A folding hand truck is by far one of the greatest house hold tools for increasing the amount of weight a person can move.
If you already know this you can skip right to my reviews on the best folding hand truck. Otherwise, keep reading and I’ll go over what a folding hand truck is and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
A hand truck is basically a small cart with two wheels and an L shaped box at the bottom for lifting objects. It makes lifting easy because it can slide under most items and can then be tilted back using the wheels and the leverage of the cart to take most of the weight of the object.
The folding hand truck is the same as a regular hand truck except it has the advantage of being able to fold up for easy and convenient storage. This means that you can easily keep one in the trunk of your car without dramatically reducing your trunk’s storage space. Other variations of the hand truck include the collapsible hand truck and the convertible hand truck.
How To Buy A Folding Hand Truck
When purchasing a hand truck that folds, you’ll want to look at a few key features. The first one should be how much weight the hand truck can hold. You don’t want to buy one that cannot lift anything over 50 pounds. After all, you could simply lift a 50 pound object up without the use of a moving tool.
Most residential folding hand truck models are rated to lift a minimum of 100 pounds. Make sure your cart can lift at least the minimum.
Next, you’ll want to look at the materials that are used to make the folding hand truck. Do they look sturdy and durable? Remember, you will be pushing or pulling a heavy item on your folding hand truck, so you’ll want to make sure that it will not fall apart on you during use.
This does not mean you need to buy a folding hand truck made from steel, but you do want to stay away from poorly made plastics. Try to get one that is made from strong aluminum alloys or heavy duty plastics.
After this, you’ll want to consider the wheel size. The wheel size should be large enough to help you pull items up staircases and over tough terrain, but small enough to allow the cart to fold up easily. Somewhere between 6 – 10 inches is usually ideal.
The ability to fold easily is obviously a must for any folding hand truck. Otherwise, you could just get yourself a regular hand truck that does not fold.
Lastly, you’ll want to consider the weight your folding hand truck. You’ll want something light weight so that you can easily move and store it when necessary. Just keep in mind that if you want something a bit more mobile, you should look for a collapsible hand truck, and if you want something to move larger items, you’ll want a convertible hand truck.
The Safco 4055NC Stow-Away Heavy Duty Hand Truck
This hand truck is the strongest folding hand truck you can get at a reasonable price. It is constructed with a powerful aluminum frame and boasts 8 inch rubber wheels.
This moving tool is rated to move over 500 pounds and yet only weighs around 25 pounds itself. For this reason, it makes a great car companion.
Also, the cart folds up more like a collapsible hand truck, so you can fit it into tight spots during storage.
The handles on this cart are great, but you will have to buy your own bungee cords if needed.
You’ll notice that this hand truck is half the price of the Safco and also comes with some bungee cords to hold your items in place.
It is a great folding hand truck for moving household items and only weighs in at around 11 pounds which makes it fantastic for travel.
The drawback to this hand truck is that it is not rated to move over 150 pounds, which can limit its useability.
However, if you are looking for a durable, low cost folding hand truck to help with moving items under a hundred and fifty pounds, you can’t go wrong with this Wesco model.
