Charging Cart Repairs

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my super duper charging cart wasn't rolling around very well.  After some inspections and tests, I discovered that the steel hex bolt axles were moving around in their holes and impacts had caused them to deform the aluminum around them which was allowing the wheels to rub inside their wheel wells.

After several weeks of thinking about this problem I decided to commit to a major overhaul of the wheel system.  I wanted to fix the above issue but I also wanted to switch the wheels from open roller bearings to semi-sealed ball bearings so that I could use spacers to prevent the wheels from moving laterally on the axle.  As it was the wheels rubbed on the sides of the wheel wells which impeded their motion quite a bit. I also decided that switching to a single stainless axle for both wheels to run on would virtually eliminate the loads on the aluminum supports at the free ends of the axle.  To support this modification, I realized that I would have to enlarge the holes and relocate them to a slightly lower position on the cart.  This and the fact that bearings only come in certain sizes, necessitated the use of a 1/2" axle and to install a piece of tight fitting 5/8" OD pipe for the axle to run through.

To accomplish this, I ordered an extra 3/8" axle and some 5/8" OD x 3/8" ID flanged bushings.  I started out by modifying the outer holes and then inserting the bushings and the 3/8" axle as a tool to locate and check the progress on the other holes.  This plan worked fairly well but it was neither easy nor quick.

Well, today, I finally got all 6 holes in my cart resized/relocated.  Altogether, the axle runs through an inch of aluminum.  They are also all located in tight spaces so a lot of creativity with tools and elbow grease was required.  I was planning to weld the new parts in place but I'm thinking about taking the easier route and using Loctite Hysol 9462 high strength/impact resistant epoxy instead.  I did a quick test fit of the wheels with their new bearings and I was happy to find that they don't rub inside the wheel wells anymore.