How To Lubricate Treadmill Belt | 8 Steps Guide

Do you want to protect your treadmill’s controller board & motor from burnout? Are you looking for ways how to lubricate the treadmill belt to avoid the belt from premature degradation?

Yes, we got your point and here we have talked deeply into this.

By lubricating your treadmill regularly, you can assist guarantee that your workout is as comfortable as possible.

Above all, you guard against premature wear and tear on both the running pad and the motor.

How and When to Lubricate Your Treadmill Walking Belt?

You should lubricate the device every three months, or 130 miles, under typical operation.

Whether you use your treadmill more frequently, you must check to see if maintenance is required, you can identify it if you feel that the belt is rubbing on deck.

Wait until you hear squeaking or any other sound indicative of undesirable friction before proceeding.

Thus, how do you verify? I say you must adjust the belt.

To begin, disconnect your treadmill – a vital precaution before performing any type of maintenance work.

Then, using an Allen wrench or a screwdriver, depending on the type, loosen a bolt.

Once the treadmill belt is free, gently lift it and place your hand beneath it. If the inner surface is dry and there is no visible oil covering, it is time to lubricate.

However, if you withdraw your hand and discover that it contains oil. There’s no need to lubricate.

Let’s begin with the basics of different types of lubricants.

Types Of Lubricants and their applications

Lubricants are categorized as oil, grease, penetrating lubricants, or dry lubricants.

Although oil and grease are the two most frequently encountered lubricants daily. Your facility will nevertheless employ dry and penetrating lubricants.

It is vital to understand when to use these various types of lubricants and when not to.

1. Greases

Grease is made by blending oil (usually mineral oil) and thickeners (such as lithium-based soaps).

Lubricants such as molybdenum disulfide and graphite can be mixed with other particles.

Greases combine effectively with the lubricants in the oil, imparting stickiness and allowing the lubricants to accumulate on the surfaces.

How To Lubricate Treadmill Belt

Additionally, grease can act as a barrier, shielding surfaces from pollutants that could cause damage.

Numerous greases and oils, for example, were available in a variety of viscosities.

Grease is inefficient in high-speed devices because of its great thickness and sticky nature, which can readily produce resistance.

2. Oils

These thin liquids are composed of long polymer chains that have been supplemented with additives.

These include antioxidants that keep the oil from oxidizing and corrosion inhibitors.

They are tough to squeeze out between the long chains’ surfaces, but with the application of oil, a slick barrier can be created between them.

3. Penetrating Lubricants 

These lubricants act as shields for a variety of warriors with jammed bolts.

On the other hand, these coated elements, penetrating lubricants, are not intended for long-term lubrication.

Due to their low viscosity, these oils are purpose-built to penetrate small crevices on surfaces, promote lubrication, and disperse rust.

4. Dry Lubricants 

Dry lubricants contain a variety of lubricants, including silicon, molybdenum, graphite, and PTFE.

The molecular structure of these particles makes them extremely slippery, which lowers friction between these surfaces.

Additionally, they are available in spray form.

In the spray form, they are combined with alcohol, water, or other volatile solvents that evaporate upon application.

One of the dry lubricants(silicon lubricants) is most recommended for the lubing of the belt. Because it does not cause the tearing of the treadmill belt.

Related: Is it ok to use wd40 to lubricate belt?

Steps To Lubricate Treadmill Belt

Don’t worry if you haven’t lubricated your treadmill in 3 months or longer, or if you need to add additional oil to it.

The procedure is straightforward. Talking about safety measures, there is no such danger in doing this. You can complete the task yourself just by following these steps:

Step 1: Unplug the treadmill from the wall outlet

Unplug your treadmill from the wall outlet before you begin putting lubricant into it.

This is critical for your safety since it stops the equipment from turning on while you are working on it.

Step 2: Set the towels down

Some lubricant will always drip from the treadmill, no matter how careful you are in your cleaning.

To accomplish this, it’s a good idea to place towels around the perimeter of your exercise equipment.

This will help to prevent the formation of permanent oil stains on the floor.

But make sure to set aside some clean towels. They are used to wipe away any extra grease from the treadmill’s training equipment after you finish lubing.

Step 3: Make the treadmill deck visible

The lowest piece of the treadmill belt must be exposed after the towels have been laid out on the floor for a few minutes.

Loosen the rollers and elevate the edges of the running belt to accomplish this.

Alternatively, you can use a screwdriver, providing that it is the correct type and size.

Once you begin to see the other side of your treadmill, go through the following steps.

Step 4: Lubricate the treadmill deck 

As previously stated, lubricating a treadmill is a simple process, especially if you’re using silicone spray for treadmills to do it.

Furthermore, it is necessary to consider, while spraying oil that it spreads evenly.

It is important to brush away any excess treadmill oil if the recipe is too thick to avoid the belt becoming too slick, which would make it dangerous to use.

Additionally, clean up any silicone spray that is on the deck’s sidewalls.

Step 5: Move the running belt

After lubricating the deck, add a thin layer of grease to the whole running belt.

This will ensure that the moving elements on the underside of your treadmill are greased properly.

Additionally, while applying the lubricant, make sure to move the running belt in order to ensure that every aspect of the belt is greased properly.

However, avoid adding an excessive amount of lubrication to a specific portion of the belt.

Step 6: Clean up any extra treadmill lubricant

In the majority of cases, 1 to 1.5 oz of 100 percent silicone gel is sufficient for optimal treadmill lubrication.

However, if you’ve used more than that, the odds are that you’ve used too much lube.

More significantly, this suggests that you should wipe away any excess grease from your machine before turning it on for the day.

Meanwhile, wipe away any oil that has accumulated on the side or top of the running belt.

Step 7: Adjust the running belt to the proper tension

Ensure that the running belt returns to its original position and that all of the screws are tight.

Once the belt is appropriately tightened, the edges of the belt do not raise more than 1 to 2 inches off the deck.

However, owing to constant use, the belt tends to loosen over time.

This condition necessitates the need to tighten it from time to time.

Step 8: Put the treadmill through its paces

After lubrication, reconnect the machine to the wall outlet and switch it on to ensure that it is operating properly.

Allow it to run at a slow speed for around 3 minutes to ensure that the oil distributes evenly throughout the belt.

The optimal speed for this task is approximately 3 miles per hour.

If you run it any quicker than that, the fresh lubricant may splash off the machine.

Last but not least, wander around the equipment to see how it operates.

The belt may be too slick, so soak up any leftover oil with a cloth before testing it again.

With lubrication and its methods, certain things come their way is the time period that plays an important role.

How Often to Lubricate Treadmill Belt?

Treadmill manufacturers generally recommend lubricating treadmills every three months, or after 40 hours of use.

However, this general advice may change depending on how a person uses the machine.

It takes more time to lubricate walking treadmills. It is because they are used more often than running treadmills.

Considering this they need to be cleaned more often.

 Heavy-duty treadmills, on the other hand, you may need to lubricate more often than their smaller, home-based counterparts.

Some modern treadmills have the latest feature which tells you that treadmill requires lubrication.

How does Silicone Grease work for Treadmills?

Silicone is a synthetic compound that is available in a variety of items.

The use of silicon is not the only way to perform lubrication but definitely a preferred one out in the market.

Many fitness equipment manufacturers prefer using 100% silicone to lubricate the walking belt of a treadmill.

Silicone comes in both a spray and a liquid form.

Also Read: Fix a Slipping Treadmill Belt

Conclusion

There are a lot of treadmill manufacturers who say that you should lubricate the belt every six to 12 months, depending on how often you use it.

Make sure you use the right type of lubricant to keep your walking belt safe.

The wrong type of lubricant can damage it more than protecting it.

Lubricating the treadmill belt on a regular basis can assist in avoiding excessive friction between belt and running motor.

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