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Quieter Wheels on Push-car

This post details how I replaced the noisy plastic wheels on a Little Tikes push car with high-quality rubber-coated steel wheels. The default wheels are probably OK for grass but on pavement they make a deafening grinding noise and I felt bad for my neighbors (and my son) just going one block over to the park behind our house.

To be clear, upgrading the wheels doesn’t make economic sense: A push car with noisy wheels costs $60 and the “whisper ride” model with rubber-coated wheels costs $80. Four steel wheels will set you back about $40 before considering time and additional parts. But we were emotionally attached to our push car and I thought it’d be a fun project.

Before switching out the wheels I did try just hot-glueing strips of old bike-tires to the plastic wheels but that didn’t last.

Wheel Change Instructions

Wheels upgraded. Note how the axles snap into the molded car body

Materials:

Steps:

  1. Yank the axle-rods off the bottom of the car. The axles snap into the bottom of the molded plastic car body
  2. Get the push nuts off the axle ends and take the old wheels off
  3. Press the 3/8″ x 1/2″ sleeves on the axle ends. This may require some combination of sanding, lubrication and hammering
  4. Mount the new wheels on the sleeves on the axles and put the whole thing back together.
Smoothest-running push-car west of the Mississippi!

Comments

Simone on

Love this idea. We have the Fiat push car and also don’t want another one but desperately need rubber wheels on it as it sounds like we are taking out the trash bins every time we go for a spin. Going to try this!

Thanks!

Reply

Matt Bonds on

We were in the same boat with our kids. There is actually a company out there that makes rubber tire treads that wrap around these wheels. I think it’s called Whisper Wheelz, they are on social media. I am ordering a set for my kids Push Around Buggy.

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