[brushyourteeth]

I've bent the castor bit of my ZRA.

I bounced down a step of about 8 inches and my front caster bent! (see photo)



See how the nut that should go through the metal bit, through the wheel, and through the metal bit again... well see how it doesnt! And see how the metal bit, instead of being straight, bananas to the left!
Sorry if I'm not making much sense, I'm in a mad rage/panic.

I'm going to phone the Tilite rep tomorrow and plead with him to come and fix it.

Any suggestions/reccommendations/ideas/words of sympathy would be fantastic.

Has this happened to anyone else?
Am i not meant to bounce down 8 inch steps?
If I go to a wheelchair/mobility shop, will i be able to buy temporary castors that fit my tilite, or do they have to be tilite castors?

Help!

[twisted_ophelia]

Aw that sucks! Don't worry, it's probably fixable and I think we can all sympathize with you on something going with your chair and how awful and annoying it can be. I'm not good at doing major repairs to my chair and usually have a chair tech do it or take it to a bike shop. Try calling a bike shop and see if they can help you out. Or maybe you can try banging the bent part back into place with a hammer? Don't take my advice on that because it's just a thought and I have no idea if it will make it worse. I think the best possible thing to do is exactly what you plan to do--call up the TiLite rep. I don't have a TiLite and so I have no idea if other castors will fit because I don't have any knowledge about TiLite chairs. Hopefully someone hear on the forum can be of more help. I can really only offer moral support right now

[Santa Cruz Soul Surfer (LRO)]

Hi there!...First off, take a deep breath!...It's a easy fix!...Your missing a hex screw on your front caster. What I want you to do, is first thing tomorrow morning, go to your nearest Ace, True Value or any hardware store. Once there, your going to want to follow these steps in this order.

1. Transfer out of your wheelchair and onto another regular chair.

2. Take off the wheel by sliding out the axle from the front caster, make sure to save the spacers.

3. Have someone get you a pair of vice grips or even a cresant wrench will do, lock them onto you bent caster and bend them back straight.

4. Have one of the in store helpers, find you a hex screw that will fit your axel.

5. Then have them put your wheel, spacers and axel back into your front caster, fastening it with the new hex screw you found.

Thats it!...You have now successfully fixed your wheelchair!

[twisted_ophelia]

Hehe Christian, I knew you'd know what to do!

[silone74]

Hi they are cross head screws on the tilites that hold the caster axles.

I have contacted tilite direct for forks before and they never reply to my emails they dont seem to want to deal with there cuctomers the ones that have purchased there chairs??????

as said above easy to repair you can go on tilite website and download the parts list and find out the exact size of the screw and buy one from a hardware shop the same as the one missing.


Si

This post has been edited by silone74: 04 March 2009 - 01:08 PM

[brushyourteeth]

Twisted_ophelia, SCSS and Silone74, thanks so much for your replies.

I phoned my rep this morning, and they're sending out the repair man to have a look tomorrow. He didn't sound very hopeful, he said he doesn't really have many spare parts in stock (!)

If this guy doesn't fix/replace it tomorrow then you are my plan B Santa Cruz! The two week wait to order the part from america isn't really an option. I think I should be able to bend it back into place (or at least enough to make the axel slide through properly) and fingers crossed I can find a hex screw to fit the axel at my local B&Q.

Just looked at my ZRA technical manual, and the parts I need are; CP102049 - Bearing fork and HD100331 - 10-32 X 3/8" Truss head screw.

Anyway, thanks again for all your help, I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow.

[brushyourteeth]

It's fixed!

Gerald Simonds guy came round today, took a castor fork of his demo model and put it on mine!



I'm well chuffed. I was dreading a 2 week wait to order the part from america.

Big thanks to everyone, I was pysching myself up to hammer the thing back into shape.

It definitely highlights the need for a second wheelchair. I'm looking to purchase a Invacare Top End Crossfire All Terrain Wheelchair cos it'll make a mean backup chair and it'll be perfect for festivals.

Anyway, thanks again guys.

[twisted_ophelia]

Yay! That's super awesome, I'm so glad you got it fixed!

[silone74]

Thats great its nice to see they can give a good after care i bought my chair from them the reps seem to be ok now the one that measured me for my chair was a div lol i dont think they work there any more though.

Si