Shopsmith Forums

Can any of you that have upgraded your caster wheels give me the measurement of how far the new mounting holes are above the old mounting holes. I have found a source for the red polyurethane 3 inch caster wheels that are about 1/2 the price of Shopsmith, but I don’t have the template for drilling the new holes. So getting that distance between the new & old holes would save me some time. Any help web much appreciated.

"Opinions" vary. Need to consider any variation between the OEM casters and the 3rd party ones.

1 3/4 inches between new hole and prior hole from smaller casters.

Thanks guys/gals I got a friend to help lift onto a block removed unit changed wheel, easier than last time since I had some prior experience, put it back down and ready to go. One additional question can I move raising lever further to the inside of axle so it doesn’t contact wheel.

wrmnfzy,

You asked

One additional question can I move raising lever further to the inside of axle so it doesn’t contact wheel.

You can by one of two ways. The first would be to drill a new hole in the Drive Rod to place the Foot Pedal further away from the outside end. This would have to be done carefully to get the hole correctly aligned to the hole in the Foot Pedal for the Roll Pin to go back into. The second would be to buy a new OEM replacement Rod (P/N 503807 Drive Rod) which will have the Foot Pedal further away from the end. Replacing the Rod also means removing and reinstalling the Cams to the new Rod. Newer Retractable Castor Assemblies are now made with the Foot Pedal further away from the end which clears the 3" castors in the upgrade. I don't recall the distance from the end of the rod to the Foot Pedal hole is for either the old, like yours or the new Casters.

Below is the older Caster Assembly.

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Below is the newer Castor Assembly.

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Some have cut off the very ends of the foot pedal to clear the 3" castors.

If you have an earlier caster set, then you really need to move it towards the center away from the wheel.

Not sure the current shaft version will work.

As discussed recently in the Goldie Restoration thread, older Reteactable Castor Assemblies apparently had the cam and rod holes drilled with the cams in place on the rod. This can lead to slight difference in the hole's locations. That can be a problem switching cams from one rod to another.

Too bad Shopsmith hasn't made an upgrade to solve this. An upgrade Drive Rod with the Cams and Foot Pedal Wheel installed would solve the clearance problem with the old Retractable Caster assemblies upgrading to the 3" castors. There current answer is to buy new complete Retractable Castor Assemblies with the 3" Castors.

viewtopic.php?p=115796#p115796
This thread helped me when I moved the foot pedals on my casters

Thx guys I’ll decide which way to go that seems best for my current situation.