I have zero experience gardening and doing yard work. None.
However, I’m a new homeowner, and my green space won’t maintain itself no matter how many magical garden gnomes I place around my property.
There’s a lot of work to be done around here, to say the least. With a steep learning curve for this former apartment dweller, I started investing in garden equipment. My first purchase? The Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Dump Cart.
How I Ended Up With This Dump Cart
We just bought our first house with a beautiful backyard and very well-maintained landscaping. Sure, we could just pay someone to do the upkeep, but as first-time homeowners, we’re taking it on ourselves — and loving it.
And then there’s weeding, which has become my entire personality the past few weeks. With that being said, I had no idea about the logistics involved. I learned pretty quickly that throwing weeds into a 42-gallon contractor bag that I was dragging around wasn’t ideal, so I started researching wheelbarrows.
They’re heavy and can be hard to maneuver, so after going down an internet rabbit hole, I stumbled across the Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Dump Cart. It looked easier to move around, plus it had a few perks that piqued my interest.
Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Dump Cart
About the Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Dump Cart
What Is the Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Dump Cart?
Think of this Gorilla cart as a rugged garden wagon with lots of user-friendly features. It borrows the best elements from wheelbarrows and garden carts, and depending on your needs, it emerges as a viable alternative to either of these options.
Design and Construction
There are three main design elements that I have grown to appreciate (as a gardening and weeding newbie) after several weeks of near-daily use.
The cart has a 600-pound weight capacity, which means I’ve hauled just about everything from my growing pile of weeds, to large potted plants, sticks and even bulky pool equipment.
Next, it has a stable design with tubular steel construction and an anti-rollover frame. I originally thought these were buzzwords in the product description, but after unboxing and assembling the cart myself (within an hour), I could feel how solid and stable the construction is. The cart wasn’t easy to flip over and tighten the bottom bolts; now, I realize, that’s actually a good thing.
Gorilla also highlights the cart’s quick-release dumping system that consists of a hinge at one end of the bed and a yellow handle at the other. It’s a great feature that I’ve used a bunch, but I’ve encountered some challenges with it (likely related to user error).
Specifications
- Total Dimensions Assembled: 40 x 24 x 20.4 inches and 4 cubic feet.
- Bed Dimensions: 35.2 x 21.8 inches.
- Weight: Approximately 33 pounds.
- Hauling Capacity: 600 pounds.
- Tires: Four, 10-inch pneumatic tires.
- Construction: Rugged poly bed, powder-coated steel frame.
Pros
- User-friendly assembly inside an hour or less; video available online.
- Easy to clean by hosing it down, and it tilts forward to drain out water.
- Effortless maneuvering across just about any terrain.
Cons
- Steering can feel sticky sometimes.
- Can be messy to empty into a receptacle.
- Bulky box, so get it delivered or you’ll need a large enough vehicle to transport it from the store.
It’s the Bed for Me
As far as hauling goes, the cart boasts an impressive weight capacity. To be fair, so do many comparable garden carts and wheelbarrows. However, it’s one of few models whose bed is a one-piece, unperforated tub — and that’s the main selling point for me.
The bed, which has an 8-inch wall, lets you fill up rocks, dirt, sand and other “loose” garden items without bagging them ahead of a haul. Lately, it means I can keep loading weeds and twigs for a while before I need to worry about them spilling over the sides.
Speaking of spills, the bed is made of impact-resistant poly that couldn’t be easier to clean: Just hose it down. Considering I have enough things to keep clean inside and outside a new house, this kind of low-maintenance design is right up my alley.
I’m also a fan of the bed’s rust-free design for purely aesthetic reasons. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of high-quality steel wheelbarrows and wagons. While wear and tear on these are a right of passage — and the mark of a yard well kept — I love the “always new, always clean” look of my Gorilla cart.
The Dumping System
If you’ve ever tilted the bed of a toy dump truck, you’re well prepared to empty this Gorilla cart. It’s the same mechanism, and generally speaking, the same level of effort for light-to-medium loads. After breaking a sweat tilting heavy wheelbarrows 90 degrees to empty, it’s been a breeze dumping the contents of my Gorilla cart this season.
But there’s a caveat.
It can be somewhat messy, and something of a two-person job, to dump the contents of the cart into a receptacle. In my case, it’s the giant contractor bag still haunting me from my early weeding days.
Because I don’t have anywhere to properly dispose of weeds since I’m not composting or mulching yet, I have to bring them, bagged, to a designated recycling center. So if you need to bag and tag what’s in your Gorilla cart like me, it’s certainly doable, provided you plan accordingly — and prepare to clean up a little.
Besides my occasional bagging situation, the dumping system has proven to be efficient and smooth when I’ve emptied contents into garden beds and other flat terrain.
Maneuvering the Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Dump Cart
More than anything, I wanted the cart to be easy to handle. Fortunately, it has smooth, zero-turn steering and pneumatic (air-filled) tires that traverse most ground better than I expected.
The cart glides over flat terrain, such as paved walkways and dry dirt. While I don’t have what I’d call a rugged backyard, my lawn gets unruly between mowings, and there are landscaping pebbles around flowers and shrubs. I was surprised by how well the cart clears these areas, all without too much bouncing over bumps. It’s also pretty simple to steer around corners or curved paths.
I’d attribute this, at least in part, to having air-filled tires as opposed to solid rubber or plastic tires seen on certain garden wagons. Again, assembling the Gorilla cart meant I spent a good amount of time handling the tires while attaching them to the frame. They’re surprisingly solid. The tire treads are chunky and deep, and after a rainy New Jersey summer, I’ve seen them cut through muddy soil without too much resistance.
Great for Seated Work
I’m still figuring out how to weed. Yet, the one thing I’ve mastered is shimmying across the ground, cross legged, while pulling weeds to avoid the constant up-and-down of squatting and kneeling. After all, I’m not entirely sure my knee joints will outlive my mortgage.
The more I shimmy, the more I reposition the Gorilla cart closer to me. It’s designed in such a way that it works well for my awkward little process. Unlike a wheelbarrow, the cart sits on four wheels, making it easy to drag or pull from a seated position at most angles.
At 24 inches tall, it’s also low enough to the ground where I can toss weeds into the bed without much reaching or stretching over the side walls. Basically, if you’re gardening or landscaping on your hands and knees, the cart is the ideal height.
Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Dump Cart
In My Expert Opinion: Is the Gorilla Carts Heavy-Duty Cart Worth It?
After several weeks of getting to know the ins and outs of the Gorilla Carts Heavy Duty Dump Cart, I still feel great about buying it. It’s going to get me through my first couple seasons of light-to-medium gardening and yard work, and I’m definitely going to keep it as an ancillary piece of garden equipment when I upgrade to something with more hauling capacity.
