Pelican Case Wheel Replacement

If you don’t have a wheeled Pelican case then skip this post.

There are a lot of online instructions for replacing the wheels on a newer Pelican case, usually the 1510 model. But there’s no information for any of the original Pelican cases that came with a pair of one-piece, hard plastic wheels.

Here are some simple instructions for replacing the wheels on an original 1510 case and original 1650 case. Replacing the wheels on other Pelicans should be similar since all original wheeled cases were designed similarly. Just be sure you have the correct wheel size. Most inline skate wheels, skateboard wheels and luggage wheels use the same 22mm diameter x 7mm thick bearing size (more on all this in a moment).

Pelican 1510

One option for replacing the wheels is to buy replacement parts from Pelican. But this is expensive and Pelican replacement parts are virtually impossible to find in Canada. An easier solution is to buy inline skate wheels or luggage wheels.

The original wheels on the 1510 case are 60mm in diameter. In theory, you could go a couple of millimetres larger but 60mm should be easy to find. I bought a pair of 60mm luggage wheels for $10.

Since the original 1510 wheels are just cheap, hard plastic wheels on a metal axle, you have to buy bearings to fit inside your new wheels. The Pelican axle diameter is not a standard size (i.e. it doesn’t exactly match any bearing size). Also the design of the 1510 wheel housing prevents you from using ready-to-go luggage wheels which come with their own bearings.

Unless Pelican changed the axle diameter over time, bearing #627 is the nearest fit for an original 1510 case. But it’s not a perfect fit because bearings are metric-sized and Pelican axles are not. The next larger bearing size is definitely too large and the next smaller size is just barely too small. You need two bearings per wheel.

Bearing #627 is 22mm (outside diameter) x 7mm (inside diameter or bore) x 7mm (width or thickness). A 22mm outside diameter with a 7mm width is a fairly standard size which should fit most inline skate wheels, luggage wheels and skateboard wheels (more on skateboard wheels in a moment). A package of ten #627 bearings cost me $8.

Bearings come in at least three versions: ZZ, 2RS and Open. ZZ means the bearing has a metal cover on each side, 2RS refers to rubber covers and Open indicates that the bearing has no covers. You probably want ZZ or RS since an Open bearing will let in dirt and water. In theory, you can pry open the covers to clean and lubricate the bearing. But if you ever felt the need to clean and lubricate your bearings, it might be easier to just replace them.

To replace the wheels on a Pelican 1510 case, first remove the wheel housing:

Use a hammer and a metal pointy thing like a nail punch, (although most folks will probably use a screwdriver), to easily knock out the axle from the inside out. All Pelican axles, as well as the metal pins for the handles and the clasps, are similar in that the outside end is wider than the inside end. Each axle or pin only goes in/out in one direction.

Insert a pair of bearings in the centre of your new wheel and reassemble the axle and wheel housing.

Pelican 1650

If you have an original Pelican 1650 case that came with a pair of cheap, plastic wheels, you can replace the wheels the same way as mentioned above. But a 1650 case needs skateboard wheels.

In theory, you probably could use skate wheels or luggage wheels but they are much narrower and may slide laterally too much on the Pelican 1650 axle.

Skateboard wheels come in all sorts of colours and crazy patterns. Some wheels have convex sides (“A-cut”) and others have concave sides (“C-cut” or “round cut”) where the wheels look a bit like tiny donuts. While this might make a difference for skateboarders, either should work for your Pelican.

The outside diameter of the original 1650 wheels is 50mm and due to the design of the case, you can’t go much larger than that. The width or thickness of the wheels is 37mm. But measure your case to be sure.