7 replies to this topic

[GondoMondo]

Hi All,

I enjoy taking my dog for walks in my chair. We get going pretty fast sometimes. I'm a right side hemiplegic. I use a standard chair without foot rests. I use my left leg to push, brake and steer, and I use my left arm to control my dog's leash.

We can get going relatively fast, and while I have good general control of the chair, I continually have a problem with the front wheels of my chair starting to vibrate pretty violently. If I tighten the nut on top of each wheel where it connects top the frame it allows me to go faster, but it also constricts the ability of the wheel to turn.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to modify a chair to allow higher speeds, without front wheel vibrations, or restricting the ability of the front wheels to turn? Someone suggested to me that just changing from hard rubber to pneumatic tires would solve the problem. If that's true I'd love to hear some confirmation of that before I spend money on different tires.

The chair I'm currently using is an Invacare Tracer DLX.

Thanks very much.

[Texaswheelz]

When you say it starts to vibrate, is the front wheel wobbling? If so then that means that the front wheels aren't the same height off the ground, if there is just a little bit of difference this can cause that to happen and by lowering/raising one so that they are both even it should fix the problem.

If that's not what is happening and the chair is just vibrating then it could just be that the chair can't handle a fast speed. By looking up that chair, that's going to be my guess, it doesn't exactly look like a chair made for any speed at all.

Edited by Texaswheelz, 02 July 2010 - 09:04 AM.

[AussieBrad]

Check out a website called gofreewheel.com.
I live in Australia and I have just ordered one and it looks like it will help with most terrain.
check out the videos there is one of a girl in her chair with her dog towing her down a dirt track.
I found out about it through this forum from Pistol Pete.
He has one and say's it's great.

Hope this may help you out...

Aussiebrad

[Josh D._1985]

I second the freewheel. I have one for my chair. This attachment raises the front of your chair so that your casters are just off the ground, eliminating the shock and vibration of the small wheels. It makes going faster and over rough terrain much easier. It also pops on and off very quickly and easily. I have met the inventor of the freewheel, his name is Pat. He has been very good to work with. I think it's definitely worth you checking out.

[wheelywendy]

freewheel is great and was designed by a forum member, called pat, hes a very helpful chap
thought these previous postings on freewheel might be of interest to you
http://www.apparelyz...=1

[GondoMondo]

Thanks for the feedback folks. The freewheel would be perfect, and I really want one, but being a right-side hemiplegic, I need to be able to use my good leg to steer, brake and help push. It doesn't look like I would be able to use my good leg with the freewheel in place. Too bad, that thing is really cool and would be perfect.

The video of the dogs pulling the folks in chairs is just like what we do. We have to stay on paved trails but we could get going about as fast they're going in the video, if the front wheels didn't start vibrating. The way it is now, at 6 - 8 mph on asphalt things start to get unstable.

I'm open to any other ideas, and I think I'll try contacting the freewheel folks and see if they have any ideas.

Thanks very much !!

[ZEN12many]

Hi Gondomondo

I am also training my dog to pull me and also have the vibrating casters at about 6 mph. My chair doesn't have a footrest, so the freewheel won't fit it. At this point, I am going to try to buy a chair specifically for the freewheel.

Rodney (ZEN12many)

[ZEN12many]

Hi Gondomondo

You might be interested in a third wheel made by spokesnmotion.com. It hooks onto the two front vertical posts on the wheelchair so you don't need to have a footrest (I think). You need about 4 to 5 inches free on each post. I recently checked into this; it didn't fit my chair; it was also quite expensive.

Rodney (ZEN12many)