Bouncy shafts in my New Frey Cart--YEEK! not happy

[Becmar]

Ok guys.. There is an older post on this but it never resolved. But I have this problem now and am having a terrible time adjusting my NEW Frey superlite with marathon shafts to NOT BOUNCE in the shaft ends so much. He is 33" and this cart is "suppose" to fit this size. Tires are 20" The only way it will stop is if I have the shaft loops are on the top hole and the bottom the tie down strap as tight as it will go which makes his girth tight and I can tell he is not comfortable. SO what is up with this...

Got my new frey and the regular shafts where terrible and very bouncy.. and turned out too far so they would hook on things if I trail drove. so Todd sent me marathon shafts. Now this is still bouncy!!! HELP! YEEK!

Do I need a smaller girth to provide more holes?
Do I need to move the seat back? which I have tried.
Do I need more weight on the ends of the shafts as there is very little on them when I sit in the cart at all?

Can anyone with a Frey help????

3rd pic is the first set of shafts. finally got them to stop bouncing so much... now the marathon shafts are doing it.

 

[Willow Flats]

Sorry you are having this trouble! I am watching with interest as I have trouble with an expensive cart that has a similar shaft design that "reaches up" to the tugs like that fastened on the last hole.
I gave up and purchased a cart with straight level shafts and no problems. I hope you can make this work!

The first shafts in the last picture do look better.

 

[Becmar]

Thanks willow. I got new pics from a friend who knows someone with a Frey and it is helping. I am going to her house Friday to see if we can fix this.. I love how this cart is made but if it does not work it's gone.

 

[Becmar]

Ok. I went to visit my friend and we fixed some of the issues. Just a reminder I have only had this horse for about 3 weeks and he came with his harness. The previous owner had him very tight in it and he could not move well. I had already adjusted it and change out his bit to free him up. So with that said:

Adjusted the harness several times, the seat position, the shaft loops, and the twist outwards of the shafts to be 29" apart for his shoulders. BUT It still has some bounce but according to her this is normal bounce. AT LEAST it does not beat me to death now. This horse is 32.75" (33) and I have a 33.5" going through training and will wait to try it with him. If I still am bouncy and don't like it... I will sell the Frey.

There are several adjustments on this cart TOO MANY and it makes it tough to get it right. I am concerned that when I switch horses the adjustments will start all over. Not just a hook and go cart for sure.

 

[charlottein]

Can you shift the seat forward more? You need to have SOME weight in the shafts otherwise they bounce. With my cart, even moving it back an inch or so makes it bounce, or I have to shift myself forward more on the seat - which is not comfortable. (I am going to mark my spot with some sharpie next time, because I have to take my seat off to transport in the trailer, and I keep getting it back in the wrong spot when I put it back together.) Though yours looks nice and level in your pictures.

 

[Becmar]

Can you shift the seat forward more? You need to have SOME weight in the shafts otherwise they bounce. With my cart, even moving it back an inch or so makes it bounce, or I have to shift myself forward more on the seat - which is not comfortable. (I am going to mark my spot with some sharpie next time, because I have to take my seat off to transport in the trailer, and I keep getting it back in the wrong spot when I put it back together.) Though yours looks nice and level in your pictures.

So we did that and get got worse... seat is all the way back and up 1 spot. If I lean way back the shafts float.. so it does have some weight. shafts are now marathon shafts and harness is adjust to fit him and the cart. The trick will be to fit another horse. So these are "Suppose" to be for more than 1 size horse...

So there is a little bounce but not like it was. does not beat me to death now.

 

[Cayuse]

Out of curiosity, do you have a harness that has "wrap straps" that you could try instead of the buckle down shaft carriers? I have had carts bounce like this when I bought a fancy custom harness with buckle down carriers. When I went back to my older style harness with the wrap straps the bouncing stopped and everything was good.

 

[MindySchroder]

DO keep in mind that when you use wrap straps to deal with bounce THE BOUNCE DOES NOT GO AWAY FOR THE PONY!!! Instead it transfers to their tummy. We may not notice it anymore but they do. Bounce is simple. It means the cart is not yet balanced. Not that balancing is simple. It isn't. Ever. With ANY two wheeled vehicle. And yes, when you switch out ponies the balance dance starts again. This is part of driving. Balance is a constant thing we have to work at. This is why we can't just sit in the cart as we would in a chair and be along for the ride. We have to work at the cart balance all the time we are driving.

It's possible the marathon shafts aren't going to work with this set up. It sounds like you need to move the pony farther forward. If your shafts can slide forward and back and get a little longer this you may be able to try this. If not you might want to use regular curved shafts so you can do it. This very often solves the bounce issues that come up when I'm driving.

 

[Becmar]

We tried moving him forward and I use quick release loops with a buckle strap. We tried wrap straps and it made the shaft rub on his sides and bounced him. Tried rotating the shafts out farther with the wrap straps and it got worse. Regular curved shafts is what I started with and had to rotate them out so far, they stuck out and coukd hook n on something when yrail driving. Frey carts have so many adjustments to get them balanced ot is ridiculous. Thank you for your response to help.

 

[Becmar]

Having lots of great days driving with the Frey. It is balanced and very comfy!

 

[MaryFlora]

Yay Becmar! I’ve been following this post to learn more about carts in general. So pleased to hear you snd your mini are having fun!

 

[Cayuse]

How did you solve the balance issue?

 

[Becmar]

Seating the seat for the horse, adjusting the harness alot, and setting the shafts at the correct height-width-and lenght. All of it helped. There is allot to adjusting a Frey and I would not want to use a different sized horse on this and have yo do that all over again.