Sterilite 1995 – 66 Qt. underbed Storage Box replacement wheel

Problem

• here is the product page

  • 1995 – 66 Qt. Ultra™ Storage Box

• stock wheels included can be heavily loaded in shear & break easily

• stock wheels are plastic & are installed in a one-way fashion from the factory thanks to an “umbrella” like structure which irreversibly expands when inserted into its axle hole

  • see here:

    

Solution & design

• replace the wheel & axle with simply a wheel, where the axle is now a long screw to boost strength

• the holes on the tub are drafted because the tub is molded

  • consequently, to achieve a wobble free fit inside those holes, the axle must also be drafted

  • IIRC, I was too lazy & made it a straight shaft

  • design was based on an already broken wheel which predictably had broken at its smallest cross section

  • I don't own this storage container, so perhaps the 3DP wheel would fail under real load

• generous fillet used to reduce stress in the way it had previously broken

Installation

Hardware required

all hardware is M5 – you'll need qty 1 of each part per wheel installation

1. wide washer

   1. or a regular washer

2. M5 x 55 mm CSKS

3. M5 locknut

Procedure

1. spear M5 CSKS through wheel

   

2. install wheel with M5 axle

3. spear washer + locknut

4. tighten locknut while holding axle from rotating

   1. don't tighten too much – you'll want to leave it loose enough to be freely spinning, but minimize play which could further stress the wheel & tub itself

   2. regular nut shown here

      

Revision history

• I no longer remember the differences between rev 1 & rev 2, but I'd say rev 2 should be unequivocally better