Posted by bloke on March 16, 2004 at 10:14:52:
I have one of those Johnson cases (this particular one is a 4/4 size) with the too-small and too-close-together wheels. It rolled along "OK" but was completely unstable. Even when pulling along in a straight line, it wanted to fall over sideways.
I finally got around to doing an "upgrade". I did this using the original wheel mounts that the Johnsons riveted to the case. This preserved the original case intergrity, since these mounted were riveted in place with six rivets each (I didn't want to weaken the fiberglass in the least bit at the most critical point.), and the shape allowed for these wheel mounts on the case had a fairly specific and unforgiving (unforgiving to other shapes of wheel mounts) case.
At the hardware store, I picked up a couple of "stock" 4-inch diameter wheels (1/2" hole), a couple of 4 inch long 3/8" diameter lag bolts, a couple of lock nuts (the type that stay tight wherever you leave them), four washers with a 3/8" hole, and a piece of steel round-stock. This particular round-stock has a 1/2" o.d., a 3/8" bore, and a 1/16" wall. To retain the wheels in their proper positions (and to supply the "bearings" inside the 1/2"-hole "stock" wheels) I had to cut a total of six pieces out of this stock to do the set of two wheels. Yeah, I could have used a big stack o' washers instead, but I would still have had to figure out a way to shim the 1/2" holes in the wheels down to the 3/8" diameter lag bolts.
Of course, I had to drill out the two holes in each of the original wheel carriages out to a 3/8" diameter to accept this contraption.
The list of materials included
- two 4" wheels (1/2" hole)
- two 4" lag bolts
- two lock nuts
- 4 (retaining) washers with 3/8" hole
- the piece of hollow steel round stock (1/2" o.d. X 3/8" i.d. X 1' long [plenty])
tools included
- variable speed drill with 3/8" bit
- adjustable wrench
- another adjustable wrench, or a box-end or socket wrench
- hacksaw
- vice