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When to Use Dual Wheel Casters
Dual wheel casters can play important roles in facilities of all types, but there are four unique considerations that might make a dual wheel caster the best option for your needs. Essentially, these casters have two wheels for every plate, which allows them to bear more weight more evenly. Here are four things to consider before opting to purchase dual wheel casters.
One Wheel Isn’t Sufficient
The number one reason why people choose dual wheel options over their single wheel counterparts has to do with the weight of the load. Sometimes, a single caster wheel just isn’t enough to support an entire load. Remember that weight limits apply to each wheel, so rather than having one large wheel that might be able to support 3000lbs, you could have two small wheels that support 2500lbs each, giving you a 5000lb weight limit for that particular set of casters. This is important to consider, particularly when height and wheel size is a factor.
The Cart or Platform Needs to Stay Low to the Ground
In most cases, larger casters support more weight. With that said, in order to move very heavy loads with single casters, you might find that the casters are so high that the load is higher than what is safe. With dual wheel casters, you can easily reduce the height of the platform or cart without sacrificing its load-bearing capacity. In almost all cases, you can reduce the height by as much as 30% while maintaining the same capacity simply by making the switch to dual wheel casters.
The Cart Needs to Take Up Less Floor Space
Many manufacturing facilities are quite busy, and there’s only so much space to go around. Oftentimes, carts designed to carry tremendous loads also take up a lot of floor space, which can cause problems in these facilities. Dual-wheel casters allow you to spread a huge amount of weight proportionately over a bigger wheel surface, thus reducing the overall size of the cart and saving space on the manufacturing or warehouse floor. In the grand scheme of things, this can make a tremendous difference.
Carts Need to be More Maneuverable
Single-wheel casters are difficult to swivel and maneuver when they are under a great deal of pressure. The heavier the load, the harder it is for the wheel to move and swivel. When you can distribute the load more evenly across more wheels (for example, eight wheels instead of just four), this reduces the pressure and friction on each wheel and makes it far easier to swivel and maneuver. Dual wheels reduce friction and “floor scrubbing”, which makes loads easier to move and may even reduce workplace injuries at the same time.
Dual wheel casters are not necessary for every application, but they can certainly come in handy. They can provide extra load-bearing capacity, they can keep loads lower to the ground and therefore safer, they can keep carts and racks smaller, and they can even make carts more maneuverable, which helps improve workplace safety and morale.
