⁃ I have the Pathfinder YKK Ballistic Nylon garment bag/suitcase. The old wheels fell apart. The original wheels are 76mm x 24mm.
⁃ It’s a sturdy suitcase that just needed new wheels. With new wheels, it’s going to last for years to come. The name ‘Ballistic’ says it all! Bulletproof!
⁃ First, I had to remove the wheel base from the suitcase itself by holding the small inside nuts that hold the screw that holds the plastic wheel base to the base of the suitcase itself and unscrewing the screw. I used pliers (or a 9mm socket) to hold the small nut on the inside of the suitcase and a star screw driver bit to remove the screw on the outside of the suitcase. This detaches the plastic wheel base from the rest of the suitcase.
⁃ Once the wheelbase was detached from the rest of the suitcase, I had to ‘dremel’ the riveted inside of the original bolt for the original wheels. I used a metal hacksaw. If you have a dremel tool, it’s faster.
⁃ The bearings (or ‘pins’) that came with the wheels were too short for the wheel base for this particular suitcase. I therefore went with the disassembled wheel base to my local Sears hardware store (Or your local hardware store) to get the screws, bolts and nuts that would fit both the wheels and the base.
⁃ I got a long bolt, an accompanying nut and 2 plastic washers that fit into the hole where the bolt that supports the wheels goes through.
⁃ Once back from the hardware store, I put the wheels and accompanying fasteners back together. I put 2 plastic washers into the wheel base hole to ensure that the new wheels didn’t wobble when they were put together. To secure them to the hole, I temporarily put all the parts together, fastened the nut and bolt with wheel attached. This embedded the 2 washers into the hole for a sturdy base. Without the washers, the wheel will wobble. This is why carrying the detached wheel base to the hardware store is essential. To ensure that you have the right washers to fit into the base hole and prevent wobbling. At this point, I ensured that the wheel was rolling freely, as it would and should once I was done permanently assembling it.
⁃ Once the 2 washers were in, I then disassembled the wheel and assembled the wheels. I used the red version of threadlocker from ‘permatex’ on the threaded end of the bolt and tightened the wheel bolt on the one side to the nut on the inside. I used the washers provided to ‘separate’ the wheel from the bolt on the outside, the wheel and the plastic washers on the inside of the wheel and the nut and plastic base on the inside of the wheel base. I did this for the other wheel and attached the wheel and accompanying bearing and nut to the wheelbase.
⁃ I then attached the wheelbase to the suitcase using the original screws and nuts.
⁃ It worked well after final assembly. Wheels rolled freely and more importantly, didn’t wobble.
⁃ Baggage claim, here I come!
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