CasterHQ organizes the full 1,204-caster catalog the way procurement teams actually buy: by capacity tier first, then by mount type, wheel material, brand, or application. Start with the load per caster you need (cart weight divided by 4, plus a 25-30% safety margin) and pick the tier below. From there the page filters narrow to plate or stem mount, swivel/rigid/brake, and wheel material. Sirius HD is our house brand series in the heaviest poly-on-aluminum tier; Hamilton, Albion, Faultless, and Caster Concepts cover the broader catalog.
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Most caster sourcing decisions start the wrong way — with the wheel size or material. The right starting point is the load per caster. A 2,000-pound industrial cart on 4 casters needs 500 lb per caster, plus a 25-30% safety margin for shock peaks at thresholds and floor seams. That gives you 625-650 lb per caster minimum — which lands you in the Medium-Heavy Duty tier (up to 1,500 lb per caster). From there the catalog narrows by mount type (plate or stem), swivel configuration (4-swivel, 2-swivel-2-rigid, or all-rigid), wheel material (polyurethane is the default for daily use, phenolic for heat, rubber for quiet), and brake requirements.
The 6 capacity tiers above are CasterHQ’s internal taxonomy — they map directly to the way our engineers spec replacement casters for B2B accounts. The biggest tier by product count is Medium-Heavy Duty (600 of 1,204 casters in the catalog) because that’s where the majority of industrial carts, AGVs, food-service equipment, and warehouse transport applications land. Light Duty is the smallest tier (58 casters) because most light-duty equipment uses furniture-grade casters that aren’t industrial spec. Xtreme Heavy Duty (85 casters) is where our Sirius HD house-brand series sits — polyurethane on aluminum at 4,000-4,800 lb per caster for the heaviest washdown and corrosion-resistant applications.
CasterHQ’s Caster University covers the technical fundamentals:
Total cart load (cargo + cart deck weight) divided by the number of casters, then add a 25-30% safety margin for shock loads on smooth indoor floors or 50% for outdoor and rough surfaces. The industry shortcut is to divide by N-1 instead of N — that automatically assumes one caster might not be fully loaded during transit. A 2,000 lb cart on 4 casters: 2,000 / 3 = 667 lb per caster minimum, or 2,000 / 4 + 30% = 650 lb. Both land in the Medium-Heavy Duty tier.
Static capacity is the rated load when the cart is parked — the full marketing number. Dynamic capacity is the rated load while rolling — typically 50-70% of static. Most caster manufacturers publish only static ratings, so the 30% safety margin above effectively accounts for the static-to-dynamic derate. Full breakdown in our Load Ratings article.
Polyurethane wins on continuous daily use. Service life on smooth indoor concrete: 8-12 years at rated capacity. Phenolic lasts longer in pure heat environments (paint booths, foundry-adjacent) but chips on rough or debris-strewn floors. Nylon and cast iron handle the highest capacities but mark floors. Rubber is the noise-control option but wears faster than poly. The Materials Guide covers the trade-offs per environment.
Equipment determines the answer. If your equipment has 4 bolt holes in a rectangular pattern: plate mount. If it has a single threaded hole or tube end: stem mount. Standard plate dimensions are 4″ x 4-1/2″ (most common medium-heavy industrial), 2-3/8″ x 3-5/8″ (light institutional), and 4-1/2″ x 6-1/4″ (heavy industrial). Stem mounts come in threaded (3/8-16 most common), grip-ring (7/16″ for office chairs and medical), and expanding-adapter (for tube-frame carts). Full catalog at Plate Casters and Stem Casters.
Three triggers automatically require kingpinless: (1) towline operation (motorized cart pulling), (2) capacity above 2,500 lb per caster, (3) high cycle counts above 1,000 swivel events per day. Kingpinless eliminates the central kingpin that loosens or shears under shock loads — the most common heavy-duty caster failure mode. See our Kingpinless Casters collection.
Single wheel for most applications under 1,500 lb per caster. Dual wheel for capacity above 2,000 lb per caster, continuous towline duty, or applications where the wheel sees sustained heat from heavy loads. Dual-wheel design splits the load across two wheels on a shared axle, halving bearing race deflection. See Dual Wheel Casters for the full breakdown.
Side-lock (foot-pedal brake on the wheel rotation only) for general parked-cart use. Total lock (locks both wheel rotation AND swivel raceway) for cart-must-not-move applications like operating room equipment, photo studio rigs, prep stations. Floor lock (foot-pedal beam that drops between the casters) for fleet applications where individual brake casters would slow loading. See Total Locking Casters for the brake catalog.
Both. Hamilton, Albion, Faultless, Caster Concepts, Service Caster, Colson, and Shepherd are all stocked as authorized dealer. Sirius HD is our house brand polyurethane-on-aluminum line. Engineer cross-reference between brands is supported — bring us a competitor part number and we’ll match to the closest CHQ-cataloged equivalent. Email info@casterhq.com or call 844-439-4335.
