Skip to content
Open calculators

Dual Wheel Equivalent Capacity

Work out what a dual-wheel caster really carries, because two wheels on one bracket do not double the rating when an uneven floor can put the load on one wheel.

Twin wheels share a bracket, not necessarily the load. Enter the single-wheel rating, the intended utilisation, the floor condition, and whether the wheels are fixed or swivelling, and the calculator returns the equivalent capacity the bracket delivers and the verdict against the required load.

On an uneven floor one wheel can take almost the whole load while its partner is momentarily off the floor, which is why the equivalent capacity is lower than twice a single wheel. The sharing factors are floor-based only and do not account for wheel material or tread hardness.

Inputs

Wheel rating, wheel count, and floor

Range: 50–30,000 lb

Range: 10–60,000 lb

Result

Effective caster capacity
1,050
Utilization of that capacity (%)
114
Verdict
Overloaded once the wheels are counted correctly. Either move to a wider wheel, add a caster, or pick the higher-capacity bracket: the twin wheels are not two independent ratings.

What to check

  • Start from the single-wheel dynamic rating, not the bracket's static rating.
  • Choose the floor condition honestly; a rough floor is what consumes the extra wheel.
  • Confirm any published dual-wheel rating from the manufacturer before relying on the estimate.

Related calculators

A screening estimate, and the manufacturer's dual-wheel rating outranks it where one is published. It assumes two equal wheels and a rigid bracket, so spring-loaded or articulating twin brackets behave differently. Swivelling drag from a wide twin wheel is not modelled; use the push force tool for that, and treat the sharing factors as floor-based only.