Treadmill Woes

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
My Nordic Track C2000 is about eight years old, maybe older, I'm not sure. We've been through a lot together
 and I've pounded down many miles on that thing. We bought an elliptical a couple of years ago when my ortho-weenie told me to use that for lower impact on my knee. I hate that elliptical; I simply hate that thing. I keep going back to the treadmill, much to Rick's dismay.

Well, the other morning, I went down to the basement and hit the treadmill. I usually start out at a low incline/speed and work my way up; that's to try to help with the impacts on the knee. And I noticed that when I hit the UP button on the incline, it jumped all the way to 10. At one shot. Hit the DOWN button, and it said 0.00, but I know better. It's stuck at 10 now. We tried to reset it last night, but nothing. It sounds like it's trying to reset, but it won't. I think the incline motor may have died.

I want to call Sears and have them come in to look at it....we bought it at Sears, but it is long out of warranty, so it's going to cost me a small fortune for any kind of repair work. Rick is against putting any money into it as it is quite old, especially for exercise equipment. Meanwhile, I'm doing two miles in the mornings with the incline at 10 (I do the rest of my walking during my lunch). That can't be good for my knee. But we keep discussing what to do and we are not agreeing at all.

There's no way we can afford a new elliptical and, to be honest, I really don't want one, if I can avoid it. I figure we can have Sears come in, take a gander at it, replace the incline motor, and I might be good to go for another 8 years or so. You never know. We paid $800 for it at the time, I think, close to it anyway. And I've used it hard.

Rick wants me to put my big-girl panties on and just deal with the elliptical once and for all. It's back in the bedroom and the tv is back there. He says, just get back there and do it. (But I really hate that thing.) And if I start using the elliptical, what about the treadmill? I'll never get it fixed.

Fix the treadmill? Go to the elliptical? Buy a treadmill? Help!
 

AbbysMom

At Abby's beck and call
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
May 18, 2005
Messages
78,297
Purraise
19,403
Location
Massachusetts
Honestly, I think your only options are repair the treadmill or get a new one. It's hard enough to motivate ourselves to exercise in the first place, so why have your only option be something you don't like? My guess is that you would exercise less if that were your only option.

Sears repairs can be SO pricy. Is it possible to google to get an idea on how much that repair would cost?
 

feralvr

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
18,474
Purraise
689
Location
Northwest Indiana
Can't think of the type of treadmill we have downstairs (it's been that long since I have used it, Larry uses it every night) but the incline motor broke long ago. Larry somehow was able to get it back to zero so it is just flat. I think your treadmill was telling you to "pump it up" by getting stuck at TEN!!!!! We are also talking about getting a new treadmill as this one is about nine years old. I know it will get me more motivated to start using a new one rather than the one downstairs that won't incline. I really like the option to incline my treadmill. I don't like to run and found (when it worked) that I burned as much calories walking at a high incline as opposed to running on the flat or slight incline. Might be time for a new treadmill too!! ;)
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
It's fixed!
 Rick called me around 11:00 and said, "I'm not quite sure what I did, but the incline is working!" Something about a screw that he turned......I had downloaded some info from Google last night (it seems that incline mishaps are frequent with treadmills) and he was messing around with the downloaded stuff and with my Nortic Track manual. When I get home, we'll check it out with me on it and we'll take it through some paces. But Rick was on it this morning and it seemed to be working fine.


I had been dealing with the incline up at 10 and, man, it was like going up a small mountain!
 I am out of shape!

LIfe is good.
 
 
Last edited:

GoldyCat

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 31, 2008
Messages
15,759
Purraise
4,676
Location
Arizona
:clap: Hope it stays fixed for a long time. I don't like either the treadmill or the elliptical, but if I can't get outdoors to run I'll take the treadmill any day. I've had a lot of people tell me the elliptical is easier, but it only takes about 5 steps for my knees to start hurting. And no, I can't just work through it. It gets more and more painful if I keep going.
 

kookycats

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Messages
2,253
Purraise
287
Location
Naples, Fl
Glad it is working. I use the bike and treadmill at the gym (and the leg press) -- don't like the elliptical, but maybe I'm just out of shape. It's too hard for me.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
Thanks, guys! I hope it continues to work OK. I'm simply not a fan of the elliptical....and I agree that it can make your knees ache. It's happened to me when I get going and one of my GFs said she has issues with ellipticals, too. Although anything lately makes my knees ache.

When I was doing PT after the knee operation, they had me on a bike. I liked it.

But overall, I think walking is my favorite exercise. I know it's not much, but I love walking.

Karen, last I "heard", Sears wants close to $100 just to set foot on your property....we found that out two years ago when we had them in to look at a tv. Combined with the parts and labor, well, I just can't do it right now. And you're right, chances are that if I only had the elliptical, I wouldn't be doing much of anything, although dear Richard thinks that if that was my only option, I'd use it.
 
Last edited:

larussa

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 28, 2007
Messages
4,899
Purraise
71
Location
Central New Jersey
, Sears wants close to $100 just to set foot on your property....we found that out two years ago when we had them in to look at a tv. Combined with the parts and labor, well, I just can't do it right now.
Pam in the past whenever I bought something from Sears, I always got their warranty and updated it yearly.  If I ever had a problem with anything, I would call them and it wouldn't cost me anything at all to come to the house and fix the problem. The warranty wasn't that expensive either.  At one time I had two TV's and even a vacuum cleaner under warranty, it worked out well for me.  When the time was right, I no longer continued the warranties.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
Woo Hoo WooHooHoo! Yep, it's fixed! I put it through some paces last night and did my two miles this morning. No trouble whatsoever. We had to tighten the belt as it was slipping quite a bit, but I cranked the speed up this morning and things were fine. Took the incline up and down and all around.

Yeah, Carol, I know about the warranties, but after a couple of years, I hesitate to keep buying warranty for things. Once it gets to a certain age, it doesn't seem worth it. (Although the warranty on my computer was definitely worth it! 
 )
 

larussa

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 28, 2007
Messages
4,899
Purraise
71
Location
Central New Jersey
Yeah, Carol, I know about the warranties, but after a couple of years, I hesitate to keep buying warranty for things. Once it gets to a certain age, it doesn't seem worth it. (Although the warranty on my computer was definitely worth it! 
 )
Yep, that's exactly what I did too, when the electronics got old, I cancelled the warranties.  Glad your treadmill is back to working order.
 

feralvr

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
18,474
Purraise
689
Location
Northwest Indiana
It's fixed! :clap:  Rick called me around 11:00 and said, "I'm not quite sure what I did, but the incline is working!"
Can he fix ours???!!!! :lol3: I also had an eliptical that I never liked using even when the treadmill incline broke I hardly used the eliptical. Glad it is fixed and it had better stay that way. :cross: ;)
 

feralvr

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
18,474
Purraise
689
Location
Northwest Indiana
I know about the warranties, but after a couple of years, I hesitate to keep buying warranty for things. Once it gets to a certain age, it doesn't seem worth it.
We don't get warranties anymore. Seems the day after (or shortly thereafter) the warranty expires something on the contraption that was under warranty breaks down. Larry is quite handy anyway although he can't seem to fix the treadmill incline. :hmm:
 

kookycats

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Messages
2,253
Purraise
287
Location
Naples, Fl
We probably overdo warranties. As you may have guessed, Paul is not handy AT ALL. So we really do need warranties. We have a warranty on all our appliances that we take our yearly. It's fairly expensive, but covers all the appliances, a/c, water heater, etc. And if they can't fixed it they replace it. We've used them for a few things, but any one major disaster will pay for itself --- at least for us.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
29,730
Purraise
28,024
Location
In the kitchen
Dragged my butt out of bed this morning at 5:00 and went down to the basement to hit the treadmill. And the incline was messing up again. I came back upstairs, said something to Rick and hit the elliptical instead, but only did one mile (I can't do more than one mile at a time on the elliptical yet). Rick took the recycling to the basement, came back up, and said he fixed the treadmill again. I don't know what we're going to do when it really bites the dust and can't be fixed anymore.

I start out at 2% and work my way up to 4-5% til I'm done. Then I take it back down to 0 at the end....which is what the manual says to do. I'm going to keep it at 3% from here on out and not mess with the incline at all.

Meanwhile, I've been doing a mile a day on the elliptical (starting this past Monday), in addition to my treadmill stuff and my lunch time walk. It's only one mile a day, but it's better than no miles. My goal is to get up to two miles a day on the elliptical by the end of the month. *pant, pant* That first quarter mile is a killer (for me); once I get past that first quarter mile, I'm ok. I keep the speed right around 3.8 to 4 mph and am on the second incline. Maybe I'm a wuss, but that is plenty fast enough for me!! I can walk it, but I'll be darned if I can do it on the elliptical! (I listen to faster-paced music that helps me keep a good pace.)

I suppose the best thing would be for the treadmill to die (Rick would like that to happen), but I'd like to keep it going as long as I can.
 
Top