Rebuildable casters on a floor jack?

[ex-x-fire]

New member here, nice place to talk about tools.
I picked up a Walker J-122 the other day, I started taking it apart to clean & paint it, I found one of the caster bearings stuck. I looks flattened, like it was dropped off of a truck or something.
The casters are the stem style & looks like they are pressed together & one end is mushroomed over to hold it together. My question is, has any one cut the head off & rebuild the bearings? I'm thinking if I could get the stem off I could drill & tap a hole for a bolt. The trick is removing only the mushroomed part of the stem.

 

[Hiball]

New member here, nice place to talk about tools.
I picked up a Walker J-122 the other day, I started taking it apart to clean & paint it, I found one of the caster bearings stuck. I looks flattened, like it was dropped off of a truck or something.
The casters are the stem style & looks like they are pressed together & one end is mushroomed over to hold it together. My question is, has any one cut the head off & rebuild the bearings? I'm thinking if I could get the stem off I could drill & tap a hole for a bolt. The trick is removing only the mushroomed part of the stem.

It's just a matter of separating the upper and bottom race. If your caster was the stem type (threaded) that was secured with a nut, I'd say replace it. I'm sure yours is secured with a snap ring (top) and they are pricey, so yes you will need to grind off some of that staked portion.

There was another member who was trying to do the same thing, but a quick search l
Didn't show anything.

Can you simply use a chisel/hammer to allow free movement of the race/frame? Or is it missing balls?

 

[ex-x-fire]

The stem on the casters has the groove style, I'm wondering if I could just put bolt on casters on it.

 

[Hiball]

The stem on the casters has the groove style, I'm wondering if I could just put bolt on casters on it.

The bolt on ones won't work on that frame style, here is what they look like.

Maybe a picture of the damage?

 

[ex-x-fire]

The shells are really flat, I can't even see any bearings.

 

[ex-x-fire]

Well, I cut the staked part of the stem, I had to use a press to get everything serperated. The shells looked in good shape & no missing bearings. Half of the bearings ride in the top (in a C shaped bearing retainer of the caster body) & the lower holds an equal no. of bearings. Thats probably why the bearing looks alittle tilted.
I cleaned & blasted all the parts, lubed the bearings & tapped it back together, it seems to be alot better. I weld alittle bead to keep it together.
The real test will be after I put a load on it.