Go-Anywhere Wheelchair

Go-Anywhere Wheelchair MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Handicapped Equipment 32-4-5 Anthony Thiel, who lives near Boston, N.Y., is a quadraplegic who stays as active as he can. He recently sent me a note about modifications he made to his battery-powered wheelchair. "I got hurt in 1990 when the transport wheels kicked out from underneath a Deere hay elevator. I wanted to keep helping on the vegetable fields a quarter mile from our house. But the power chairs I tried couldn't handle the terrain. "I finally bought an Invacare wheelchair. It was originally equipped with 8-in. high, 2 1/2-in. wide front wheels which bogged down on soft plowed ground. I had them replaced with larger 10-in. tall, 3-in. wide wheels which float easily over rough ground. I also removed the anti-tip wheels on back of the wheelchair because they were digging into the dirt, causing me to lose traction. A mechanic friend lowered the wheelchair seat and moved it forward. As a result the wheels are now farther back so I can go up steep inclines without tipping backward. "I had four rings welded to my chair - two on each side - to use to tie the chair down while being transported. I also tow a wagon using a light chain hooked onto one of the rear rings. There's a cargo box and two buckets on the wagon to haul stuff. An aide is with me 24 hours a day and she hooks up the wagon and fills the buckets." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Anthony Thiel, 5563 Rice Road, Boston, N.Y. 14025 (ph 716 941-3827).

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