Industrial plate casters — top-plate mount swivel and rigid casters for carts, machinery, equipment dollies, and industrial mobility. 2-3/8″ x 3-5/8″ light-duty plates through 12″ x 15-3/8″ super-heavy-duty plates. Capacities from 75 lb to 40,000 lb per caster. Steel, stainless, kingpinless, and shock-absorbing variants. 3,344 SKUs across 20 plate sizes. Stocked at our Mansfield, TX facility.
Managing plate casters across a fleet of carts or equipment? CasterHQ FleetTag maps your fleet to exact replacement SKUs and lets your team scan a QR tag to reorder the right caster in seconds, on Net 30/60 terms.
Plate casters are top-plate-mount casters that bolt to equipment through a flat four-hole plate, the most common mounting method in industrial material handling. CasterHQ stocks 3,344 plate casters from 75 lb light-duty to 40,000 lb mil-spec, in 20 plate sizes, steel or stainless, most shipping same day from Mansfield, TX.
Not sure which plate fits? Email info@casterhq.com or call 844-439-4335 for a fitment check.
Plate size correlates directly with capacity. Match plate to load and bolt-hole pattern on your existing equipment.
| Plate Size | Tier | Capacity Range | Wheel Sizes | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-3/8″ x 3-5/8″ | Light Duty | 75 - 350 lb | 2″ - 5″ | Furniture dollies, tool boxes, light carts |
| 2-1/2″ x 3-5/8″ | Light-Medium | 100 - 500 lb | 3″ - 5″ | Service carts, food carts, light industrial |
| 3-1/8″ x 4-1/8″ | Medium | 300 - 800 lb | 3″ - 6″ | Shop carts, equipment dollies, medium loads |
| 4″ x 4-1/2″ | Medium-Heavy | 500 - 1,500 lb | 4″ - 8″ | Industrial carts, AGVs, manufacturing |
| 4-1/2″ x 6-1/4″ | Heavy Duty | 1,000 - 3,000 lb | 6″ - 10″ | Heavy industrial, towing, dock carts |
| 5-1/4″ x 7-1/4″ | Heavy Duty | 2,000 - 5,000 lb | 8″ - 12″ | Heavy machinery, foundry, steel mills |
| 6-1/4″ x 7-1/2″ | Super Heavy | 5,000 - 12,000 lb | 10″ - 14″ | Aircraft tugs, military, super-heavy industrial |
| 8-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ + | Mil-Spec | 12,000 - 40,000 lb | 12″ - 24″ | Mil-spec, aerospace ground support, custom |
If replacing casters on existing equipment, measure the bolt-hole spacing on the current mount, corner-to-corner across the diagonals. The plate size must match. The most common standard plates are 2-3/8″ x 3-5/8″ (light), 4″ x 4-1/2″ (medium-heavy, most popular), and 4-1/2″ x 6-1/4″ (heavy). Photograph the mount and email info@casterhq.com if you are unsure.
Total cart load divided by 4 casters, then add 30% for shock peaks on smooth indoor floors or 50% for outdoor and rough surfaces. Do not under-spec: a 1,000 lb load on 4 casters needs 325 lb per caster minimum.
Smooth concrete: 4-6″ works fine. Floor seams, light debris: 6-8″ minimum. Cracked concrete, outdoor, thresholds: 8-12″ required. Larger plate sizes accept larger wheels.
Standard 4-caster cart: 2 swivel front + 2 rigid rear for stable straight-line tracking. All-swivel: tight maneuvering, AGVs, dock work. Kingpinless swivel: shock-load applications where kingpin failure is the failure mode.
First-hand from our Mansfield, TX warehouse and engineering desk.
We carry the full plate caster catalog from every Tier 1 manufacturer, Hamilton, Albion, Faultless, Colson, and Caster Concepts, rather than a single private-label line, so plate size, capacity, and wheel material can be matched to the application instead of to whatever one brand stocks. All 20 plate sizes, from 2-3/8″ x 3-5/8″ light-duty through 12″ x 15-3/8″ mil-spec, are kept on the shelf here in Mansfield.
Before an order ships, our team cross-references the bolt-hole pattern and overall plate envelope against the equipment it is mounting to, the mismatch that causes most replacement failures. Send photos with the equipment make and model to info@casterhq.com and we verify fitment before you buy. Stock plate casters picked before 3pm CT ship the same day; super-heavy and mil-spec sizes are freight-quoted at order with lead time confirmed up front.
A caster that mounts to equipment via a flat top plate with 4 bolt holes. The top plate transfers load and rotation forces between the equipment and the caster. Plate casters are the most common mount style in industrial caster applications.
4″ x 4-1/2″ is the most-specified industrial plate size in North America, 1,788 of the 3,344 plate caster SKUs at CasterHQ use this plate. Capacity range: 500-1,500 lb per caster.
Measure the four bolt holes on your existing equipment mount, corner to corner across both diagonals. Both bolt pattern and plate dimensions must match for bolt-for-bolt replacement.
A kingpinless caster has no central kingpin in the swivel raceway. Kingpinless eliminates the most common caster failure mode, kingpin loosening or shearing under shock loads. Capacity is typically 1,000-12,000 lb per caster.
CasterHQ stocks Hamilton mil-spec plate casters up to 40,000 lb per caster. These use 12″ x 15-3/8″ super-heavy plates with 16-24″ wheels. Lead time on the largest sizes: 4-6 weeks.
Steel plate casters: zinc-plated finish for indoor industrial use, lower cost, full capacity range. Stainless plate casters: 304 or 316 stainless for wet, washdown, food, pharma, and corrosive environments.
Yes, welded plate casters use the top plate as a weld attachment surface. Weld-on requires steel plate (not stainless or aluminum). Specify weld-prep finish at order.
No, plate casters ship without bolts because bolt length depends on the thickness of the equipment frame. Use grade 5 zinc-plated steel bolts with washers and lock nuts.
