Dining chairs with casters move readily across the ground, enabling you to rapidly rearrange seating and slip to and out of the table with very little effort. But since the dining chairs glide across the ground, food particles and dirt build up around the wheels, eventually limiting motion and turning your usable piece of furniture into a source of frustration. Many casters can be fixed with a comprehensive cleaning. If the wheel or casing is really broken, the simplest solution would be to replace the casters.
Remove Dirt and Debris
Turn the dining seat on its side upside-down. Position a scrap piece of cardboard or old towel under it to protect your floors.
Snip pet hairs, carpet fibers and other strings wrapped around the caster wheel to stretch them, turning the wheel as you operate. Pull the fibers off with your fingers or a pair of tweezers. Depending on how closely the fibers are wound around the wheel, this may prove harder than it sounds. Use a utility knife to cut across the fibers if required, taking care not to scratch the seat’s base or the wheel.
Scrape accumulation the wheel off with a butter knife. Catch the end of a pipe cleaner between the wheel and the casing, employing a back-and-forth scrubbing motion to loosen dirt and crumbs. Hook an angled vacuum cleaner attachment for your vacuum hose and suck away the debris.
Spritz the caster with a degreasing cleaner. Clean the wheel along with the casing with an old toothbrush, turning the wheel as you operate. Wipe down everything with a damp rag and then allow the caster dry.
Apply a lubricant to the wheel base and then turn the wheel to make an even coat. Remove the protective ground covering and then clean the floor thoroughly prior to returning the dining seat to its erect position.
Easy Replacement
Measure the wheel base of the casters and secure replacements. The maker of the dining chairs may supply the identical type, or you can purchase stock replacement casters based on the width of the existing part. If you are buying a replacement, make sure you choose a design that installs exactly the identical way as the old one. Swivel casters normally snap in place or twist to the seat leg with a bolt, while stationary casters are installed with screws on the leg of the seat.
Pry or unscrew the casters from the seat’s base. A small crowbar works nicely for dislodging swivel casters. Loosen a twist-on caster with a rhythm or by hand, and unscrew a stationary caster with a screwdriver.
Secure the new casters to the base of the seat. After installing snap-in swivel casters, hold the stem part at a small angle against the socket in the chair’s leg or base. This compresses the seal so the caster slides in easily. Catch the caster in while simultaneously moving it to a vertical position; tune to get a “snap,” which indicates the new caster is secured in.