do better. Be sure to make nice BIG loops though as you don’t want to slice your hands off with the handles when pulling.



Stage four: Cut the wood to the size of the tire. It will overlap slightly unless you want to use a jigsaw and curve the edges. I did not. Fasten the wooden platform to the tire using the hex bolts. You will need to make a big enough gap to fit a plate in (all olympic plates are 450mm in diametre) but other than that just make sure you are drilling through wood AND tire and not just wood.



Stage 5: Bungee cords on and you’re finished and ready to pull.

I am still working on modifying this design slightly. Trying to work on securing the bungee cords a little better but other than that, it’s working just fine. I take no responsibility for it leaving you looking like this though:

[BendtheBar]

Thanks again LTL. Sorry it took so long to get this up.

[big_swede]

Good writeup Al!

[LtL]

Now worries. Thanks Steve.

LtL

[Off Road]

Great aticle and useful information. Thanks for taking the time to do that for everybody. I especially like the Mars bar (chuckle factor).

[BigJosh]

This is win.

[Hazzard]

Awesome, I especially like the picture of you at the end! Sled pulling is damn brutal.

[_J_]

I hate running for cardio. Surely, there must be a better way. Enter Dragging Sled. Using the instructions in this thread, I built my own sled. What do you think?

Tire from my wife's old car. A piece of an old desk that fell apart years ago (particle board). A few bolts, nuts, and washers from the local hardware store. Add in a pulling strap and I'm ready to go. Cost me less than 5 bucks.

[LtL]

Looks good. How do you keep the plates on there?

LtL

[Off Road]

That is sweet! I'd add a pipe to slide the weights on to keep them from falling off.