Changing a cart tire.

September 23, 2022 5:13 PM

I have a junk cart I want to use for gardening, and I want to change out the tires. Of course, it's not that simple.

I found a junk cart I'm planning to use around the yard. It has pneumatic tires on it, which I've found always go flat, so I thought I'd replace them with solids.

But I can't figure out how to get the old ones off.

Here's what the hub looks like.

I thought all I'd have to do was pry off the cap, there would be a bolt under it, easy.

I tried prying off the cap, it tore off the top. And it doesn't look like there's a bolt inside.

Any ideas on getting this off?

posted by Marky to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

This is maybe a silly question, but it looks like the existing rim is bolted to the hub. (There appear to be 4 visible bolts in the photo- like a standard car tire, only with bolts instead of studs & nuts) I'm wondering if it might be possible to unbolt the rim/tire from the hub and then find a replacement solid tire/rim combo which shares the same bolt spacing and center hole size?
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 5:20 PM on September 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

What is on the opposite/back side of the wheel?
posted by fake at 6:11 PM on September 23, 2022

you've torn off the bearing seal cap, and that bearing will likely seize up if water and crap gets into it.

With lots of penetrating oil, those four bolts should come off. Solid tyres have much higher rolling resistance, so as long as you can still pump the existing ones up, it'll be much easier to move around
posted by scruss at 6:33 PM on September 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I removed a very similar wheel which was affixed by a washer that was notched on the inside, then pressed into place, so that the notches bent back and jammed up against the axle. The only way to remove them was to destroy the washer-- fortunately the recipient handtruck had a pin, so all was good. If it is held by such a washer, and you get it off, it may be difficult to attach the new wheel.
posted by alexei at 7:14 PM on September 23, 2022

Best answer: What alexei is describing is called a “push nut,” which is a very common fixture for attaching wheels to carts, lawnmowers, and the like. That might be what we’re looking at here. They need to be sized to the correct axle diameter.
posted by adamrice at 7:00 AM on September 24, 2022

Response by poster: Problem solved, thanks folks!

adamrice had it. I pried off the caps with a pry bar and vice grips, and the wheels came off... with a little persuasion from a hammer and WD-40. 20 years of rust is sticky. New wheels from Harbor Freight (on sale!) and "push nuts" shipping "soon."

Pretty sweet for $30. Less than a new cart.
posted by Marky at 3:08 PM on September 25, 2022