Axles for Bike Wheeled Tool-Shaws

I know how to build a bike wheeled trailer without an axle, but it involves supports on either side of the wheels , thus adding weight and complexity.
The use I have in mind is rickshaws made from file cabinets and minifridges, tool-shaws if you will.

Having disassembled a few hubs, I found some of them can accept a 1/2" steel conduit , once every thing is removed.
Most of them seem to be smaller than that.
A little research showed me that the hubs native axle sizes and threads can vary a lot.
So here are my ideas.
Taking the nuts from axles from the wheels I want to use I can try them on a go/ no go gauge at the hardware store.
Once  I have identified them, I can:
-Buy rivet nuts that match
-Buy threaded pipe inserts that match
-Buy a threading tap that matches.
-Buy pipe of the proper size
-Buy some JB Weld
-Buy bolts that match
-Buy threaded rods that match

Broadly speaking, I want to use a pipe of the proper size, and add internal threads by tapping, rivet nuts, pipe inserts, or "welding"  the original axle nuts in.
Failing that, using the proper sized pipe, JB Weld the matched bolts, original hub axles, or threaded rod into it.

I am hoping one of you crazy permies has an easier/ cheaper way than any of this, and/ or some feed back on these ideas.

Might not be big enough for you but I used a three wheeled Jogger/stroller for making a tool cart

Just threaded rod long enough to go through plus a tight fit good solid pipe that it slides in for structure and spacing, plus some washers, might be enough.

As far as I know, there are two styles of bicycle hub bearings.
The first is not sealed, and has outer bearing races in the hub, and inner bearing races that thread onto the axle. The balls are either loose or in a tiny cage, and the inner races are tightened against each other on the axle for the proper loading of the bearing.
This is the most common, and inexpensive.
The second is "sealed" and uses radial ball bearing units, which are pre-made and fit into the hub and over the axle. The axle may have a wide section in the middle or a spacer tube to set the distance between the bearing units.
This is found on more expensive bikes, maybe less likely to be discarded?

The first, you might be able to "offset" the axle to one side, to gain a stub long enough to thread into your frame. You'd keep the original axle, maybe get some other matching nuts.
The second, you might be able to replace the axle with your own rod (and spacer?) to have a long one that connects both wheels. (Like the Garden Way cart does, but with "cart wheels" which are slightly different from bike wheels)
Then, there's quick-release axles, which are hollow and are fastened by a cam-locking bolt. These axles are not going to be strong enough held by just one side.

Most hardware on bicycles is metric, has been for decades.
Take a look into "axle pegs" for BMX freestyle bikes, they are fastened between fork and nut to make a foot-peg, it might inspire some other ideas? you might even find some on a donor bike?

Another thing to look for is "bike trailers" for kids, or "jogging strollers", both have cantilever axles like you are talking about, often with a release device to allow packing into a car trunk. They are often 16" sometimes 20" wheels, bike tires but custom hubs for the trailer/stroller.

Great replies!
Kenneth, your note on pegs lead me to a video describing how to put them on.
They could be solution, I'm not sure yet.
What peaked my interest was the bike having two different sized/ threaded axles.
I looked at it a bit more, seems road bikes have 12mm axels, BMX and mountain bikes can be much bigger.
If I could find  standard hub inside dimensions I could go from there even if they differ on a single bike.
Are there standard hubs/ axels for a given size of tire/rim?

I've looked into this a bit and there are a number of issues that need to be overcome to make use of a bike wheel by only attaching one side. As the name implies, bearings bear the weight applied to them. The bearings on either side of a wheel in a bike are attached to something often less than an inch away to transfer the load. If you only attach from one side, the bearings on the far side are much further away from the attachment point, which gives it a cantilever effect.

Also of note is that the axle is hardened steel. If you use a softer steel like threaded rod or pipe, it would have to be substantially thicker to bear the same load. Factor in the cantilever effect and it may appear to hold up weight, but bend a tiny amount under dynamic stress like hitting a bump in the road. The stock axle can be used in this fashion if the weight is less than a typical rider, or used where it wouldn't see hard bumps such as a small garden cart, but otherwise they will have a high probability of bending over time. Also, the wheels themselves aren't made to take side loads, and this will stress the spokes. The typical adult trikes available do nothing to fix any of these issues and won't be able to get anywhere near the same mileage before needing major repairs when compared to a bike in my experience.

I looked at the wheels on a bike trailer and they used much thicker hardened steel pins. It's certainly possible to replicate this by using different bearings with a larger internal diameter, allowing you to use a hardened bolt of larger diameter. I tried doing this for something light duty with a 1/2" bolt and bearings, and I wouldn't trust it to hold my weight at speed, and I'm not particularly large. If you wanted to carry tools in some sort of case with a total of 200 pounds or more, I would probably want to go with at least 5/8". It was going to take quite a bit of effort and more parts to modify the wheels to accept the larger bolt and bearings.

And that's where I stopped. In my case, the local junkyard has every compact spare (donut) for $15 and hubs for $30. With regular 50% off sales, that means I can get 2 wheels and hubs for $45 plus tax. I grabbed two donuts and hubs for a ~2010 Chevy Impala along with the rotors, emergency brake cables, and pedal. I'm going to try to cut off the outside of the rotor, as the inside has a mini drum brake. It might not be safe to use over 55MPH holding thousands of pounds, but it's way overkill for my needs. Spending more money and more time for a weaker, albeit lighter setup just doesn't work for me. If you are moving this under human power then the weight savings of bike wheels might be worth the effort.

I also got a truck bed box for around $30 on sale half price and plan on using that as my trailer. It's a little weak to be holding hundreds of pounds, so I might bolt on some steel bed frame angle stock to stiffen it up, and perhaps buy a second box to cut up and reinforce things, as well as make smaller tool boxes or trays out of the aluminum diamond plate. Unfortunately I haven't been physically able to do much in recent months, But I have been slowly making progress in this area and preparing some posts. I need to make headway and get some pictures to go along with it all, which I will post up when I can. I figured some of this might be of interest, so I hope it helps.

Some bicycle trailer frames have an outside rail, like a nerf bar, that allows the traditional bicycle tire to be used.  How much weight is your toolshaw going to carry?

Daniel, your post is very informative, exactly the stuff I was looking for.
Turning to auto parts makes a lot of sense.
Not suitable for my current application,  but very interesting, it's sparking so many ideas!

Robert, I had to look up nerf bar, but yeah that's exactly what I've done before.
The bottom of a file cabinet is an ideal spot for one side of a bike wheels axle.
Creating the "nerf bar" was what I was trying to avoid for these tool boxes.

I'm reconsidering this.
A full axle just might be too much of a pain in the butt.

William, what if you used the entire rear triangle of two identical bike frames? (could be the whole frames)
Remove the pedals and cranks, and replace with a piece of pipe or timber through both bottom brackets?
The file cabinet would be supported between the frames on that pipe, and maybe another pipe/brackets/straps that fixes to the chain stays or over the axle bolt.
A U-shaped pipe (like a lawnmower handle, maybe bent EMT conduit?) might connect the frames at the top in place of the seat tubes, and could be a rack for long things, a work support like a sawhorse or outfeed for a small table saw.

Kenneth, I'm leaning towards something like what you have described.
I can see your design working without the file cabinet being built in at all, allowing it to be used for other things.

I'll probably go with forks instead, because that is what I have on hand!

If I drilled holes on either side of the cabinet, I could use the axle bolts to affix the forks to the cabinet.
Given the forces that the BMX pegs transfer to the axles they are mounted on, I think the axels can take the weight of a cabinet
But can the cabinet support its own weight?
I think I would need to reinforce the holes, maybe with washers.

.
With the forks oriented vertically, they could be used to counter the uneven force acting against their axles, by bracing them against the cabinet.
Angle brackets would keep the forks parallel to the cabinet sides while also preventing them from rotating on their vertical axis.
2x4's screwed to the side of the cabinet would distribute the force transmitted through the angle brackets , and could also serve as a handle.

I wish I had something to illustrate what I'm  describing.
I did in fact finish a rolling toolbox build today, but it's on casters, and thus strictly for paved surfaces.

William Bronson wrote:I wish I had something to illustrate what I'm  describing.

If you do build it, please post pictures. A friend of mine has mounted a number of his tool boxes using oversized casters, but yes, I wouldn't want to try them off-road. At one point I debated building some sort of a tool box/work table on a heavy duty dolly, but I wasn't convinced the dolly was wide enough for the idea to work. We have an long, odd-shaped property, and I'm often needing to carry tools all over the place over rough ground. Tools tend to be heavy, but if the moving tool box is too heavy on it's own, I'll never be able to push the combination up some of the slopes!

William, I like the fork idea, since the cabinet lends some structure.  I can picture it clearly! My frame idea could indeed omit the cabinet, maybe just be a cargo hauler with a flat bed. If you were starting with whole bikes, you could make both!

Washers for sure! File cabinets are quite thin material these days, so reinforcing the holes is necessary. If I were doing it, I'd drill clearance holes for the screws/bolts so that the cabinet metal stays flat, rather than driving screws through without a hole and making the metal deform. If you make alterations/mistakes those bulged screw holes are sharp like a grater! just as well to not do that.

Adding an angle brace on the outside where the axles bolt on could be good, with the angle wrapping around the bottom edge of the cabinet. That way you get more support than just fender washers.

Jay I will certainly share anything I actually accomplish!


Kenneth, I'm gratified that my descriptions can convey something useful!

I get so much joy from working on ideas with like minds, you guys are the best!

I may have been too hasty dismissing cantilevered axles.
This video shows a no weld bike trailer that uses 20" tires on their original axles.
He does machine his own dropouts but we can snag some from a donor bike.
He uses this trailer to move over 100 pounds of grain, and his only design complaints are about the frame, not the wheel/dropout interface.



Things are looking good for this tool chariot idea.
If the cantilevered axles/salvaged dropouts can support 100 pounds, I will be well satisfied.
The donor bike and cabinet together would cost about 20 bucks at my local thrift store.
Because cabinets are metal, I keep imagining forges, grills,  ovens and other fire related items perched on top/ built inside of this portable platform.
Crazy, I know, but this brain cant help itself!

I wish I had an a more elegant idea for handles.
Right now, "pallet wood" is the only thing that fits the cheasy (cheap+easy) parameters I set for myself.
Wheel barrow  handles are NOT cheap, and might in fact be too short.
I'm leaning towards salvaged tree branches, even though I'm no wood worker.
My collection of tool heads could benefit from me learning to make handles.
I store those heads in-what else- file cabinets!


Thinking about how to get handles from the waste stream got me thinking about our donor bike.
In particular, what if we left it as whole as possible and attacked it to the back of the cabinet.
Allow me to share some trade terms , so its easier to describe what I'm thinking:



My first thought is to remove the seat stays and chain stays, then bolt the seat tube  to the back of the cabinet vertically.
This would rotate the head tube about 45% downward, where it could provide a handle, or it could support handle bars, a fork and a wheel.
In the second case we would have a the makings of a three wheeled cart that could be steered via handle bars.

At this point it occurred to me that we could bolt the cabinet to the stays, add another wheel and have a  bike with a  tool side car.
Buuut the cabinet would interfere with pedaling, and we are far away from the original idea.
Still, a pushable ,steerable 3 wheeled cart is pre seems pretty useful for my purposes.
I would put the cabinet on the right hand side of the bike, and walk on the left.

Now I need to look into  DIY bicycle side cars, to see if they have some ideas I can swipe.

William, if you're talking about using the head tube for the handle end (which is how it reads, to me), is there any way you can use the bicycle handlebar for the handle? Especially if the handlebar is either the straight style or the "ape" style, so they'd be adjustable for angle?

I picked up some free bikes and a cheap file cabinet.
Here is what I have built so far:

I tried mounting a wheel by screwing a salvaged drop out to the inside bottom edge  of the cabinet,  and drilling a hole for the axel.

Maybe mount the cabinet to the 2x4, and use that as your axle, with the wheels mounted to the 2x4 ends? Seems like that should add the stability needed.

I am feeling this thing out as I go.
It's as much a proof of concepts thing as it is a directly useful thing.
Honestly, I have "more important things to do " but I need to get this out of my head!

I gave up on those drop outs and cut a pair that had the seat and chain stays attached.
I hammered the stays to flatten out curves and the cut off ends, drilled holes in the tubing, and mounted them to the cabinet.
It worked great, no flexing, the wheel staying parallel to the cabinet side even when reasonable sideways pressure was applied.

I got hung up on the second wheel.
I had been getting by with pliers, vicegrips and box ended wrenches, but to properly adjust the axels, I needed cone wrenches.

A little research led me to choose something other than cone wrenches persay.
Good cone wrenches are expensive for what they are, the cheap ones seem to be very iffy.
I've ordered an adjustable crescent wrench that has very thin jaws.
I might also grind down some of my existing wrenchs.

I didn't want to wait for the adjustable wrench,  so I ground down a rusty 1/2" wrench to fit the thirteen mm bearing cone I was working on.
I accidentally melted my plastic harbor freight calibers in the process but  the wrench works a treat.
I moved the axle over so it has 2.25 inches sticking out on one side of the hub, and 1/2" on the other, easy peas.

I didn't want to wait for the adjustable wrench,  so I ground down a rusty 1/2" wrench to fit the thirteen mm bearing cone I was working on.
I accidentally melted my plastic harbor freight calibers in the process but  the wrench works a treat.
I moved the axle over so it has 2.25 inches sticking out on one side of the hub, and 1/2" on the other, easy peas.

Today I started building a cart for my dog to pull. I found some angle iron and added a hole for each shaft/axle. I attached them to the skid/cart with screws through some other holes that were already in the salvaged angle iron. I added a 2x4 support to help hold the sides and wheels parallel to each other. I put 90lb of weights over the support and it rolled nicely. I also added my 160lb bodyweight to the 90lb and it held up without noticable flexing of the wheels.  

Nice work!!
Looks like your photos didn't show up in your post.
Let me see if I can put them here:

Here are some photos of the toolshaw.
It feels more like a hot dog cart than a rickshaw.
I filled it with tools and took it over to my yarden as test run.
It rolled great, on grass or pavement.
On the way back, one wheel started going wonky.
Checking it out , I realized it was the wheel that inspired my search for better tools.
My fumbling with it had screwed it up pretty badly, with absolutely no ball bearing on one side of the hub.
I will add find another wheel, or rebuild the axle/hub on this one.
Overall I  am tickled pink with how well this thing works!

Thanks! I've been following along with your build, so I figured I'd share what I ended up finding to work so far. I'm not sure how it will hold up to extended work, but my dog is still a puppy so she won't be pulling much until maybe next summer. Hopefully by then I work out the details.
Nice job on your cart too! I can see it being useful on jobsites, etc.