How to Choose the Best Castor or Wheel | Fallshaw Wheels & Castors

How to choose the right castor or wheel

A guide on helping you select the best castor or wheel for your chosen application.

An easy 6-step guide to selecting the best castors

1 Choose the range based on what you are using it for, and how much load it will carry.

Light to medium duty

Load rating: 25-200 kg

L, Twin, N, K, M and Big M series

Suitable for:

  • Trolleys and carts.

  • Shop fittings and displays.

  • Mobile storage.

Light to medium duty Fallshaw castors

General duty to heavy duty

Load rating: 200-600 kg

J, Y, O and H Series

Suitable for:

  • Linen carts.

  • Work platforms.

  • Roll cages.

  • Stock trolleys.

General duty to heavy duty Fallshaw castors

Very heavy duty

Load rating: 500-3500 kg

W, X, V and A Series

Suitable for:

  • Stock trolleys for automotive plants.

  • Shipping containers.

  • Multi-purpose industrial trolleys.

Fallshaw medical castors

Medical

Load rating: 100–150 kg

Trinity and Trinity EBC, Central locking, Wheelchair

  • Medical equipment, hospital beds and other applications that need an automatic or accessible brake.

  • Recliner chairs.

  • Mobile computer tables.

Very heavy duty Fallshaw castors

2 Choose a wheel, based on the floor surface it will be travelling on.

Outdoors and rough ground

Bouncy, elastic tyres help get over bumps.

That's why wheelbarrows and other equipment uses on rough grounds are fitted with pneumatic or rubber tyres.

Fallshaw wheels for outdoors and rough ground

Soft surfaces and smooth floors

Hard wheels have high load bearing capacity and reduce push effort on carpet and soft surfaces.

They tend to be very noisy on tiles and other hard surfaces, and can also leave indentations on wooden floors.

Fallshaw wheels for soft surfaces and smooth floors

Variable floor surfaces

Road cases are a classic example of tyres that need to adapt to a wide range of floor surfaces.

When bands are on the move, their equipment needs to travel over bitumen, carpet, lino, wood and over curbs and stairs. These wheels go everywhere! Another example is wheeled luggage.

Fallshaw wheels for variable floor surfaces

Specialised applications

Some applications have specific requirements, and we have a wide range of specialised wheels to suit.

Our range caters for high and low temperatures (eg. ovens and freezers), wheelie bin wheels, central locking castors, anti-static wheels and many more.

Fallshaw wheels for specialised applications

3 Choose the diameter of the wheel.

The larger the wheel, the easier to push and the better the ride comfort (ability to pass over bumps and to minimize vibration).

Why? The larger the wheel, the smaller obstacles are in proportion to the wheel's diameter, resulting in greater momentum.

Wheel diameter should be maximised, bearing in mind that:

  • As a rule of safety a maximum height of 1400 mm is recommended (including the goods being carried) to enable a clear line of sight.

  • Small wheels are sometimes used to reduce the centre of gravity to address tip hazards due to top-heavy loads.

The larger the wheel, the smaller the obstacles are in proportion to the wheel's diameter

4 Choose the bearing type.

Precision industrial ball bearing

Used in applications where heat can build up due to friction caused by constant movement and/or higher speeds—all towing applications use precision bearings (as the high tolerance and hardened steel used in the sealed and greased bearings reduces heat build-up that can cause weakening of the wheel).

Precision industrial ball bearings offer the lowest friction and therefore the lowest push effort—they are also the most expensive type of bearing in our range.

Castor ball bearings

Deep groove cone ball bearing

Deep groove cone bearings are used in our outdoor, all-terrain wheels (such as pneumatics). They are designed to withstand rough, bumpy ground in applications where the direction of the load is both lateral and vertical (like wheelbarrows on construction sites).

Deep groove cone ball bearing

Roller bearing

Used in high impact applications (the large surface area of the bearing spreads load and therefore protects against high impact).

Not suitable for high speed (more than 6 km/h).

Castor roller bearings

Plain bush (or bore) bearing

Used in corrosive environments (polymer bearings won't rust).

Also used to reduce cost (the cheapest kind of 'basic' bush).

Castor Plain bush (or bore) bearings

5 Choose the type of brake and castor configuration.

Total brake
Castor configuration with total brake
No brake
Castor configuration with no brake
Direction lock
Castor configuration with direction lock
3-in-1 brake
Castor configuration with three-in-one brake

Castor configuration options

Traditional
Traditional castor configuration: 4 swivel
Traditional castor configuration: 2 swivel, 2 fixed/self-align
Traditional castor configuration: 2 swivel, 2 fixed/self-align
Traditional castor configuration: 4 swivel, 2 fixed/self-align
Traditional castor configuration: 4 swivel, 1 fixed/self-align

World's best practice
World's best practice castor configuration: 4 Trinity EBC (electronic braking castors) with intuitive steer

Trinity EBC with intuitive steer, automatically apply the steering device in the right direction, with the use of a motion sensor.

World's best practice castor configuration: 4 Trinity complete brake (CB)

Trinity complete brake (CB) castors have a 3-in-1 brake that includes a direction lock option to steer from either end.

Direction of steer

6 Choose your fittings.

Bolt hole fittings

Suitable for installing into tubular legs. We have a full range of expanding adaptors, pintle bolts, threaded tube ends, grip neck and friction stems and solid pintles, all designed to work seamlessly with any bolt hole castor.

Fallshaw bolt hole fittings for castors

Washer mount (for bolt hole)

Suitable for mounting bolt hole castors into equipment that do not have tubular legs.

Washer mount (for bolt hole) for castors

Plate mount

Suitable for mounting onto equipment that have smooth flat surfaces, such as sheet metal or wood.

Plate mount for castors