Where to buy wheels

I'm looking for a good source of wheels for a new bot. something 6 inch diameter, solid rubber, with an axle and ball bearings already attached. I'd like to mount a sprocket on the wheel, then be able to attach the axle using pillow blocks or something like that and let the internal bearings do their job. I'm currently using lawnmower wheels with axles I made on a lathe which mount into bushings. I think internal ball bearings would work better. Any suggestions? Thanks Ringo

There's a pretty good selection of this size of wheels at Harbor Freight. They do have an online store, but it's better if you have one locally as the online doesn't seem to carry all the stock I see in the stores. I now have two within 15 minutes, so I'm spoiled! Anyway, they have wheels with and without bearings, as well as plain wheels with flanges so you can use your own bearings.

Also check out their larger casters, which use solid-rubber tires. You can cut off the shafts and remove them from their carriage.

I have not seen too many with an axle and bearings already attached, as that would be fairly specific and more often than not wouldn't be what the customer wanted -- shaft lengths are pretty application-centric. Without a lathe you could use a steel shaft with big-o shaft collars to keep the shaft secure around the wheel bearing. If you have a lathe you could cut yourself a groove for a clip.

-- Gordon

Have you checked Northern Tool and Equipment, formerly named Northern Handyman?

I paged through their section on tires and wheels:

and found this:

Oops, no bearings. How about one of these:

The below links are for those not familiar with Harbor Freight and how a local store can get habit forming (my "local" store is ~20 miles away).

Hey Ringo.

If you can live with a timing belt type pulley instead of sprockets some = of the electric scooter wheels come with a pulley attached AND ball = bearings. I got some on eBay and they work great! For the Razor electric = scooters. Serach on eBay for "Razor E100 Rear Wheel Assembly Electric = Scooter Part" to see what I am talking about.

Hope that helps --- James C. Deen

I like the razor wheels, that is cool. Now to find a matching pulley for the motor. You don't happen to have any specs on it do you?

Thanks R> Hey Ringo.

the electric scooter wheels come with a pulley attached AND ball bearings. I got some on eBay and they work great! For the Razor electric scooters. Serach on eBay for "Razor E100 Rear Wheel Assembly Electric Scooter Part" to see what I am talking about.

Hey Ringo.

I think anything that will work with a HTD-3 Timing Belt will match up = with the pulley on the wheels.

Stock Drive Products has the best selection, if I recall right. Go to = their online store at

, then click on Metric = units on the left hand navigation area. Click on Pulleys, then Plastic = Timing Pulleys, and when that page comes up select 3mm HTD pitch. From = that point on it's up to you to pick the appropriate diameter and bore = you need.

You might also want to cruise a Toys-R-Us and check the electric = scooters. I think some of them had wheels with sprockets attached. = That's how I found these wheels. I wrote down the scooter brand name and = then looked for spare parts on eBay; exchanged about a hundred emails = and posts on here and finally came up with a solution.

Hope that helps ! JCD

some of the electric scooter wheels come with a pulley attached AND ball = bearings. I got some on eBay and they work great! For the Razor electric = scooters. Serach on eBay for "Razor E100 Rear Wheel Assembly Electric = Scooter Part" to see what I am talking about.