I've spent the morning talking to an experienced DME person about the maintenance of this chair. The brakes and tires are worn as are the front castors. I've cleaned all of the gunk and hair that was caught in the castors, the small front wheels. This took scissors, tweezers, a screw driver and about a half hour. Then I made the call inquiring after parts to the company in Oregon.
It was quite illuminating to try and figure out whether I would prefer a soft castor or the court roll variety which are similar to the ones I put on in December 2021. When I said that the brake levers were loose, another discussion took place and I've now emailed this gentleman photos of those so he can see what I have since this is a vintage chair from 2009 and parts have since changed.
A further discussion occurred concerning the tools necessary for the various jobs means that I've ordered a better set of Allen wrenches. We also touched on eventually getting a new chair which may be about $2800 give or take. This is about half the cost of what one purchased through insurance. I have a titanium frame which my insurance would not cover when I bought it in 2009 and Medicare does not pay for those.
While I was able to tighten these brakes somewhat, they are old and my tires are about as bald as a pair of Kewpie dolls, so I really have to be careful when transferring so I do not end up on the floor.
Mercy was so alarmed when I was cleaning the castors that she fled to the outermost reaches of the room. I was seated and had the chair with its back on the ground, castors up. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her sweet furry head. She was not at all sure what I was doing but came over to sniff the trash I was collecting and was completely unimpressed.
She is now napping. Smart girl. I may follow her lead.
Cheers!
7 comments:
Not easy, not fun, and definitely essential. I hope you can get the necessary parts and that they are not too expensive. It appalls me just how expensive disability aids/necessities often are.
And yes, follow Mercy's wise example.
The things I never thought of, wheelchair maintenance. Now that you mention it, of course they must be maintained.Mercy is becoming bold, she checked it out!
A new wheelchair sounds expensive! Perhaps you"ll still manage with the existing one.
This is an ongoing issue. Is titanium better because strong and light in weight? That's why I had titanium spec frames.
I hope you can get this fixed. Maybe new tires at least? With some tread on them.
I don't know if it's your choice or not to do repairs and maintenance on your chair but it is very cool that you can and you do.
I hope you can get satisfactory replacement parts. The tires, and therefore the brakes, are pretty gone.
Built in obsolescence is a problem on supposedly "old" items. Hats off to you for doing this maintenance and checking on the condition.
I sure hope you can get the parts and Mercy has the right idea!
XO
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