Hobie trax cart failure

The wheels are rubbing on the hull of the Kayak when I am using the cart. The wheels also look warped and unsymmetrical. Has anyone else had this problem? I had to cut a couple of short lengths of 1' pvc and slid it on the cart as spacers to keep the wheels from rubbing the hull. This cart is very poorly engineered with bad tires that I paid a lot of money for.

These wheels can be tricky.

1st off they're not to be inflated beyond 3psi, between 2 and 3 psi is optimal. They will feel flat or in need of air - this is normal. It's that low pressure that makes it work so well over sand.

If you inflate them beyond 3psi you void the warranty - it says this right on the tire. What happens when they get over inflated is that you usually get a bump or wart on one of the tires and that makes them roll unevenly.

Also, maximum load for these wheels is 77 lbs. I'm not an expert in physics but I know that my trax cart can handle my Revolution and all the fishing gear without the problems you're describing. Probably around 90# in weight.

Good luck.

My tire pressure gauge doesn't even register psi in the 2-3 lb range. That is ridiculous to make such a weak, easily warped tire just because you pump more air than 3 psi. I just noticed on wheeleez's site it will cost me $52 plus shipping to replace these junk tires.

I recommend anyone considering the Hobie trax cart to definitely not purchase it. Here is a pic of a home made cart that cost $20 in parts to build. It would certainly be better than the $140 piece of junk Hobie Trax.



Link to the forum post where he describes how he built it.
http://www.jaxkayakfishing.com/phpBB/vi ... c&start=15

Just to be clear... Is your problem occurring without or with the trolling motor battery on the boat?

At this point, pictures would really help towards a solution for the problem.

It happens with nothing in the kayak at all. I pumped more than 3 lbs in the tires and they are now permanently warped. I will replace these fragile wheeleez brand tires with pneumatic wheels from Harbor Freight.

I hope my experience saves someone from buying this cart. I am fuming I spent $140 on such a bad product.

Hey Jorhyne – Don’t take this personally but you need some balls! I mean of the Roadrunner kind as seen here:
http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=7223
They act like suspension and protect the scuppers and hull from deformation. I swapped the tennis balls for solid soft rubber balls. Just make sure the cart uprights extend all the way through the hull.
The Hobie Trax cart isn’t perfect but when fitted with wheels more suited to hard surfaces I find it OK. I have had to re-weld the axle to the uprights though when the original welds broke. I do wheel my Adventure (and sometimes AI) probably a bit further than most –about 4kms twice a week.
The problem is that the Wheeleez wheels are really only designed for sand and as Drew posted the correct pressure is crucial. You can use them on hardpack but the drag is terrible. I posted about swapping the balloon tyres for standard wheels here:
http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=8956
If you want to make your own cart look at the cart I made out of bimini tube and fittings in the above post. It is still going strong!
BTW -I have since added large flat stainless washers under the balls to stop the lower ball deformation seen in the above pics.

Stringy, that's a splendid idea! I'll have to search for a pair.

I added a couple of stainless eyebolts to the cart so it can be bungeed to the boat before offloading. Now the boat hits the ground with the cart already installed:






On the tandems where the carts mount ahead of the rear seat, the pedal retaining bungee hooks through the cart, preventing it from dropping out.

The trax cart is designed to crawl over sand and low pressure tires are critical in soft sand. That is why the pressure is designed to be low. We have had few reports of problems with carts in the last year or so. Early trax wheels did have some issues, leaks etc, but many changes were done and this seems to have solved most of them.

Certainly over inflation is the cause of the rub and unbalanced tires now.

Did you contact your Hobie dealer for possible warranty consideration?

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

What mmiller said. They are designed to be low-pressure tires. It's like saying that your Lexus is a POS because you put racing fuel in it and burned the engine. If you don't adhere to the design specifications, the warnings and the printed instructions can you expect anything other than failure? To navigate soft sand these wheels are the best option. The pneumatics will sink.

Here's a link to a low-pressure gauge - http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... 942512766a

Roadrunner -I'll be adding your eyebolts to my cart. It will make unloading/loading the AI much easier- Thanks! It's a shame my Tandem doesn't have through the deck scuppers.
Here are some pics of the washers. I went with a washer that had a slightly smaller ID than the cart tube OD and Dremeled for a tight fit. This ensured the washers remained horizontal when under load.


The balls sit better now.

The two balls give better suspension and lift the kayak stern up which means less scraping on uneven terrain.
BTW- I got a second AI recently. It's twice the fun being able to take a friend out!!

Do you think that this homemade cart made from Sched 40 Pvc will hold up to 57.5 lbs of 50% of the AI? Has anyone else built one? I am not being cheap but for those of us not needing to cart the boat far or over soft sand then this should work if it can handle the weight. Also how do you carry your carts on the AI while out sailing?? Thanks

_________________
2010 Hibiscus Adventure Island

Here is how I carry my wheels. Its a Revo, not an Adventure, but the method would be the same. Just a quick loop over with the existing deck cord.

These wheels have worked fine for me even with some longer distances and heavy loads.

[img][img]http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/13281/2452409800037639279S500x500Q85.jpg[/img][/img]

_________________
Roger
http://www.aldenofsunapee.com/
http://www.NEKF.com/

Roadrunner, I like the tennis ball idea. I currently have short sections of 1" PVC, wrapped in duct tape to prevent scarring the hull, used as spacers on the cart to keep the wheels from rubbing. I like the tennis ball idea better.

Stringy, if the scuppers on your Oasis are bonded to the underside of the deck (as I suspect), I wonder if you could bore through? This should actually put less strain on the scuppers since the deck would directly share in the load bearing (with the cart legs extended). As I recall, Hobie doesn't like the cart to normally terminate inside the scuppers anyway. If you need additional reinforcement, you could always use a poly epoxy like ScotchGuard DP 8010. The amount of light bleeding through from a flashlight would give you an indication of material thickness.

Jorhyne, thanks. The idea originally came from my friend Josh -- very creative guy!