Ian Lefevre stumbled across the idea of an engine powered wheelbarrow after buying a house on a steep block in Tasmania.

The only access to the back yard was via a narrow uphill pathway; Ian quickly tired of pushing wheelbarrows of top soil, concrete, mulch and much more up narrow path to his backyard, this is when he thought there must be a better way to transport his heavy loads to his backyard.

Ian fitted an old 2 stroke brush cutter engine to his wheel barrow, it worked a treat and everybody that borrowed it said what a great idea. Landscape gardeners that had used Ian’s original barrow said that it needed to be faster and have more torque.

Ian then discovered the tough Honda GX35 engine, four stroke, easy starting and usable power over a wide rev range, with a centrifugal clutch, perfect for his application. With the increased power of the GX35 he was able to alter the gearing to achieve ample power to cope with a full load of concrete up very steep inclines or loads of pine bark mulch at running speed.

Ian has worked in the equipment hire industry for the last 22 years and knows that the simple things are often the easiest to operate and repair; using this principal he built a simple right angle drive gearbox with a clutch drum attached that bolts to the GX35 engine, using the clutch that comes on the SUT engine. The drive then has a 2 chain reduction onto the wheel.

The engine speed is controlled by a thumb operated throttle lever; and is fitted an aluminium cover to protect the engine from concrete and sand, Ian also uses the rear shroud as fitted to the Atom lawn edger to direct the cooling air and exhaust away from the operators legs.

Ian Lefevre’s Motorised Wheelbarrow® was the proud winner of the 2015/16 Honda Invention Competition for the Public category.

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