Caster recommendations

[Richard Dooling]

I have bought quite a few of the Woodcraft casters with the red polyurethane tires and every one has delaminated.

Any recommendations for reasonably priced, medium duty (300+ lb rated) casters that will survive freezing winter shop temps? This is a reasonably level floor and I have no concerns about scuff marks but don't think I want all metal wheels.

This has been a huge disappointment. Even if I use the casters without the tires, I've lost the brakes.

I just had another thought, maybe I can find replacement wheels that will fit.

Thanks - Richard

[Mark Carlson]

I had the same problem with all my woodcraft casters. On about 8 or so the red part peeled off. This was in CA so no freezing but a lot of heat. I'm also looking for an alternative.

[Peter Kelly]

https://www.casterdepot.com/glc/c001-358.html

[Tony Zaffuto]

I own a manufacturing plant and use a wide variety of types of casters. Through the years, I have found two excellent sources, mainly because both give honest specifications for loads. Those sources are MSC and also Grizzly.

[Thomas Canfield]

I have had good luck with http://www.castercity.com/industrial-casters.htm?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=Industrial-Casters&utm_campaign=Heavy-Duty-Industrial Tell them what you have and get a recommendation. Rated loads for casters need some study regarding temperature, surface, and long time set.

[Jim Becker]

I buy my double locking casters from Lee Valley...

[Bill Carey]

2nd vote for MSC

[Brian Nguyen]

I use the red locking casters from Home Depot (blasphemy! i know...) and it's been 3+ years and the only change has been the dust on the wheels. And I'm the type that re-arranges my shop every 2 months at least, so the casters does have some moderate use.

[Greg R Bradley]

Polyurethane casters require regular movement in order to not destroy themselves. They might tolerate sitting in one spot if very lightly loaded. Used Polyolefin if you need something to be able to sit it one spot for long periods. Castercity.com has a good guide to match the caster to the requirements.

In various businesses I see chunks of Polyurethane wheels pretty much everywhere. Here is a section of floor from my shipping/receiving department showing smears polyurethane wheels failing and leaving tracks on the floor. These are from the high quality heavy duty polurethane wheels on US made pallet jacks so you can imagine how quickly the junk import wheels fail under the same use.

380886

[Brian Deakin]

Please see

http://www.mjvail.com/carrymaster.htm

You may find them cheaper on e bay

[Bill Dufour]

Harbor Freight seems to have lost their edge in casters. I no longer see any with metal wheels. all the wheels are plastic with some kind of plastic for the tires. I doubt if the bearings are other then open sleeve now a days.
Bil lD.

[Frederick Skelly]

Harbor Freight seems to have lost their edge in casters. I no longer see any with metal wheels. all the wheels are plastic with some kind of plastic for the tires. I doubt if the bearings are other then open sleeve now a days.
Bil lD.

I buy those as well as ones from the BORG. They all seem to do ok, after several years.

[Joe Spear]

I've gotten mine from Northern Tool, and they have held up well.

[Bob Falk]

I have all my machines on Woodcraft casters with only one failure, and that was recently....I'm wondering if they are of an age that all will start failing (~ 10 years old).

[Nick Decker]

I have a couple of machines on the ones sold by Kreg. Plenty sturdy, but what I really like is that they lock down solidly and are easy to lock and unlock. Some others that I've used were a real pain in that regard. Their universal bench components are excellent, too.

[mark kosse]

Please see

http://www.mjvail.com/carrymaster.htm

You may find them cheaper on e bay

Thanks for making me think to do that. I just got a set of four used 600's for 28.00 shipped.

[Richard Dooling]

Thanks for everyones responses. I’m thinking that Woodcraft changed something about how their caster are made since Bob says he’s had only one failure in ten years. I’ve lost the polyurethane tires on all but one of mine. That includes casters that started delaminating within a year or so. Loading is well below half the rated amount.

Greg, thanks for your info on the link between sitting for long periods and tire deterioration. I contacted Caster City and had a great conversation with one of their reps. He agreed with your comments but was still surprised that I had such a high failure rate with such light loading.

He also agreed that Polyolefin would be a good choice for my application. I found 4”, ball bearing casters that match the hub length (1 9/16”) and axle diameter (3/8”). They are rated at 300#. I ordered 4 to try them out and I’m hoping the wheel lock will engage - we’ll see.

$5.00 ea. + $14.82 shipping = $8.70 ea. Shipping is better per unit if you order more.

[Richard Dooling]

Jim, I see their pricing is pretty decent. Which ones did you order?
I buy my double locking casters from Lee Valley...

[Jim Becker]

Richard, I regularly use the 3" double locking version for my tack trunk commissions, but have used the 4" and 5" sizes, too. I also have a couple sets of their 4" predecessors; one on my kitchen island and one on a shop cabinet.

I did buy the casters for my CNC machine from Caster City because of the weight and type. Nice folks. Great selection.

[Richard Dooling]

Thanks Jim. I was also very impressed with Caster City. I'll look at the LV selection again.


Richard, I regularly use the 3" double locking version for my tack trunk commissions, but have used the 4" and 5" sizes, too. I also have a couple sets of their 4" predecessors; one on my kitchen island and one on a shop cabinet.

I did buy the casters for my CNC machine from Caster City because of the weight and type. Nice folks. Great selection.

[Scott Brihn]

I have also had good success with casters from Caster Depot, specifically the FootMaster Leveling Casters. The Woodcraft ones were very disappointing for me as well.

[Curt Harms]

I own a manufacturing plant and use a wide variety of types of casters. Through the years, I have found two excellent sources, mainly because both give honest specifications for loads. Those sources are MSC and also Grizzly.
I have 4 casters with the red wheels from Grizzly on the Jointer/Planer mobile base. Two swivel, two the wheels were removed from the metal mounting frame and used within the tube frames. Neither have shown any sign of failure for about 10 years. I think the casters are rated for 250 lbs. each and the machine weights around 500 lbs. so the wheels are only carrying about half their rated load.

[Jerome Stanek]

We use a ton of Harbor freight casters for all the trade show displays we make. Some of those displays need 100 casters or more.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Surpluscenter.com has a large selection of casters. Of course I have not tried most of them, but the price are good and the things I have bought from them have been satisfactory.
Zach

[Larry Edgerton]

Made in the USA. Sell direct. Great product. Never broke one.

https://www.albioncasters.com/

[Rich Engelhardt]

I buy from Caster Depot also...

When they were Great Lakes Casters they offered the SMC10 (10% off for SMC members) discount which offset the shipping charges.

They also had a dynamite closeout/clearance section where you could snag a pennies on the dollar price on certain items.

[Richard Dooling]

Thanks again for all the replies.

I received the 4" polyolefin wheels from Caster City and they are a good fit to replace the Woodcraft casters that delaminated. The brake works also but is stiffer. I think that's because there is a slight crown in the wheel and because the polyolefin is harder than the polyurethane.

Part # PB4x1.25B for anyone interested.