I got sick of the plastic hose carts breaking, so I bought this stainless-steel cart back in '08. It has lasted for 17 years. It was custom made by some guy for +/- $450 - $550. Over the years the hose swivel has frozen up. It started to freeze up about 5 or 6 years ago. I would lube it and break it loose and it worked fine for that season. Then next season it was the same thing, oil and loosen up. This year it can’t be budged, even with penetrating oil.
From the looks of it, this cart should last 100 years or maybe 1000 years except for the tires, bearing holders/ bearings and this part in question. Those parts are not stainless. That stainless pipe connected to the swivel is 17 years old! Looks brand new. I never even clean it. Stainless is amazing stuff!
It is much easier using a rollup cart that having to screw round with hand stowing a hose. I don’t know if this cart can be fixed, so I put up a stainless hose holder I got off Amazon. It is nice quality stainless for $25.
That blue flag is a burrow hole. Can’t keep up with them. Whenever I find them, I mark them for future treatment. Even with rocks and weed blocker the animals go through it.
Sometimes when parts freeze up like that there is a long term fix. If it can be disassembled without too much damage you may find rust or other gunk freezing it up. Cleaning that out with wire brushes, steel wool, solvents, or whatever before a nice lube and reassembly can solve the problem for years.
The penetrating oil you’ve been using can be helped along with gentle tapping of a hammer, some cautious heat application, lots of patience (you already know that!) more penetrating oil and WD-40.
It’s a nice piece of equipment and somebody put a lot of care into making it. No reason it can’t be kept going for the rest of our days, from the looks of it. Good luck with it.
