Wheel replacement

[wrmnfzy]

I am looking for the “easiest” way to change one of my wheels on my Shopsmith. I have the “new” wheels and it delaminated and I had a spare. My problem is my age, and a couple medical problems that make me look for a possible way I haven’t thought of to change wheel. Any help would be appreciated.

[chapmanruss]

I understand not wanting to lift or turn over the Shopsmith to install a new caster/wheel. If doing it by yourself you could un-bolt the Retractable Castor Assembly from the legs, remove the old caster/wheel, insert the new one and reattach the Assembly to the legs. No lifting of the Shopsmith required but takes a bit longer.

[dusty]

I have two containers (were for swimming pool chlorine) that I put under the tubes and then add a board to get the wheel off the ground. Then I unbolt the caster assembly from the legs to facilitate removal. Then reverse the process.

[RFGuy]

I am looking for the “easiest” way to change one of my wheels on my Shopsmith. I have the “new” wheels and it delaminated and I had a spare. My problem is my age, and a couple medical problems that make me look for a possible way I haven’t thought of to change wheel. Any help would be appreciated.

Safest way IMHO is a floor jack, or similar, if you have one. Check out my post on this past thread below. Incredibly easy for me to swap to the replacement upgrade casters when I did it this way.

viewtopic.php?p=276062#p276062

[garys]

My preference for this job would be to get help, lay the Shopsmith on its side on a soft surface to prevent any damage and replace it that way. My age makes it very difficult to work on anything on the floor where I have to get down that far and back up. With it on its side and the damaged wheel near the upper side, you can work from a rolling stool to do the work.

[dusty]

I am looking for the “easiest” way to change one of my wheels on my Shopsmith. I have the “new” wheels and it delaminated and I had a spare. My problem is my age, and a couple medical problems that make me look for a possible way I haven’t thought of to change wheel. Any help would be appreciated.

Safest way IMHO is a floor jack, or similar, if you have one. Check out my post on this past thread below. Incredibly easy for me to swap to the replacement upgrade casters when I did it this way.

viewtopic.php?p=276062#p276062

Definite;y - if you have a floor jack. Without a floor jack I use my big buckets.

[RFGuy]

Could also be ANY hydraulic jack, e.g. car jacks for changing tires, BUT a floor jack has a large stable base and makes it effortless to change wheels on a Shopsmith this way. IF you use car jacks or something similar, perhaps use two with a spreading beam like I did to distribute the load and give more stability rather than raising from a single point. Just a suggestion. Dusty's suggestion of a bucket or suitable passive jack is a good idea too. Just have to find the right height item.

[wrmnfzy]

I will be attempting tomorrow or the next day and since I don’t have access to a floor Jack I will be lifting the end onto a block.
Question: last time I changed wheels I was able to lay on side and change and lift back up, this time my question is should wheels be extended down or remain in up position and what is the best method to remove existing wheel. Pry? With what? And how/where?

Sorry if a lot of questions trying not to get hurt nor damage machine.

[br549]

I too don't have a floor jack, but just use a block of wood as fulcrum point and then use a crow bar, or other long strong piece as a lever to raise Shopsmith off of floor and support with other blocks of wood. And, you can repeat process with higher fulcrum point and more blocks until machine is raised high enough to allow wheel assembly to be pulled out (about 2" to allow stem to be disengaged). A flat blade screwdriver might be needed to pry old caster out at top of dust shield. While laying machine over on it's back may be fine for some people, I've never done that, and seems like a lot of heavy lifting. If you can get down (and back up) off of floor, you may want to try this way. Only lift one end at a time (which is all you need any way), and have wheels in "up" position before lifting. That way the other end will not try to roll as end you are raising is lifted.

[wrmnfzy]

Thank all of you. I started out with a block under the end and when trying to pry the wheel off it came off with the housing. Tried to get housing back in was was having too much trouble. Removed wheel assembly and after some difficulty getting housing back in I put new wheel in and housing back. I would not have been able to lift machine to put block under without help from my better half (11 years younger and no arm or shoulder problems). Still couldn’t figure out how to remove wheel from housing as I couldn’t see any place to pry wheel down and out but no problem.
Once again thanks.