treadmill maintenance

[Bob Rufener]

I recently bought a used treadmill as I must do cardiovascular workouts at least 5 times a week. Being used, I have no manual for it. Just wondering if there is some periodic maintenance that is more or less generic for all types of treadmills? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

[Allen Bookout]

Bob,

My wife has a fairly good treadmill and have had to replace a circuit board and the walking belt but there is no periodic maintenance to perform, at least on this model. They are pretty basic machines and the only part that would seem to require lube are the bearings in the rollers and I think that most of them are sealed. You might have to tighten the walking belt or the drive belt from the motor to the front roller if it starts sliping and those are the only adjustments that can be made on hers that I know of.

Not much information but is the best that I can come up with.

Allen

[Randy Meijer]

I bought an older used treadmill and have no idea about routine maintenance I don't use it nearly as much as I should.

One thing it does need, however is a shot of grease(silicone, I think) on the underside of the tread every so often to reduce the friction between the tread and the underlying platform. Maybe machines with newer designs and materials don't need to do this...I don't know.

Unless your treadmill is quite old or some jackleg brand, you should be able to find a web site on the Internet and get a manual...or at least some advice....directly from the manufacturer. Randy

[Bob Rufener]

Thanks for the replies. The treadmill is an oldy-originally from Sears and Roebuck on the label but it works well (except for the elevation mechanism). (Roebuck tells you how old this thing must be) I tried finding information on the net but nothing available. I assume what was said about the silicone would be a spray under the belt???

[Jeff Paden]

I would take a good look here before using that Silicone spray.
http://www.treadmilldoctor.com/

[Michael Gibbons]

Bob, when I bought my treadmill, I purchased a waxing stick which is basically a oversized wooden paint mixing stick with a piece of canning wax glued to the end. What you do is lift the side of the belt up with one hand while inserting the stick with the other and rub back and forth across the width of the bed, then turn on the 'mill and walk on it so the pressure from your weight melts the wax and spreads to the belt. Hope this helps. No other maintenance required that I know of. The rpair guy told me that a guy wore out the bed underneath the belt because he ran about 10 miles per day in the winter at about 10 MPH.


Mike