Wheels

How to choose a wheel

Replacing a wheelbarrow or trolley wheel, or building something that rolls? Get the tyre right and the axle fit right, and it just works. Here's how.

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Updated August 20266 min read

Whether you're replacing a flat wheelbarrow wheel or building a trolley that has to roll over rough ground, the wheel comes down to two things: the tyre for your surface, and an axle fit that actually matches.

We stock over a hundred standalone wheels - pneumatic, flat-free, solid rubber, polyurethane and nylon - so there's one for the job. This walks through choosing the tyre and, just as important, getting the bore and bearing right on a replacement. (For wheels on castors, see the Castor buyer's guide.)

Match the tyre to the ground, then match the bore, hub length and bearing to your axle. Get both and the wheel drops straight on.

1.Which wheel for the ground

Easyroll foam-filled puncture-free wheel

The surface decides the tyre. Get this right and the load rolls easily and the wheel lasts; get it wrong and you're either fighting a hard ride or chasing flats.

Wheel	Best for	The trade-off
Pneumatic (air)	wheelbarrows, hand trucks, rough or outdoor ground	cushions best, but punctures and needs pumping up
Flat-free (PU foam)	building sites, barrows - rides like air, never flat	a touch less cushioning; can flat-spot if parked loaded in the sun
Solid rubber	heavy bins and plant on smooth, hard floors	tough and puncture-proof, but heavy and jars on rough ground
Polyurethane	warehouse trolleys, heavy loads on smooth concrete	huge load capacity, low rolling resistance; a hard ride outdoors
Nylon	washdown, food areas, very heavy on smooth floors	lowest rolling resistance and hygienic, but hard and noisy

2.The specs that must match

Getting the tyre right is only half of it. If the axle fit is out, the wheel is useless, and this is where replacements go wrong. Four numbers to match:

Spec	What it is, and why it bites
Diameter	the overall height. Bigger rolls easier over obstacles. Replacing one of a pair, match it exactly or the gear sits lopsided
Bore (axle hole)	the centre hole. It must match your axle - common AU sizes mix metric and imperial: 16mm (5/8"), 19-20mm (3/4"), 25mm or 25.4mm (1"). A 25mm bearing will NOT go on a true 1" (25.4mm) axle, and 1" on a 25mm axle slops and wears fast
Hub length	the width of the centre boss on the axle. Too long and the split pin or nut won't reach; too short and it slides side to side
Bearing	plain bush (cheap, slow, wet/dirty jobs), roller (heavy loads, all-rounder), or precision ball (lowest effort, easiest push - worth it on a heavy barrow)

And the load: pick the wheel for the heaviest load it'll carry. If it's a four-wheel build, size each wheel for the total divided by three, not four - uneven ground lifts one wheel and drops its share on the rest.

The one that catches everyone is the metric-versus-imperial bore. Measure the axle with vernier callipers, not a tape - a millimetre of slop is the difference between a wheel that lasts and one that wears its bearing out in a month. If your bore falls between our sizes, ask us about reducing bushes.

3.Reading a tyre size, and measuring up

Pneumatic and flat-free wheels use an old sizing convention that trips buyers up. A size like 4.00-8 reads as: the first number is the tyre width (and sidewall height) in inches, the second is the rim diameter in inches. So a 4.00-8 is a 4-inch-wide tyre on an 8-inch rim, which works out to roughly a 400mm overall wheel (8" rim plus a 4" sidewall top and bottom). A "4PR" or "2PR" marking is the ply rating - higher ply means a tougher tyre and more load.

To spec a replacement: read the size off the old tyre's sidewall; measure the axle diameter with callipers (the bore); measure the axle from its base to the split-pin hole (the maximum hub length); and note whether the hub is offset (sticks out one side, common on barrows) or centred. Send us those and we'll match it.

4.Wheelbarrow wheels

Most Australian wheelbarrows run a 4.00-8 wheel, around 400mm across, so that's the size to start from. The bore is the thing to check: heavy builder's barrows usually take a 1-inch (25.4mm) axle, while lighter garden barrows run 16, 19 or 20mm - so measure yours before ordering. The trade is steadily moving off air and onto flat-free foam barrow wheels: they ride almost like a pneumatic but shrug off the roofing screws, bindis and pinch-flats that put an air wheel out of action on site. Browse pneumatic and all wheels.

Tell us the tyre size, the axle diameter and the load, or send a photo of the old wheel, and we'll match it - bearing, bore and all.