My proform treadmill belt is slipping?

Yee Haa! After work today I'll be tightening the motor pulley belt on my wife's 545. Same problem described by Mike A. Thanks much. Gotta get her back on that thing before she finds more for me to do!

Kevin M
May 2011

Here's a common cause of the ongoing belt slipping issue.
The vibrations of the machine during use causes the adjustment screws to back-out. That's why the belt never stays adjusted, thus a continuous cycle of frustrating re-adjustments.

The fix (as it worked for me. Where I was once adjusting every 3 miles, since this action I haven't adjusted in over 50 miles.):
Thread Locker
Home Depot sells two types of Loctite Thread Locker; a permanent lock and a temporary lock
The temporary lock, red tube, blue contents, locks the screw in place. This is made for such an application, where vibrations cause screws to unwind.
When you eventually need to re-adjust, use your wrench to unlock, reapply, readjust, then run.

Peace
The Bos

The Bos
September 2010

Mike A - you nailed my treadmill's problem right on. Just tightened the belt, will order one in a few minutes. No need for a service guy, seems pretty straight forward on the install.

Your trouble shooting was written so I could follow it - thanks!

Kyle M.
March 2009

We are going to replace our front roller on our proform 585TL. Can we buy the proform crosstrainerTL front roller?

Kay
January 2009

I tried Mike A's approach. I took off the motor cover lid. I noticed that there was a lot of belt debris. When I put my foot on the belt, I could stop the belt and noticed that the belt was slipping on the pulley. I tightened the belt by loosing the two nuts on the motor bracket, then, pulling the motor towards me and tightening them down again. Although, it did not look like the belt was tightened much more, it was enough for my wife to do 5 miles on it today. I'm going to order a new belt today for the inevitable. Thank you Mike A! Thanks.

Thank you Mike A for your inspiration!

Tim B
April 2008

Hey, Matt.

I have a proform as well, and am experiencing the same problem. I tightened and loosened the walking belt and the belt continued to stop under my weight (under ideal tension you should be able to lift the belt 2-3 inches off the deck). I noticed that it was both the front roller and the belt that was stopping (meaning that the walking belt was not actually slipping), so I opened the cover and was not surprised to find shredded black rubber covering almost everything (eroded pieces of motor belt). I started the mill back up and tried to stop it with the cover off. Sure enough, the motor belt was worn out. Each time I stopped the walking belt with my weight, it would stop the entire system, while the motor head still turned inside the motor belt (squealing loudly).
I bought my treadmill at Sears and also purchased the protection plan, but the repair people in my area can only come out on weekdays (no good for a teacher) and they never have the parts they need, which means they have to come twice. I decided to have Sears send me the belt (free under my plan) and just replace it myself. Not surprisingly, they are on back order. So, I'll have to find another way to run until the middle of April when I get the stupid belt.
If you didn't get your treadmill from Sears, Proform has a website and there is a "parts and repair" phone number that you might try. Sears would have charged me $26 for the belt.
I hope this helps.

Mike A.
New Fairfield, CT

Mike A.
March 2008

On front rollers with plastic pulleys, the pulleys are
pressed on. the pulley can loose it's grip on the roller and start to slip. Normally with a loud noise.To check, Take off your motor hood. Look at your front roller were the drive belt pulley is.
Walk on your treadmill and when it slips look to see if the pulley
is slipping on the roller. From here you will also be able to see if the drive belt is slipping on the pulley.

If you need more help You can email me
markepeterson@austin.rr.com

I also have a video on rear roller adjustments
www.mindbites.com/person/214-Mark

Good Luck

Mark Peterson
March 2008