Wheelbarrow vs Yard Cart: Which Hauls Easier? (Gorilla Cart Too)

Choose a wheelbarrow if

• You move loose material and want to dump it exactly on a bed, in a hole or along a path.
• You work on narrow paths, through gates or up a plank.
• You mix concrete or mortar in the tray.
• You are comfortable lifting and balancing a load.

Choose a yard cart if

• You haul bags of soil, seed and fertilizer, tools or firewood.
• Your back, shoulders or balance make lifting handles hard.
• Your yard is mostly flat and open.
• You own a riding mower and may want to tow: the Gorilla Carts Poly Dump Cart, 1,500 lb, 10 cu ft handle converts to a hitch.

Volume fills up long before a sensible weight limit. Gravel weighs roughly 100 lb per cubic foot, so a 6 cu ft tray heaped with gravel is around 600 lb, which nobody should push. Moist topsoil runs roughly 75 to 100 lb per cubic foot, and mulch roughly 15 to 30. In practice, fill a wheelbarrow about a third to half full with stone or soil, and fill it to the top only with mulch or leaves. The 1,200 lb rating on the Gorilla Carts Poly Dump Cart, 1,200 lb, 6 cu ft describes what the cart can hold, not what a person can safely pull up a grade. See the gravel weight chart for material weights.

A four-wheel cart, for most people. With a single-wheel barrow you lift a share of the load at the handles and use your core to keep it upright, and a shifting load can twist you as it tips. A cart puts all the weight on its wheels; you pull, and on flat ground a loaded cart takes modest effort. That is why carts are popular with older homeowners and anyone with a back injury. The trade-off is maneuverability and dumping precision. A two-wheel wheelbarrow such as the Jackson MP1010 10 cu ft Poly 2-Wheel Wheelbarrow is a middle ground: it will not tip sideways and still dumps forward, though you still lift the handles.

A yard cart like the Gorilla is designed to be pulled by hand, and some convert to tow. A tow-behind dump cart is built for a lawn tractor or zero-turn and is too heavy to pull by hand when loaded. The Agri-Fab 12 cu ft Tow-Behind Poly Swivel Dump Cart, 700 lb holds 12 cu ft and 700 lb with an 80 degree swivel dump, and the Ohio Steel 4048P-HYB 15 cu ft Poly Swivel Hybrid Dump Cart holds 15 cu ft and 1,250 lb with a foot-pedal swivel dump across 100 degrees. If you have acreage and a riding mower, a tow cart saves the most walking; check your mower manual's towing limits first. The best yard carts and wheelbarrows roundup compares more models.