Dolly questions!

jgastelb

jgastelb

Well-known member
I built a skateboard dolly a while back. It was made with the internet plans you normally find when using the google search. Anyways, I have been having problems with the skateboard wheels falling off. I should mention I'm not the DIY kinda guy. The problem seems to be that I didn't include a washer so I went and got some but the wheels would still start sliding off. Then I thought about adding lock nuts to prevent this from happening altogether. Well... everything went downhill from here. The first wheel lock nut worked and it was fine once I got it in there. It took me some time just to get that one on. By the 3rd wheel my hands were hurting because the luck nuts have to be forced into the bolt by using two wrenches going in opposite motion. Unfortunately, my left hand slid off crossing some of the metal channel which was sharp cutting into my thumb. I had to get three stitches and 50% of my tendon was clipped. Regardless, I'm very fortunate not to have done more damage.
Questions:
Q. Should the lock nuts be this hard to get onto the bolt?

Q. Should I try a different method to keep the wheels from sliding?

Any ideas. I, more than likely, will have to pay someone to finish the job. I just don't want someone else to get hurt while doing this.

Thanks for any help!!!

Jgastelb
 
whew! the lock nuts should be easy to put on. They will offer a little resistance from the nylon or plastic washer imbedded inside but easily turned with a small wrench. Are the bearings for our wheels installed in the right direction?Are the washers large enough to hold thebearings? Perhaps while you are recovering you cantake a photo and post it.
 
BrianMurphy said:
whew! the lock nuts should be easy to put on. They will offer a little resistance from the nylon or plastic washer imbedded inside but easily turned with a small wrench. Are the bearings for our wheels installed in the right direction?Are the washers large enough to hold thebearings? Perhaps while you are recovering you cantake a photo and post it.
Click to expand...
I will send a couple of pictures in about 5 min.
 
BrianMurphy said:
whew! the lock nuts should be easy to put on. They will offer a little resistance from the nylon or plastic washer imbedded inside but easily turned with a small wrench. Are the bearings for our wheels installed in the right direction?Are the washers large enough to hold thebearings? Perhaps while you are recovering you cantake a photo and post it.
Click to expand...


Everything seems to be in the right direction. The lock nuts should go fine in the bolt regardless of the bearings. I went to lowes and tested the lock nuts and the guy told me there would some resistance as you mentioned but this was brutal. I wonder if some of them are deffective or slightly smaller.
 
The threads may not be matching up (finer or courser thread) or you have cross threaded something. You should pull it off, and check it on a different bolt. That will narrow it down to which is incorrect or damaged, the nut or the bolt.
 
Kdawg said:
The threads may not be matching up (finer or courser thread) or you have cross threaded something. You should pull it off, and check it on a different bolt. That will narrow it down to which is incorrect or damaged, the nut or the bolt.
Click to expand...


I will check on that. If all fails I'll test all new lock nuts at a home depot store before buying and spending the effort. Thanks!
Jgastelb
 
In looking at your pictures I would agree with the idea that it's probably the wrong thread for those bolts (right size nut, but wrong thread). In the picture that you wrote 'It won't go in', it looks like the nylon is barely touching the bolt, if at all. There's no way it should be that hard to move at that point.

If I were you I'd also throw a flat washer on either side of your steel bracket. Since those holes/slots are pretty big, the bolts can move around a bit. Washers will help that.

I actually have one more question for you, because it's a little tough to see on your photos. I can't really tell where the washers are riding on the bearing. It almost looks in one of the photos like you have really big washers that are wide enough to touch the wheel itself (That funky metal hub). If so, you really don't want that and that would explain the nuts loosening quickly. You want the washers on either side of the wheel to touch ONLY the bearings, not the wheel around it. I'm sure this isn't what you did, but like I said, I had trouble telling from the photos, so I figured I'd mention it.

Good Luck.
 
Ouch! Sorry about your lovelife dude...
25315521248.jpg

Sorry, just having fun. That sucks!:(

It's hard to tell from the photos, but I think your wheel assembly is a little off. I made a small dolly with rollerblade wheels and found that it works better if you build your wheel assembly before attaching it to the angle-iron.
 
scottp2 said:
In looking at your pictures I would agree with the idea that it's probably the wrong thread for those bolts (right size nut, but wrong thread). In the picture that you wrote 'It won't go in', it looks like the nylon is barely touching the bolt, if at all. There's no way it should be that hard to move at that point.

If I were you I'd also throw a flat washer on either side of your steel bracket. Since those holes/slots are pretty big, the bolts can move around a bit. Washers will help that.

I actually have one more question for you, because it's a little tough to see on your photos. I can't really tell where the washers are riding on the bearing. It almost looks in one of the photos like you have really big washers that are wide enough to touch the wheel itself (That funky metal hub). If so, you really don't want that and that would explain the nuts loosening quickly. You want the washers on either side of the wheel to touch ONLY the bearings, not the wheel around it. I'm sure this isn't what you did, but like I said, I had trouble telling from the photos, so I figured I'd mention it.

Good Luck.
Click to expand...

I never knew that you could have the right size but wrong thread. I'm no expert on these kinds of things. Right now I have a friend of mine that's going to try to finish the job for me. I'm also wondering about those washers affecting the rotation of the wheels as they are pretty big like you said. If my friend is able to put them in there then I'm thinking some of the wheels will not glide as smoothly due to some movement of the bigger washers. Maybe when it's tight enough with the lock nuts since there won't be any movement in or out of the bolt that won't be a factor. I'll update when I have the pieces back and try it out. Thanks for your reply.
Jgastelb
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top