Putting Wheels on an Old Chair

I found this old chair being tossed out and thought with a little love it would look great.

Well, I never got around to giving it the love it deserves. Instead, it became my favorite sitting chair and it's always in use. The vintage wheels were busted and fell out. I really did not want to spend the money to replace them nor the hard ware. Instead I used this ten dollar dolly and hardware I already had around the house to install some sick wheels.

You'll need:

Materials:

1. Furniture dolly with caster wheels
2. Glue
3. 1/2 inch wooden dowel
4. Wood screws (just long enough to go through the dolly and not all the way through the chair leg)

Tools:

1. Drill
2. 1/2 inch drill bit
3. Mallet
4. Bit for the screws.
5. Wood saw
6. Pliers

I removed the bottom from under the chair to make the next few tasks easier.

There are holes where the old wheels were previously installed. Some of the holes still have bits if the broken the plastic hardware still glued inside. They need to be cleaned out.

To clean out the holes I drilled it open with a 1/2" drill bit.

Take a 1/2" wooden dowel and cut it longer than the depth of the hole. You'll need one for each hole.

Use pliers to press groves into the side of the dowels. This will give the glue something to grip to when it cures.

Squeeze a little glue into the holes and coat the side of the dowels.

Press the dowels into the hole and give it a good whack with the mallet.

Clean up the excess glue.

Take the wood saw and trim the dowels flushed with the bottom of the legs.

Lightly sand the area and to make sure the dowel is flat.

Flip the dolly upside and place the legs on top.

Take a pencil and mark where the legs are going to be.

Partially drill screws where the legs were marked. I put two screws for each leg for durability.

Flip the dolly back onto it's wheels and place the legs on top.

Carefully align them over where the screw are and screw the dolly tight into the legs.

Once done, place the wheels on the floor. Attached the top part of the chair and you're done.

From start to finish this project took me less than an hour. I did not wait for the glue to cure cause I was in a hurry to used the chair again. You can also use this method to put wheels on a chair that never had them.

I hope this give someone a creative idea of a quick fix for their favorite chairs.