Just realized my carry-on bag has a broken wheel from my Denver trip

I flew into Denver three weeks ago for a cheap weekend trip and noticed one of the wheels on my carry-on is totally cracked now, probably from all the rough pavement at the airport. It drags sideways and makes this awful scraping sound, and I have another flight next month to visit family. Does anyone know if I can fix a plastic wheel cheaply or should I just hunt for a budget replacement bag?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlie2692d ago

I'm going to disagree a bit with @maxpalmer and the others here. You can totally replace a wheel yourself for cheap, I've done it before, but not every bag has those easy pop-off wheel units that cost 8 bucks. Some of them have the wheels buried inside the frame and you have to take the whole lining out of the bag and drill out rivets, which is a nightmare if you don't have the right tools. I'd say pop the bag open and look at how the wheel is attached first before ordering anything, because if it's one of those molded plastic ones that doesn't separate from the bracket, you're better off just getting a new bag. Denver airport really is brutal on luggage though, I swear they use sandpaper for floors.

maxpalmer3d ago

Oh man, that scraping sound is the worst. My buddy had the exact same thing happen after a trip to Chicago and he just bought some cheap replacement wheels off Amazon for like 8 bucks. He said it took him maybe 15 minutes with a screwdriver and some pliers to pop the old ones off and snap the new ones in. They weren't like top quality but they held up for another year or so. Might be worth checking if your bag has the kind where the wheel comes off as a little unit.

the_phoenix2d ago

Yeah Denver's airport is basically a warzone for cheap luggage. Those concrete floors eat wheels for breakfast. Honestly just swap the wheel yourself unless that bag cost you like 20 bucks. Amazon specials are fine, the whole thing takes longer to find the right size than to actually install it. Just make sure you get a measurement before ordering because guessing wrong is a pain. Or you could do what my friend did and just drag it through the airport like a wounded animal until someone offers you a pity replacement.