My driveway is gravel. Rolling a trash bin up to the road used to be rough, bouncy, and loud. So loud. The narrow plastic wheels transmitted every rock and rut directly through the bin.
I had recently seen Good Neighbor Wheels, which use soft covers over the original trash-bin wheels to reduce noise and vibration. I thought it was a great idea. For my driveway in the county, though, I wanted more ground clearance and a pneumatic tire that could absorb the gravel.
The original axle measured 5/8 inch. That opened up an assortment of ordinary cart and hand-truck parts, including a 10-inch pneumatic Harbor Freight tire with a 5/8-inch axle bore. The replacement tires were much wider than the original wheels, so the factory axle had to be replaced too.
Parts and tools
These are the parts I used. Measure your bin before ordering: axle diameter, available clearance, and final width can vary.
- Two Haul-Master 10-inch pneumatic tires with 5/8-inch axle bores
- Four 5/8-inch split shaft collars
- One 5/8-inch by 36-inch zinc-plated steel axle, cut to fit
- One bushing and spacer assortment
- Four washers sized for the 5/8-inch axle, one on each side of each wheel hub
- Loctite 243 blue threadlocker
- A hacksaw, hex keys, measuring tape, marker, drill, and chamfer/deburring drill bit
The Amazon links are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I bought and used these parts for this project.
Build the wheel assemblies to fit your bin
The useful trick in this project is to assemble the axle, spacers, collars, washers, and wheels on the actual bin before cutting the axle. A universal cut length would be convenient, but it would also be wrong for plenty of bins. Start long, establish the clearances, and trim once.
Confirm the axle and wheel size
Measure the original axle before ordering anything. Mine was a fairly standard 5/8 inch, which matched the axle bore in the Harbor Freight wheels. Do not assume that every trash bin uses the same size.
I bought a 36-inch axle knowing that I would assemble everything on the bin and trim it to fit. The finished length depends on the bin, wheel width, washers, spacers, and collars.
Check the shaft collars
Test the shaft collars on the new axle and make sure their clamping bolts move freely. I used four 5/8-inch split collars so each wheel could be captured on both sides.
Assemble a wheel on the axle
Slide a collar, washer, wheel, washer, and second collar onto the axle. Leave the collar bolts loose enough to reposition the assembly. Repeat for the other wheel.
The washers keep the wheel hub from rubbing directly against the collars. The bushings from the spacing kit will be used later to position the axle and wheels around the bin.
Remove the original wheels and axle
Empty the bin, place it where it cannot roll, and remove the original wheels and axle. Keep the original parts until the new setup has been fitted and tested.
Fit the long axle
Pass the replacement axle through the bin and temporarily install both wheel assemblies. Leave the shaft collars loose enough to adjust while you establish the final spacing.
Set the spacing
Use the bushing kit to fill the space between the bin and wheel assemblies as needed. Put a washer on each side of each wheel hub, then position the collars so the wheels turn freely without excessive side-to-side movement.
Spin both wheels and make small spacing adjustments until the tires and hubs clear the bin. Only after this full assembly is in its final position can you determine the axle length.
Check the clearance and mark the cut
Roll each wheel by hand and confirm that the tire and hub do not rub the bin. Check both sides, then mark the axle just beyond the outside collar. Allow enough axle for the collar to clamp securely without leaving an unnecessary projection.
Measure from the assembled parts rather than copying my finished length. Even a similar bin may need a different amount of axle. Record the spacing or mark the collar positions so you can reproduce the assembly after cutting.
Cut the axle to fit
Remove the parts that would be in the way and cut the axle at your mark with a hacksaw. Secure the rod before cutting and wear eye protection. The cut does not have to be beautiful, but it should be square enough for the collars and wheel to slide on cleanly.
Do not cut the axle for a tight, zero-clearance fit. Leave about 1/16 inch of total end-to-end play—what a clockmaker might call endshake—to keep small alignment differences from making the wheels bind. We are not dealing with tight tolerances here.
Chamfer and deburr the cut end
Remove the burr and soften the edge with a file or even some sandpaper. A drill-mounted chamfer and deburring tool makes the job faster and is a nice tool to have in the shop, but it is not required for this project. Test a washer and collar on the finished end. They should slide on without being forced.
Reinstall and center the axle
Slide the finished axle back through the bin and restore the washer, spacer, wheel, and collar positions established during the test fit. Center the axle before tightening anything so the available length is divided evenly between both sides. Spin both wheels and check the clearance one more time.
Apply threadlocker and tighten the collars
Once the fit is correct, apply blue Loctite 243 to the shaft-collar bolts and tighten them evenly. Blue medium-strength threadlocker is removable with ordinary hand tools, which matters when a tire eventually needs service.
Inflate and inspect the finished wheels
I run these tires at about 25 PSI, below their listed 30 PSI working pressure. Check the rating on the tires you actually buy. Make sure the wheels spin freely, the collars remain tight, and no sharp axle end projects beyond the hardware.
Put the bin back in service
Test the empty bin first, then add a normal load and check it again. After the first few trips, inspect the collars and spacing to make sure nothing has shifted.
Summary
After several months of use, the pneumatic wheels are remarkably quiet on my gravel driveway. The bin is easier to pull and steer, and the small amount of extra width makes it more stable on the off-camber sections of the driveway. I have not found a drawback so far.
The tires will eventually need air and may require more maintenance than solid plastic wheels, but at about 25 PSI they have been trouble-free. More than anything, the conversion has made taking the trash to the road a much calmer job.