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If you’re interested in replacing existing casters with longer-lasting, higher-quality ones that require less maintenance and improve overall productivity, it’s important to choose the right size. Here, you will learn how to properly measure your heavy-duty industrial steel caster wheels which is important for choosing replacements.
To properly measure your heavy-duty industrial steel caster wheel, you should need nothing more than a tape measure, a pencil or dowel, and perhaps a set of calipers along with the tools required to remove the wheel. You will need to take four measurements, and these are the wheel diameter, the wheel width, the hub length, and the bore diameter. With these measurements, you can easily order replacement wheels in the right sizes.
To measure the wheel diameter, all you have to do is take a measurement across the wheel from one side to the other. Though you may be able to find the wheel diameter stamped somewhere on the wheel itself, it’s always a good idea to take this measurement on your own. When doing this, remember that if your wheels are especially worn, you may measure up to ½ an inch short. In this case, you should add that half an inch back to the measurement before you order your replacements.
The bore diameter is the internal measurement of the bore, or the area where the wheel fits onto an axle assembly. You will measure this diameter across, but you should measure from inside the opening rather than from the outside like you did with the wheel diameter. It’s a very precise measurement and though a tape measure may work, for a very small wheel, you may want to consider using a caliper or micrometer, instead. Sometimes you can simply use drill bits and insert them inside the bore hole until you find the one that fits, but this is less accurate.
The wheel width is a measurement of the widest part of the tread, and to take it, you’ll want to look at the wheel head-on. Wheel widths can be measured accurately with a tape measure, and much like wheel diameter, you may be off a millimeter or two depending on how the wheel (or the cart attached to it) was used. In most cases, if you are off by a fraction of an inch, this will not have any real impact on the operation of the new heavy-duty industrial steel caster wheel.
Finally, you will need to measure the hub length, and this measurement must be incredibly precise. The length of the hub allows for the wheel to move in between the fork assembly of the caster without a great deal of play or “wobble”. Because you won’t fit the tape measure through the bore hole, and because calipers are not ideal, the best way to do this is to take a dowel or pencil, insert it through the hub, and mark each opening as precisely as possible. Then, measure the distance between the markings you made on the pencil or dowel.
These measurements are all relatively simple to take, but they are vitally important when replacing your heavy-duty industrial caster wheels. Being off even a little could result in an improper fit, and depending on the size of the load, it could have negative results.
