Repairing roller/bearing on a rowing machine

I came a cropper on my rowing machine this morning, when the seat, which runs up and down an aluminium frame as you row, started making alarming grinding noises. The seat runs on four rollers, and upon dismantling, I discovered that two of these were badly worn, with one now completely adrift.

Picture of the seat, upside down, is here:

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rollers are hard plastic (nylon?) and should be a firm fit on a ball-bearing; however the inner surface of the roller is so worn that there's now a deep groove in there, and it's no longer in contact with the outer surface of the bearing at all:
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don't rate my chances of finding new replacments (obsolete and obscure machine) and would like to attempt a repair by filling up the gap and re-attaching the roller to the bearing. Not easy, owing to the considerable load (ie, my not insubstantial body, in motion) it will have to take. Any ideas?

As immediate solutions I'm thinking car body filler or Araldite? but what about some form of liquid metal (which I know nothing about)?

Any thoughts appreciated... David

Reply to
Lobster
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Try here, they have some 'odd' sizes of wheel ..

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Reply to
Paul - xxx

Although I have not used a rowing machine for a few years I recall the effort invoved and the need to be correctly aligned in body position

I would not attempt to bodge something as I suspect that a sudden twist of the seat when on the pull stroke could result in a lower back injury if the repair failed

I would be looking to find a siutable replacement as a first solution

maybe worth looking here

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Reply to
TMC

ould this be the offending item

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Reply to
TMC

They look very much like inline roller blade wheels.

Baz

Reply to
Baz

If it's a Concept rowing machine, try

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for parts.

Reply to
Phil

I take your point, but TBH I can't forsee that sort of failure - worst case scenario is either complete lock-up or failure of one out of four wheels, which run in grooves - really no way for the seat to twist like that.

Having got the thing in bits, it would be very easy to try a diy repair even on the off-chance it works - just a case of knowing what product best to try.

David

Reply to
Lobster

They look like they are rollers for a roller-shutter door, like the one in the back of my truck. Any truck parts supplier/coach builder should be able to supply these. They are very common and because they wear out quite frequently, most places keep a stock of them.

HTH

Reply to
Vic

Ebay

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like the bit "Bought them to replace on my current set, but never changed them, and am now pregnant so having a clearout."

Baz

Reply to
Baz

More Ebay.

4 Quid delivered.
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Reply to
Baz

I do appreciate all the suggestions for sources for replacements; however AFAIS unless I can obtain exactly the right size it's not going to work; at best even if I replaced all four with matching ones, I'd still need a precise match on the spindle size. The ones on the Concept2 site look very close, but my spindles (not a Concept2 model) are about

1mm wider I think).

Hence what I'm really after is to attempt to repair mine - if a suitable substance is available - and I would welcome a bit of discussion on that! :)

Dvaid

Reply to
Lobster

Change all four.

Reply to
F Murtz

Can you drill out the broken one over-size and then sleeve it so it'll accept the same kind of bearing? Or drill it to take a larger bearing. The problem is, it looks like it relies solely on the friction fit of the bearing to stop the wheel coming adrift - so drilling / sleeving and getting the dimensions right might be tricky depending on what tools you have access to.

I'm not sure about 'filling' it with anything, either - I mean you could try epoxy, but I suspect it might fail, which might be painful when it does!

Is there anytihing that keeps the seat in place other than the wheels? What stops the whole seat from lifting off the bed - just body weight?

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

Reply to
semac147

Hi these are under $10 NRVS-0350-080-ZZ.

Reply to
semac147

Can not see any of the pics, just adds for imageshak which I refuse to join. why people persist with Imageshak or photobucket when there is very simple image hosting sites like Imgur and others that just work and can be free.

Reply to
FMurtz

That'll be because they're 7 years old ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

Did not see that, that need a different rant

Reply to
FMurtz

I'd have thought a complete rebuild with proper roller bearings as used for heavy duty machinery in enclosures might be one way. Some pretty hefty slides like those in drawers only larger should still be available. Back in my youf, a company called Imhof used to make some capable of carrying people but I bet they no longer exist like many UK quality companies owned by Germans :-)

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

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