Working from a wheel chair..

[Herman Tyler Jr.]

I’ve been working on (ICE) of all kinds for 30+ years, and automotive refinishing, painting, FYI my last complete restoration was 23 years ago on a 1969 Chevy Camaro. I finished it off with an acrylic lacquer custom brandy wine color. I haven’t been able to spray again, weld, straighten body parts, or turn a wrench (get real dirty) because I can’t move my fingers. But I can sit in my chair and instruct anyone that’s motivated, with some skills and without. My passion is electrical systems trouble shooting. I will rebuild an engine from time to time, steering, suspension, brakes. When I became paralyzed 20 years ago, I wanted to stop my involvement with cars. People that knew me kept asking for my assistance, because they knew that I could guide them through a repair job, quickly and efficiently if they did the work or hired a set of hands for me. My bucket list includes building a transporter that requires less moving parts, and a unique form of propulsion. In Eric words (stay dirty)

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[dave]

I was working on my aunt’s roof last summer and had what many would refer to as a “life altering experience.” It was 2 days of back braking work. On the second day, we were almost done.. I was helping line up rows of shingles and I happened to take one step backwards too many… ended up doing a back flip off the roof and shattered my right leg. Although I am very thankful that one leg took 100% of the falling force (which to me is the best case scenario) I sometimes wonder would would have happened if my back or neck had taken the hit.

My whole life has been working dangerous jobs: flying in the Air Force (with a ‘near miss’ over Andrews AFB that still gives me nightmares), army infantry when 9/11 went down, working on 20,000 volt power lines, pole climbing in itself is inherently dangerous, and cell tower climbing to 300+ feet, parachuting, repelling down cliffs, transportation/corrections officer being locked into a dorm with 90 inmates who could have killed me at any moment (leadership skills are very important), having a gun pulled on me when I was a kid, auto accidents that I walked away from without a scratch, and knock on wood incident free motorcycle riding (although I’ve had 2 close calls when cars pulled out in front of me)… and there’s probably stuff I am forgetting about (had a few close calls just doing automotive work) but after all this all it took was one wrong step on a hot summer day while doing some basic roofing. I am usually mr. safety but for some reason I let my guard down for the first time ever and paid the price at the age of 36. I have 90% recovered from a fractured leg/knee and various dislocations in the foot, but I dont’ think I’ll ever be the same. I haven’t been able to run or exercise for over a year.

I have several family members in wheel chairs… most from old age. Some have kids with CP. I often think about ways I could use my engineering/automotive/welding/electronic skills to help improve their lives. One concept I have been entertaining is building a custom made trailer that can house a wheelchair easily and keep it out of the rain. I could get trailer axles from the junkyard. I could fabricate a tilting bed to facilitate wheelchair loading and unloading. I am open to suggestions. 🙂

[Herman Tyler Jr.]

Hello Wrench Turner! We have some things in common, sorry to hear about the roof experience, with a little time you can heal. That leg may or may not heal the way that we hope, but at the very least you will be able to use it. I wish that I could ride again, and i’m looking forward to the day I can. How many wheel chairs do you plan to transport at any given time, and the type of vehicle you plan to haul with? BTW my paralyzes was caused by a GSW to my left shoulder and traveled through hitting my C-4, C-5 vertebrae’s exiting out my right shoulder. The injury may have been minimal if the first responders had followed protocol, and waited for EMS. It’s all good though! Hit me back with that info, so I can start the wheels turning in my mind.

[dave]

How many wheel chairs do you plan to transport at any given time, and the type of vehicle you plan to haul with?

I am thinking about hauling one wheel chair at a time. One major problem I hope to solve is clearing up a lot of space in the vehicle that is taken up by the wheel chair. In some mini-vans, the entire trunk space is taken up by the wheel chair itself. So, one proposed solution would be to make a little enclosed trailer to house the wheel chair only. I’ve considered making a ramp that is held by the receiver hitch that has the ability to lower/extend to the side of the vehicle; however, this does not keep the elements off the chair. Also, anything supported solely by the hitch would interfere with opening the rear hatch.

So.. my idea is to either modify an existing trailer, or fabricate one from scratch. As far as suspension, I am leaning towards leaf spring suspension, which I can adjust accordingly be removing a lot of springs to accommodate the light load of the trailer. I don’t think McPherson struts would work because they are usually built to not only absorb shock but to also hold the weight of an engine, which would make for a really rough ride for a light load.

Focusing on ways to make life easier, I would like the trailer to tilt to some degree. A fold-down ramp in the back could facilitate loading and unloading of the chair. I believe all loading and unloading could be done from the front even though there is no side access due to being enclosed.

Once I made it this far, I will devise auto-locking mechanisms of some sort to hold the chair so it doesn’t bounce around… and it should be something that can hold the chair when it is loaded ‘front in first’ (which I believe would be the easiest way to load the chair via the ‘normal’ pushing position.) Not sure how to approach this… I would assume any locking mechanism would have to be adjustable because not all wheel chairs are the same. At minimum I guess I could use dedicated ratchet straps to hold down the chair, but my first attempts should be to devise something that can lock and unlock quick and easy.

I plan to purchase steel from a local yard to make this trailer. Maybe use sheet metal to make the enclosure. I’m thinking about using oxy/acetylene to make all the cuts and MIG machine to do all the welds.

So this is my project. It will make people’s lives easier. It will give me that warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside.

[Steve]

All I can humbly say is Wow wizkid. You inspire me with your story. You have great karma coming from your words and it is inspiring.

[Author]

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