Replacing Trolley Wheels

If the trolley starts having an extremely difficult time moving along the rails, it might be time to replace the wheels.

Wheels can be ordered through Veeco, you can email and ask for a quote for 6x axle and bearing assemblies for a Gen II trolley.

Unload the trolley normally to performed the maintenance in the hood
- The wheels are seated in holes along the rail and held in place with a washer and hex nut
- It was easier to work when we separated the rail from the trolley
  - They're held together with 2 set screws and a washer + hex nut (same size as the ones on the wheels)
  - The washers for the connecting set screws were completely stuck to the rail, so we left them on throughout the entire maintenance
Once the rail is separated, unscrew and set aside all the hex nuts and washers from the wheels
- The axle part itself is meant to snap into the holes on the rail, but the old ones were also completely stuck to the rail.
The best way to get them unstuck and out of the rail was to use a small UC screwdriver and a small hammer covered in UC foil. While P2 held the rail in place and applied counter force (to prevent deforming the rail--the metal is soft and definitely got scuffed, but not bent out of shape), P1 wedged the screwdriver between the wheel and rail on all sides to loosen it.
Then, P3 would hit the back of the axle to push out the loosened assembly while P1 and P2 held the rail in place and applied counter force (all with UC gloves).
- After a few solid hits, the screws popped out.
- We carefully wiped the rail and open holes with an UC chemwipe.
- We also wiped the LC rail with a Tyvek sleeve and wipe.
With fresh UC gloves, snap the new wheels into place.
- Some required using UC pliers to carefully squeeze them into the hole, but most could snap with finger force.
The washer + hex nuts were replaced, and tightened with an UC wrench ~1/4 turn tighter than finger tight.
- We made sure all the wheels spun, and proceeded with loading normally.

Updated by AFR 230503