treadmill help?

[indecks]

Wife finagled me into buying her a treadmill off of craigs. It's a Precor M9.21i and it's... noisy. It's got a strange creaking sound when running it. I think i pin-pointed the sound as coming from the actual belt but I don't know what to do about fixing it. I doubt lubricant would work as it would make traction almost nil. Anyway, here's a vid of it running on youtube:

Anyone know what it's problem might be?

[ninjainspandex]

lol no wonder the guy sold it it sounds like one of those really really old printers you know with the paper that has the holes on the side that you tear off, oh memories...

[mjmjr25]

why would lubricant affect traction? The lubricant goes on the underside of the belt,not the traction side. You need to lube the belt every 40-100 hours depending on model. I'd try that first.

[indecks]

why would lubricant affect traction? The lubricant goes on the underside of the belt,not the traction side. You need to lube the belt every 40-100 hours depending on model. I'd try that first.

not the tread belt, but rather the drive belt. I don't want the pulleys losing grip on the belt and being unable to turn the rollers.

[flojocabron]

It looks like the fan like thing on the middle right is rubbing up on something. As far as I can tell thats not the sound of the belt. It looks to me that the fan has a strange wobble to it. It happens when its sped up? Makes the loud sound, as you slow it down the noise changes.

I do sell new treadmills at my job so I do know some stuff about them.

Just be wary of older treadmills. Some are old and still work ok. But you can only tell so much if they have been used heavily in the past. Be careful if they are jerky or stop every few seconds when you are on them. That is the death knoll of a broken treadmill. Some run fine when noone is on them, but if your on the 'mill and it jerks on you then its not as good as it used to be.

Thats why some people get rid of them every few years in order to buy a new one.

Lube for treadmills is an option. But newer treadmills in the past 5 years (since I've been selling them) dont really need lube for the belt. Also check to see that the treadbelt isnt worn out on one side. That can be adjusted but if you wait too long it starts to tear up the belt.

Also, does your treadmill turn on with a plastic chip key or a magnet key? Magnets are the most recent type of treadmill. If you have a plastic chip, then your treadmill is the older style. I stopped selling those around five years ago. Plastic keys were phased out for the newer magnets.

[indecks]

It looks like the fan like thing on the middle right is rubbing up on something. As far as I can tell thats not the sound of the belt. It looks to me that the fan has a strange wobble to it. It happens when its sped up? Makes the loud sound, as you slow it down the noise changes.

I do sell new treadmills at my job so I do know some stuff about them.

Just be wary of older treadmills. Some are old and still work ok. But you can only tell so much if they have been used heavily in the past. Be careful if they are jerky or stop every few seconds when you are on them. That is the death knoll of a broken treadmill. Some run fine when noone is on them, but if your on the 'mill and it jerks on you then its not as good as it used to be.

Thats why some people get rid of them every few years in order to buy a new one.

Lube for treadmills is an option. But newer treadmills in the past 5 years (since I've been selling them) dont really need lube for the belt. Also check to see that the treadbelt isnt worn out on one side. That can be adjusted but if you wait too long it starts to tear up the belt.

Also, does your treadmill turn on with a plastic chip key or a magnet key? Magnets are the most recent type of treadmill. If you have a plastic chip, then your treadmill is the older style. I stopped selling those around five years ago. Plastic keys were phased out for the newer magnets.

I think it might be a trick of the angle or something, the little cooling fan doesn't hit anything when it's on, but thanks for the heads up. Mine is a little plastic key, i think. Not real sure. it starts up great, stops when needed, the incline responds immediately without any kind of 'stress' sound. Im going to take the drive belt off tomorrow and see if the motor still makes the sound. If you were in the room when I took the vid you'd hear the sound coming from the area with the drive belt. But, like I said I dont know if it's a pulley, or the belt itself. I'll hopefully find out tomorrow.

As far as I can tell the drive belt isn't slipping, but a few people have mentioned that about the vid on other boards I go to. Again, I think it might have something to do with the video making it seem like that.

Edit: what I am thinking though is this. As an example - We have a drier that we've had for a few years. Before we moved into our house, we were in apartments. The very last apartment we were in had a washer/drier combo in it so we put ours in storage. it was probably there for about 2 years. When we installed it in our home it made an AWFUL creaking sound. I figured it was the belt, it had just gotten stiff. Sure enough, after the first run through, the belt softened up and it worked just fine (still kicking, this was 5 years ago)

Im wondering if this might be the same issue.

[Hazerd]

lol, thats some funny shit, send that video to the original owner and be like "why u no tell me it sound like dis?"

[indecks]

lol, thats some funny shit, send that video to the original owner and be like "why u no tell me it sound like dis?"

lol right?

I got some belt dressing, and it sounds way better now. Still a little squeaky, but not nearly as bad. Wife talked to a couple of treadmill repair places and they charge about $75 for a 'tuneup'. Both of them suggested the belt dressing too, so it looks like we're good to go.