Treadmill adjustment Q

Triathlon Forum
1

I recently moved and when we set up the treadmill at the new place . . .it’s adjustment is off. It’s an older model but worked great at it’s last home. I feel like the belt isn’t catching and my wife describes it as catching or snagging on something. The reason I say it isn’t ‘catching’ is because I can get it going at a high speed and put some extra weight and the belt will freeze but the drums are still rotating. I’ve messed with the adjustments on the back drum for over 2 hours and it’s probably totally out of whack now. Any ideas on how to ‘tighten’ the belt?

Thanks,
Sheridan

2

I sell treadmills and work on other peoples.

what kind you have?

sounds like front rollers are not catching. not the rear roller.

tell me what brand and I can tell you how to fix.

3

It is a Pro-Form 520 with 2.0 hp.
Thanks for any help,
Sheridan

4

after thinking about it a minute… unplug the treadmill.

take the front hood cover off. where the front belt is connected to the front roller and to the motor.

loosen that screw under the motor press on the motor towards the front. tighten the screw as you are doing it. should work for proform, nordictrack and such.

if not pm and I’ll be glad to help.

5

I had what sounds like a similar problem some time ago where when running on the treadmill the belt would slip which made it quite unsettling when the speeds picked up. I’m thinking it could only be two areas. The belt driving the front roller from the motor is too loose (on mine there is a spring to rotate the motor back away from the front roller - tightening the belt) or the mat is too loose (in which case I tighten mine through the two adjustment screws for the rear roller. Perhaps check to see nothing was knocked during transit which may have bent something permanently.

Mike

6

Okay, so you say to loosen the screw under the motor press on the motor towards the front, then tighten the screw as you are doing it. So what screw will I tighten.

Thanks for the help,
I’ll try this tomorrow and PM if you with any other questions.
Again, thank you very much.

Sheridan

7

same screw. it should pull the front roller tighter.

don’t force it, as you don’t want it to break.

8

Thanks for the help
I’ll work on this tomorrow,

Sheridan
.

9

pm me if you have some problems. I can put you intouch with one of my service guys, if you need help, they can help over the phone.

10

What’s happening is that the running belt is slipping on the drive roller. When you take a heavy step it pins the belt to the deck with more force than the drive roller can overcome. The solution is to tighten the running belt, not the drive belt from the motor to the roller. Usually the rear roller has screw adjusters for that very purpose. When you adjust them, adjust them symmetrically so that the belt tracks straight and true. Also, do not overtighten the running belt - you’ll wear it and the roller bearings out sooner if you do. Only adjust the tightness of the belt to the point where it stops slipping on your hardest step. I always did the stomp test when I adjusted them at my fitness center. I’d jump from the side pods to the belt as hard as I could. If I got a little slip, all was well. The only time that that test procedure failed is when the 400 pound guy with a BAD limp would walk on the TM. He could make it slip without any trouble at all.