Chariot Rear wheels won’t stay on, advice?

[muted]

Hey! Anyone have issues with their Chariot rear wheels not staying on? I have an old Cougar 2 and the button on the wheel works to insert, but then the wheels do not engage/hold while inside the chariot. They just pull out without holding the button. So the small knobs that should pop out while in the chariot are not popping out to hold them on. They used to work. I haven’t used this Chariot in a long time, I’m I just forgetting something or what?

I’m looking at replacement wheels for $100 each, and there is no way to tell if they work on all Cougar 2 models or not, any guesses there? I’d prefer not to replace the wheels on such an old POS trailer but I may have to unless one of you know a fix?

[homemadesalsa]

Bring the assembly indoors overnight and let it dry out first. Then a good application of silicone spray is a good place to start. Those buttons are on a spring inside the bar and can get twisted around. A small pliers can help. I had a G3 shovel that do the same thing.

Sent from my SM-A600A using Tapatalk

[BCMtnHound]

Yup, those spring-loaded buttons are seized. Start with WD40 to loosen everything up, then a good film lubricant to keep the rust and frost from sticking those little nubs in the tube.

[muted]

Interesting, you guys saying there is an indent where the nubs go inside the tube/axle (see pic of what the wheel goes in) that is spring loaded and stuck?



That makes a lotta sense....I'll check tonight. Thanks.

[muted]

So there is no ident in the axle, and it's not quite like a avie shovel.. I took out the black end cap, the wheel buttons need to go past it to work is what I learned. For some reason it juuuuust did not go far enough, so weird. I ground down the black cap to make it shorter, now it works. Thanks for the help with this. I'm still confused on why this all of a sudden happened though.

[ex-powderbroker]

i kind of have the opposite problem with a stuck wheel. i popped the black cap off to see what was going on in there and it seems like the button on the inside is seized in and those two nubbins are going nowhere. even on the wheel that came off, after lubricating them i don’t get much action. but i have been dripping in grease a little bit at a time for a few days and getting nowhere so today i thought i’d try to push it out from the inside. instead of progress something weird happened and the center pin from the stuck assembly fell out through the open end of the axle but the wheel remains on. do i need to do anything special to remove the whole section and will i get access to the wheel then? or is this toast? i really wanted to get it working for xc skiing since dragging a kids sled is not great for anyone.







i’m definitely getting tempted to hand this off to a bike shop to see if they’ll touch it but that would also be defeat!

[ex-powderbroker]

fuck i got the thing off (after six days of beating on it) but with that center pin missing the nubbins won’t keep it on. replacement part from thule is about $10. money well spent i hope.

[Beaver]

I have an old Cougar 2

Hey, I have an old cougar too.

[SchralphMacchio]

fuck i got the thing off (after six days of beating on it) but with that center pin missing the nubbins won’t keep it on. replacement part from thule is about $10. money well spent i hope.

I'm sure you've discovered by now, to your disappointment, that the 40mm clevis axle assembly shown on the Thule spare parts ordering page is actually about 10mm too short for a Cougar wheel. See photos, bent axle is the original Cougar 2 axle that came with my trailer, straight axle is the new 40mm axle. I bought two, even though I only needed one, because $9 shipping so might as well have a spare part right? Bummer. (Edit) I checked my ski kit, and they have the same axle length as my Cougar 2 wheel kit! I have no idea what the 40mm part is used for, maybe something even older than Cougar. I think the new Chariot Cross clevis axle is actually the correct size for the Cougar, but alas it's unavailable from Thule.

BUT, if you google search for Thule 50mm clevis axle, this shows up on the Corsair parts page:
https://www.thule.com/en-us/accessor...m-_-1540105052

I *think* that is the part you want for the Cougar but am unsure. I'm going to be emailing Thule about all this, somewhere along the way their engineering docs must have gotten mixed up.




If the 50mm axle doesn't end up being the right part (I'm pretty sure it is though), there is another solution, it's not cheap but it is easy.

The Chariot Cross LEFT wheel (no brake assembly, just parking brake) IS compatible with the Cougar trailer frame, with minor modifications. The axle assembly on the new wheel is the same length as the old wheel. However the parking brake interface (plastic piece that cradles the spokes) is different, and it prevents the locking balls from reaching the detents in the chassis and locking the wheel in place. Solution isn't bad at all, you can remove the plastic pushbutton cap and back out the nyloc nut by about 1-1.5mm and the new wheel seats (and locks with parking brake) into the Cougar frame. However now you have a gap between the mid-axle E-clip (removed with precision needlenose pliers or snap ring pliers) and the bearing cartridge created by backing out the nyloc nut ... this gap can be filled with a 1/2" ID x 3/4 or 7/8" OD washer. I had a 1/2" x 1" washer lying around and it works but adds a tiny bit friction since the 1" OD rubs on the outer race of the bearing cartridge ... next hardware store visit I'm gonna get a 1/2" x 7/8" and I think that will do the trick.

The new left wheel (can be used on either side on a Cougar) is like $140 from Thule, but it's $110 from etrailer. Thats what I did, because in addition to the bent axle I had a bent rim as well. I bought the spare axles in case the new wheel had different axles, but nope, new wheel had the same axle!

[ex-powderbroker]

dude, same thing happened to me and i ordered two from thule (might as well have another) and was so disappointed.

i finally found a local vendor with old thule parts after, he charged me 60 for 2 original axles in excellent shape, shipped.

these things are wildly popular up here but i am getting concerned about parts, hopefully it goes another couple of years.