In 2014 my mom gave me a fantastic set of suitcases: a small, medium and large, all hard shell. They have been warriors and resisted many years of journeys without any problem. One of them though, had a harder life than the others.

The smaller one is just so much more convenient for short trips or space-constrained journeys. The most notable example being the trip Paris -> Italy it did with me, attached to the back of my bike.

It still worked great for a long time after that, but one day one of the wheels stopped spinning properly, and got badly damaged pretty fast.

I searched for that wheel assembly everywhere, and even though there are tons of suitcase swivel wheels on AliExpress, the replacements for the whole assembly didn’t seem to match the hole pattern nor the shape of my suitcase. If you are looking for a way to repair yours, make a comprehensive search through these results, as finding one that fits would save you from a lot of work.

I chose to make new ones, so I bought a very nice new wheel set (with ball bearings!) for almost no money.

Made a new model with Fusion 360 (download: STL, F3D) and got it printed (100% infill, PLA):

And with the right pin size, got it attached to the assembly, and to the suitcase.

I believe PLA is strong enough to resist normal wear, but it may melt/deform if exposed to heat. If that happens, I’ll re-print in ABS.

Job done! Let’s see for how long it lasts.