All Terrain Wheels for Pop Up Canopy

Just about everyone has a 10x10 pop up canopy these days. People bring them to kids sporting events, tailgating, the beach, and more. Many canopies come with pitiful wheels on the case that are essentially useless once you get them past the smooth floor in the store. These canopies are also bulky and heavy, making them barely portable.

This Instructables shows you how to put very robust wheels on the case that will allow you to easily haul the canopy just about anywhere.

Step 1:

Step 2: Gather Materials

You will need the following:

2 large wheels. I used 10" pneumatic tires from harbor freight. I got them on sale for $4 each, but you can usually find them for $5. They have built in bearings, run smooth, and are easy to use for DIY

About 18" of 3/4" PVC. I happened to have this lying around.

About 24" of 5/8" outer diameter tubing. 1/2" copper pipe works for this. You can also get anything that is 5/8" out diameter. I used all-thread this time.

2 cotter pins or bolts (if you use all thread)

2 bolts and nuts, about 4" long

Step 3: Make Axle Receiver

The canopy probably has two stubby little legs on the bottom section that has the pitiful wheels.

Put your PVC tube up against these legs and make a mark on the pipe to mark the centers of the legs.

Cut the pvc pipe to wider than the bag itself. Make sure you give plenty of room so the wheels don't wear on the bag as they rotate.

You will need two drill bits. One of them needs to be larger than the bolt head and the other needs to be smaller than the bolt head, but bigger than the bolt shaft.

Drill the large holes on your marks first, then drill through the center of the hole with the smaller bit. This will allow you to put the bolt through the PVC like show in the picture.

Step 4: Mark Holes for Drilling Legs

Use your drilled PVC to mark holes in the legs of the canopy bag and use your small drill bit to drill the holes.

Bolt your axle receiver to the legs.

Step 5: Cut Axle to Length

Feed your 5/8" axle through the PVC and attach both wheels. Cut the axle long enough to go through and give yourself room to drill a hole for a cotter pin on each side.

Step 6: Final Assembly

After cutting your axle, assemble the wheels and put in the cotter pins. You are done.

Note how much easy it now rolls!

Note, this method works on all sorts of other things, like coolers.