Completed Wheel Workbench
If, like me, you enjoy restoring, rebuilding and repairing classic motorcycles, you’ll know that working on their hubs and brakes can be awkward when the wheels are off the bike. Some of the older ones have spindles / axles that don’t simply slide out of the hubs; they need to be pressed out. Having the end of a spindle / axle sticking out of the hub means that the wheel will roll around on your bench, and you risk damaging the threads on the spindle.
It’s also possible to damage your brand new rims and / or hubs, by working on them directly on your bench. A friend of mine lent me a useful bit of kit he’d made for working on his wheels; it’s made out of an old pallet…or more accurately a half pallet.
The picture above shows my finished example, complete with carpet to protect new wheel rims from scratches. Ideally the carpet should cover the whole top, but this is thick carpet and was free from the local carpet retailer JW Carpets; they also fitted carpets in my home.
Dimensions in centimetres
The half, or small pallet, came from a friend who planned to use it as firewood. I made some measurements of the wheel workbench my friend had made, and made mine in a similar style; these pallets are not all the same, so you will need to adapt yours too. You could of course, get a full size pallet and cut it down, or buy new wood and carpet if you wish…my wheel workbench cost me nothing.
Note that when you make the 25cm ‘hole’ you will cut through at least one cross piece. It’s imperative that you use blocks of wood under the wheel workbench to restore the strength of the centre section; you can just see one of the blocks through the hole on mine. If you don’t have a central cross piece on the underside of your half pallet, you will also need to use a short joining piece, on my diagram this part measures 42cm.
Remember to sand the wood of the half pallet to remove any spikes and splinters, as pallet wood is usually unfinished.
Here is a slider of the photos of my friend’s wheel workbench:
