Liam was looking for a treadmill for winter workouts and he was considering new machines. With some persuasion, he acquiesced that we refurbish a free machine needing repair on Craigslist. In December, we found a Precor 9.33i for free down in Rosemount. With Finn’s strong back, the three of us headed there to haul it home on our trailer behind the Beetle. A week later, all of his roommates (plus Mikey) helped us move it to his apartment bedroom in the basement.
The machine immediately through error messages and sounded terrible. The error message didn’t seem to apply to our situation, so Liam cleared it by entering the treadmill’s diagnostics mode. When the treadmill fired up, it sounded horrible with a clunking noise. Finn heard it and recommended we replace the motor brushes (likely worn). We ordered a Mcmillan Motor Brush Kit SK-18553 from Treadmill Doctor and installed them and these completely eliminated the rumbling motor noise; however, any speed with a runner at 7 miles per hour or higher would automatically kick the motor off.
Using a multimeter we confirmed the motor’s high-amp load cut-off (designed for 16 amps) kicked in at 18 amps. Friction between the belt and the deck appeared to be contributing to this. Treadmill Doctor included free lubricant with our order, so we squirted that in. It helped reduce the friction draw a little bit, but it wasn’t enough and the machine still turned off at its high-amp draw at speed.
We then started talking to domestic companies selling replacement treadmill belts. The domestic replacement belts all require lubrication (every three to six months), which raised my suspicion – the original machine was designed for lubrication-less maintenance – I deemed these options as trash and likely to cause future problems, surely Precor’s engineers never designed their machines for trashy belts.
Germany manufactures wax-impregnated belts that seem like commercial grade belts. Importing the belts from Germany was going to impose tariffs and I wasn’t getting much support when I reached out to them.
Late in January we found Endurance Treadmill in Canada. One of their reps, Colten, personally responded to each and ever email message I sent to them, outstanding support! The order price incorporated a 20% tariff for the proper Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) surface layer with an orange peel texture and a wax-impregnated polyblend & monofilament bottom surface belt for our 9.33i, totally worth it for the extra care Colten provided and the guaranteed and appropriate belt for our treadmill. Colten said most Precor treadmills operate with waxless decks and that Endurance’s replacement belt should be compatible with the Precor 9.33i. For removing Treadmill Doctor’s lubricant, Colten recommended paper towels and alcohol – this worked very well. After swapping the new belt in, Liam reports he and his buddies have been running on it for a month and it only needed a slight one-time tightening. Thank you, Endurance – this repair is a success!
Hopefully more people see this post, anyone with a similar Precor machine designed for maintenance-free operation should consider Endurance’s TPU belt. Belts from domestic manufacturers requiring lubricant are inferior.