Load Rating Casters

[John Raymond]

I'm looking to make a dolly for a 1000 lb 3-point mount wood chipper,using 4 swivel casters. Do I need 4 1000lb casters or would 4 250lb casters work?

-- John

[Jim Elbrecht]

If I was just moving the thing around the shop on a smooth concrete floor, I'd use (4) 250's. [though I doubt kicking them up to 500 would break the bank-- and I'd 'weigh' the balance of disaster vs a few bucks more for 1000lb ones]

If I was going to be using it while it was supported by the casters I'd probably get 4 2000lb casters.

Jim

[dpb]

If it were uniformly distributed load, each leg would support 250lb, yes. But you would still want cushion/margin over that, of course.

But since it isn't going to be uniform, you need something that has a fair amount of cushion over that minimum; you'll have to guesstimate how much imbalance that might be and go from there.

--

[John Raymond]

I Should have mentioned that this is for in the barn on a smooth concrete, I want to use it for storage of the chipper. Having it on casters will make hooking it up and storage easier. I found some 660lb casters at HF.

--John

[Ed Pawlowski]

The 250's will carry the load if it is even. I'd add some safety margin too. Just as important is the type of caster. Larger rolls smoother than small, especially if there may be wood chips around. I'd look for 6" or 8".

Check out the differences in material at Grainger or McMaster to make your decision. Both have good information on that type of thing.

[Doug]

As a retired str. engineer, you and Ed are correct. Likely the weight is not evenly distributed for a couple of reasons. I agree with others that I doubt 4-1000s are necessary but I would go with something greater than 4-250s for safety as others have already said. Keep in mind the 250s will carry a safety factor in their design capacity but I wouldn't try to make use of it here.

[dpb]

There's no doubt that 4-1000s are not necessary... :)

The 250-rating would be highly likely to have enough strength owing to its safety margin in design (altho from HF or such ilk who knows how much faith to put into the ratings themselves???) as you note. I would go w/ the oversize simply owing to the fact that many will become difficult to move when loaded at or near their rating while the cost differential isn't all that great in general and the ease of use is markedly improved (and I think at least one other said essentially the same thing as well :) ).

--

[micky]

With HF doesn't the design margin work in the other direction. They don't want to give you more than you pay for, so they underdesign it, figuring it will likely be stronger than the design, and everything will come out right.**

Plus the OP should make allowances for when people lean on the chipper while it's stationary or being moved.

**just kidding.

. I would

[Doug]

I think we all are pretty much in agreement but that doesn't mean the OP agrees with us but he asked for our opinion. I don't know the availability of casters nor am I familiar with his item nor the price of casters. That said, I'd like to say I'd go with perhaps 4-400 lbs rated casters. That should give him a buffer of about 600 lbs in case he has to add something to his item while on the dolly.

I also think you make a GOOD point too to go with higher capacity casters because the 250's at capacity may be a little difficult to move. That alone would make me go for the greater capacity :) . Good Point !!!

[micky]

I was looking for casters for a desk chair, and one particularly cheap brand had reviews in Amazon that said it actually fell apart with months. These were under 10 dollars for a set of 5, but they probably make inferior ones at other weight levels too. Ended up taking the casters off the previous chair. (And after all that, the used chair didn't recline right, and seemed to tip forward all the time. I never saw that before.)

I posted here a while back about repairing casters that wouldn't roll, and people said one couldn't pull the dual plastic wheels off. They were right. And no hair or fabric fiber was visible anywhere. I don't know what happen