Here is a great way to build trials obstacles with pallets (or most other types of building material) with minimal nails so you can easily take it apart and re-use it.
Plus, it is much stronger then nails.
Get a racheting tie-down strap with hooks on the ends (the kind they use to secure big loads onto trucks, that sort of thing) wrap it once around everything, and crank it down.
What I’ve done here is set up two in an A shape, then stood one on either side for more support. I couldn’t go around the whole thing, so I had to go around part of it, as you can see.
Then you can stack one on top for a platform, or leave it like it as for a giant sandwhich board thing. This is a little over 5 feet off the ground, and almost rock solid. I only used two straps, and one nail to keep the top pallet in place.
Of course there are tons of possiblities, just stand the pallets on end and crank 'em all together. Go ahead and squeeze the daylights out of it.
(sorry about the pictures, the lighting isn’t very good. And it looks crooked, but it’s not really…)
i like that cause its really hard to nail pallers together because of the 2 layers
Those look awesome, I might try that with my pallets 
You’ll have to play around with it a bit to get it to fit together right, but it is MUCH easier then nailing or screwing everything together.
Here we did about the same thing for a trials show, but we sandwhiched a 5 1/2 foot log in the middle of it all and stuck in a couple screws on the edges and stuff.
Where do you get the rachet things though?
Any hardware store should have them, I said before that the ones we have were about $20 for a pack of 4 at wal-mart.
It helps if you already have some laying around. We use them when we haul firewood and other stuff.
Way to go Forrest!
Great going Forrest! I always seem to get bored of obstacles after I master them. I am always looking for new obstacles. Your suggestion makes it really easy to keep changing the Obstacles. That was an awesome picture of you ballanced up on that log!
Unicorn
Is he on the log? To me it looks like hes jumping on the pallets and the log is a separate obstacle behind what hes on.
Concerns
I would have some concerns about getting a pedal caught in the strapping. You’d likely fall like a tree.
–tom
I have 6 pallets and I want to try this. How many ratchet tie-downs would be good to have? I’m asking cause I found a 4 pack for $22, but I can get them individually for $5.50.
Well it depends on how much you want to spend of course, but I would say you could probably do just fine with 2. The example I built in the first post uses 6 pallets and 2 straps, so that should be about right, yeah.
No, the log is stood on end, and sandwhiched in between the pallets. I am on top of the log.
Yeah I thought about that, but you can really postion the straps whatever way you want. In the first picture(s), you could do away with the slanted pallet on the left and it would be no problem. Lots of possibilities, most of the time the strap fits between the slats on top of the pallets.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to build it the same way I did, just think up your own design and experiment to see what works.
Do you have any suggestions for building smaller stuff? My problem today was that a lot of the things I could build were really big.
You need to grow more that is all, no offence. You can always cut your pallets in half.
Haha, seriously, the boxes were about 4 feet high.
Yeah, that is only like 7inches shoerter than you right? Anyways, if you cut them in half you would have mroe to work with and things that fit you.
Um, no I think you’re talking about mornish;)
Cutting pallets would suck though, cause then they would be really small if you needed to stack them or something. And it would take ages to cut through the thick board in the middle.
