Anyone Own the EconoProwler?

I finally graduated school yesterday and as a gift, I can order myself a prowler to work with.
It will just be myself using it mainly, possibly friends here and there. The econo-prowler looks perfect for me, but my question is

How necessary are the replacement ski’s? I’m planning to use it at the park on the grass, but I’m sure it will get plenty of love on the asphalt out front too. Watching videos online, I can’t imagine I’ll be pushing more than 180lbs around very often (and I’m sure that’s pushing it). If money was no object I’d jump on them, but 40 bucks is kinda steep IMO

Its on my wish list and has been for a while now. Where did you find the best price?

[quote]XXman wrote:
Its on my wish list and has been for a while now. Where did you find the best price?[/quote]

As far as I know, it’s only available at Elitefts. Prowler + ski’s + shipping = ~$400 to my front door. Not cheap, but I’m sure I’ll be able to out push my grand kids with it.

http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?cid=114&m=PD&pid=2294

Now that’s a graduation gift!

Thats what I had thought; I was hoping you had found it for around $150 or so. I’m going to get it for sure, just not yet. Enjoy your new toy and congrats on graduating.

I have one. If you use it on grass, you won’t need the replacements for a long time, if ever. I only use it on grass for that reason. I can imagine they would wear out fairly quickly on asphalt.

[quote]yardbird wrote:
I finally graduated school yesterday and as a gift, I can order myself a prowler to work with.
It will just be myself using it mainly, possibly friends here and there. The econo-prowler looks perfect for me, but my question is

How necessary are the replacement ski’s? I’m planning to use it at the park on the grass, but I’m sure it will get plenty of love on the asphalt out front too. Watching videos online, I can’t imagine I’ll be pushing more than 180lbs around very often (and I’m sure that’s pushing it). If money was no object I’d jump on them, but 40 bucks is kinda steep IMO
[/quote]

I just got my E-Prowler two weeks ago. I think the skis will probably last about 4 or 5 months with regular use on asphalt, so the replacement skis are definitely necessary. I have to think that you could get some skis custom fabbed at a shop for way cheaper than what EFS charges for them, especially with the way they brutalize you on shipping. I’m going to look into that option when the time comes to replace mine.

It is an ass-kicker, that’s for certain. I’m about to go push it right now actually.

http://www.texasstrengthsystems.com/sleds.html

a knock off, but a cheap knock off.

I’d love to support the whole eliteFTS company, but i don’t quite have the money to even cover shipping for that thing(poor college student). So i would say just make your own. For $400 you could get metal welding lessons, or at the very least the money to hire someone to make one for you, for a whole lot less.

Plus the design isn’t exactly technical, and if you made it yourself you could make it a lot heavier/lighter or even improve on the design. Plus i guarantee the skill in welding would come in handy often in making your own equipment.

Look at defranco’s father gym, all of the equipment there was hand made by a welder they hired and it definitely worked.

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
http://www.texasstrengthsystems.com/sleds.html

a knock off, but a cheap knock off.[/quote]

Any experience with this? That’s about half the price and sure doesn’t look any different.

Ya should talk to Heavythrower on here… I think I saw him post the other day about how he made his own replacement skis for use on the concrete. Coulda been in the 5/3/1 thread. Either right towards the end of the original thread, or right at the start of pt. 2.

Seriously considering trying to get someone to fabricate one of those bad boys for me over here in Ireland.

I know it is not exactly the same thing as a prowler, but I bought one of these off of Ebay and was really happy with it:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DRAGGING-OR-PUSHING-SLED-POWERLIFTING-STRONGMAN_W0QQitemZ190302684506QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c4eec855a&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

I would love to support Elite and I buy as much as I can from them, but this was so much cheaper and gets the job done very well even on the street.

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
yardbird wrote:
I finally graduated school yesterday and as a gift, I can order myself a prowler to work with.
It will just be myself using it mainly, possibly friends here and there. The econo-prowler looks perfect for me, but my question is

How necessary are the replacement ski’s? I’m planning to use it at the park on the grass, but I’m sure it will get plenty of love on the asphalt out front too. Watching videos online, I can’t imagine I’ll be pushing more than 180lbs around very often (and I’m sure that’s pushing it). If money was no object I’d jump on them, but 40 bucks is kinda steep IMO

I just got my E-Prowler two weeks ago. I think the skis will probably last about 4 or 5 months with regular use on asphalt, so the replacement skis are definitely necessary. I have to think that you could get some skis custom fabbed at a shop for way cheaper than what EFS charges for them, especially with the way they brutalize you on shipping. I’m going to look into that option when the time comes to replace mine.

It is an ass-kicker, that’s for certain. I’m about to go push it right now actually.[/quote]

You could take the skis to a welding shop and have them “hard faced” which is basically where they take a wire feed welder and put a bunch of beads of metal on the bottom of them. The beads will obviously wear off first and preserve the actual skis. When the beads are getting down too low, you can take them back and have them do it again. I would think the beads would last as long as the actual skis. . . its still metal. Should be cheap, as they aren’t designing anything or using actual material, but just adding metal to what’s already there. I wouldn’t pay more than $20 for having someone do that.

[quote]flightspeed wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:
yardbird wrote:
I finally graduated school yesterday and as a gift, I can order myself a prowler to work with.
It will just be myself using it mainly, possibly friends here and there. The econo-prowler looks perfect for me, but my question is

How necessary are the replacement ski’s? I’m planning to use it at the park on the grass, but I’m sure it will get plenty of love on the asphalt out front too. Watching videos online, I can’t imagine I’ll be pushing more than 180lbs around very often (and I’m sure that’s pushing it). If money was no object I’d jump on them, but 40 bucks is kinda steep IMO

I just got my E-Prowler two weeks ago. I think the skis will probably last about 4 or 5 months with regular use on asphalt, so the replacement skis are definitely necessary. I have to think that you could get some skis custom fabbed at a shop for way cheaper than what EFS charges for them, especially with the way they brutalize you on shipping. I’m going to look into that option when the time comes to replace mine.

It is an ass-kicker, that’s for certain. I’m about to go push it right now actually.

You could take the skis to a welding shop and have them “hard faced” which is basically where they take a wire feed welder and put a bunch of beads of metal on the bottom of them. The beads will obviously wear off first and preserve the actual skis. When the beads are getting down too low, you can take them back and have them do it again. I would think the beads would last as long as the actual skis. . . its still metal. Should be cheap, as they aren’t designing anything or using actual material, but just adding metal to what’s already there. I wouldn’t pay more than $20 for having someone do that. [/quote]

Great idea!

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
flightspeed wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:
yardbird wrote:
I finally graduated school yesterday and as a gift, I can order myself a prowler to work with.
It will just be myself using it mainly, possibly friends here and there. The econo-prowler looks perfect for me, but my question is

How necessary are the replacement ski’s? I’m planning to use it at the park on the grass, but I’m sure it will get plenty of love on the asphalt out front too. Watching videos online, I can’t imagine I’ll be pushing more than 180lbs around very often (and I’m sure that’s pushing it). If money was no object I’d jump on them, but 40 bucks is kinda steep IMO

I just got my E-Prowler two weeks ago. I think the skis will probably last about 4 or 5 months with regular use on asphalt, so the replacement skis are definitely necessary. I have to think that you could get some skis custom fabbed at a shop for way cheaper than what EFS charges for them, especially with the way they brutalize you on shipping. I’m going to look into that option when the time comes to replace mine.

It is an ass-kicker, that’s for certain. I’m about to go push it right now actually.

You could take the skis to a welding shop and have them “hard faced” which is basically where they take a wire feed welder and put a bunch of beads of metal on the bottom of them. The beads will obviously wear off first and preserve the actual skis. When the beads are getting down too low, you can take them back and have them do it again. I would think the beads would last as long as the actual skis. . . its still metal. Should be cheap, as they aren’t designing anything or using actual material, but just adding metal to what’s already there. I wouldn’t pay more than $20 for having someone do that.

Great idea![/quote]

I agree, this actually sounds pretty good. But would this turn it into the ultimate lawn destroyer? I’m currently picturing a 150lb 3 point rake being pushed through the park.

www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20742

get the lungbreaker

its 300 dollars (free shipping and handling) has 2 different grips, is available in a few different colors etc.

download the brochure

[quote]Samsuperjew wrote:
www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20742

get the lungbreaker

its 300 dollars (free shipping and handling) has 2 different grips, is available in a few different colors etc.

download the brochure[/quote]

The issue I have with that design is that it looks like the skis are welded to the frame. In that case you’d have to have them hard-faced continually to avoid wearing them out. I guess it’s not like you couldn’t have new ones welded on but that’s a lot more involved than simply tightening a few nuts.

And at $300 it’s no cheaper than the E-Prowler. The $90 sled and $155 FW handles look like awesome bargains though. Sweet link.

I have the Econo Prowler. It works great. I use it on asphalt exclusively and haven’t had any issues. I know Joe DeFranco has said that he uses it on concrete all the time and hasn’t had to replace the skis yet. I think it depends on how often you use it, how much weight you add (you won’t be adding as much as you think - it’s a lot harder than it looks even with light weight) and the surface you use it on.

The Econo Prowler goes on sale a couple times a year for about $20-30 less, so pick it up on sale and you’ll be loving it. It’ll be less than $300 with shipping. I got mine last October from EliteFTS for $249 and about $30 for shipping.

Like Nate said, you won’t actually need to add much weight before the prowler flu comes for you.

Try to fabricate your own or get someone to. Knowing how to make your own equipment or having someone to do it for you on the cheap could save you A LOT of money in the long run when it comes to strongman equipment.

I have a question. Why do people use prowlers as opposed to pulling tires?
You can easily attach a wooden board to the inside bottom on one of the holes and add weight that way.
Also you can find tires for free and basically at any size in garages or other such places. Rope and all that is cheap.