swalker
Very helpful member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2014
- Messages
- 1,580
- Reason
- DX MND
- Diagnosis
- 07/2014
- Country
- US
- State
- CO
- City
- Vail
I went for a magnificent wheelchair ride over the weekend in my Permobil C500s VS wheelchair. I rode the Gondola to the top of Vail Mountain and took the ride down Village Trail. It is about a 7 mile trail all on dirt roads. The weather was great and I truly enjoyed myself.
During the ride, I decided to backtrack up the hill for about 2 miles. While doing this, I started to have some wheelchair problems. I have scheduled a visit to the service folks at NuMotion, but thought it would be wise to check with my friends here to gain any insights you might have.
During the ride, I heard a sound like a pebble caught between the wheel and shroud. It was intermittent and repeated at irregular intervals. There was no rock or pebble. My best guess is that I was hearing noise from one of the motors' gear boxes. This is the first time I have heard that noise. The noise has occurred on all subsequent rides, but is very irregular.
After going uphill for about 2 miles, the wheelchair became sluggish and hard to control. The turtle icon illuminated (indicated the wheelchair went into a degraded mode of operation). Presumably, the wheelchair was overloaded and went into turtle mode while it cooled down.
After reversing course and heading back down the mountain I discovered that the wheelchair was pretty uncontrollable. It drifted hard to the right and required full left on the joystick to go in a straight line forward. The wheelchair would not turn left, so left turns required making a 270 degree turn to the right.
Letting go of the joystick resulted in a sudden 130 degree turn to the right as the wheelchair came to a stop.
This behavior persisted for about an hour as I made my way downhill at reduced speed and then the wheelchair started acting more normally, though not completely normal.
The descent was interesting, to say the least. I made it home OK, but it tested my wheelchair driving skills.
The next day, the wheelchair behaved more or less normally at first. I took it on a test drive up a smaller hill and the same symptoms recurred. I can reproduce the symptoms at will now by simply driving the wheelchair for a half an hour on flat terrain.
Two other items to note that I suspect are unrelated are:
1. I have significant flutter in both rear casters. I suspect worn bearings there.
2. The right shock is apparently blown, as there is an oily substance all over it. I noticed this as I was checking things out after the wheelchair started making the weird noise described above).
I sure appreciate any insights you may have so that I can more efficiently work with NuMotion to get the wheelchair fully functional again.
Here is a picture of me during the ride (before the troubles started).
Thanks for your help.
Steve
During the ride, I decided to backtrack up the hill for about 2 miles. While doing this, I started to have some wheelchair problems. I have scheduled a visit to the service folks at NuMotion, but thought it would be wise to check with my friends here to gain any insights you might have.
During the ride, I heard a sound like a pebble caught between the wheel and shroud. It was intermittent and repeated at irregular intervals. There was no rock or pebble. My best guess is that I was hearing noise from one of the motors' gear boxes. This is the first time I have heard that noise. The noise has occurred on all subsequent rides, but is very irregular.
After going uphill for about 2 miles, the wheelchair became sluggish and hard to control. The turtle icon illuminated (indicated the wheelchair went into a degraded mode of operation). Presumably, the wheelchair was overloaded and went into turtle mode while it cooled down.
After reversing course and heading back down the mountain I discovered that the wheelchair was pretty uncontrollable. It drifted hard to the right and required full left on the joystick to go in a straight line forward. The wheelchair would not turn left, so left turns required making a 270 degree turn to the right.
Letting go of the joystick resulted in a sudden 130 degree turn to the right as the wheelchair came to a stop.
This behavior persisted for about an hour as I made my way downhill at reduced speed and then the wheelchair started acting more normally, though not completely normal.
The descent was interesting, to say the least. I made it home OK, but it tested my wheelchair driving skills.
The next day, the wheelchair behaved more or less normally at first. I took it on a test drive up a smaller hill and the same symptoms recurred. I can reproduce the symptoms at will now by simply driving the wheelchair for a half an hour on flat terrain.
Two other items to note that I suspect are unrelated are:
1. I have significant flutter in both rear casters. I suspect worn bearings there.
2. The right shock is apparently blown, as there is an oily substance all over it. I noticed this as I was checking things out after the wheelchair started making the weird noise described above).
I sure appreciate any insights you may have so that I can more efficiently work with NuMotion to get the wheelchair fully functional again.
Here is a picture of me during the ride (before the troubles started).
Thanks for your help.
Steve