Replacement Wheels for Travelpro Crew 11 22" Expandable Rollaboard Suiter (style 407162201)

Summary

I've had my TravelPro suitcase for ~7 years, and I love it. Recently, the wheels started making an annoying noise. While TravelPro advertises replaceable parts and a warranty, I was unable to find a place to buy replacement wheels or to get past their warranty department. I also looked at replacing the standard 608zz bearings inside the wheels, but they've been friction welded into the wheel's plastic body.

Instead, I designed a replacement wheel in which the bearing and tread can be easily disassembled and replaced as needed. It still fits around the standard 608zz bearing.

Materials

• 2x 608zz bearings
• PLA or PETG for wheel body, spacers, and “wrench”
• TPU or similar for wheel tread
• a touch of grease for wheel body threads

Printing Notes

Wheel Body

I've included a project file for the wheel body. Printing on the 0.2mm detail setting with a 0.6mm nozzle worked well for me. I've used ironing on all top surfaces in the wheel components to reduce part post processing.

Tire

I used some cheap TPU from Amazon and the Flexfill 98A Prusa preset with good results (just tweak the nozzle temperature to what's recommended by your filament). I set the seam to random to avoid a single line on the wheel. I used 5 perimeters and an infill of 25% to create a fairly solid wheel.

Spacers

Print solid.

Assembly

Remove any obvious blobs on the wheel body threads and apply a smidge (like a small pea) of grease to the threads. Slowly “work the threads” in by screwing in and unscrewing the wheel pieces, slowly increasing how much you screw them together.

You should be able to screw them together without the “wrenches”; those are just for snugging up the pieces during final assembly. 

Once the wheel body screws together smoothly,

• insert the bearing into the larger of the wheel body halves,
• push the tire onto the larger of the wheel body halves,
• screw on the smaller wheel body halves, gently snugging it up with the “wrenches”

With that, the wheel assembly is complete. Use the 3D printed spacers (you may need to clean up the interior with a 6mm drill bit) rather than the stock spacers. The stock spacers offset the wheel to one side and can cause rubbing. The 3D printed spacers are identical and center the wheel in the wheel mount.

Conclusion

Enjoy! I hope this keeps your suitcase on the go for many years to come.