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cheaprecently i noticed what my old (~10 years i think) chair (my main working chair which i using long time daily) dying.
so, its time to but a new one i thought at first.
i opened market, researched it a bit, and see prices like $500-$800 for similar chairs, maybe even worst...., this is unacceptable, because i know quality of parts used in this chairs, this is mostly a cheap shit, and more important- unreliable shit.
so i decided to check if it can be repaired/moded with little costs.
problems i had with chair:
1. wheels are mostly dead (my fault, i have not care about it, so it grow high level of dust, dirt and hair)
2. chair seat is highly wobbling (this could be problem of gas-elevator and/or swing mechanism)
so i looked on prices of required replacement parts, and to my surprise i see quite acceptable values:
1. set of wheels for ~200kg weight - $10-$20
2. gas-elevator for ~150-250kg weight - $10-$20
3. swing mechanism - $40-$120
as swing mechanism is relatively costly i decided to start with replacing wheels and gas-elevator.
mount/dismount wheels is really easiest part, can be done without any special tools, just with bare hands:
1. turn chair upside down, or put it on the side.
2. pull wheel with hand with some force (not too much, in my case it was surprisingly easy).
3. put new wheels in free sockets.
i have not done any photo during process, after work is done it look like this:
FC_01786.ARW.png.webpFC_01785.ARW.png.webpFC_01780.ARW.png.webpmost problematic part is removing 10 years old gas-elevator from both cross and swing mechanism, even with large amount of recommended wd-40 lubricant it take few hours to finally knock out gas-elevator, also i have damaged a bit elevator itself (which is not important), cross and swing mechanism, probably i should apply new water resistant dye to avoid rusting in future.
some photos:
FC_01775.ARW.png.webpFC_01770.ARW.png.webpFC_01768.ARW.png.webpFC_01766.ARW.png.webpFC_01765.ARW.png.webpFC_01762.ARW.png.webpFC_01760.ARW.png.webpFC_01759.ARW.png.webpFC_01757.ARW.png.webpFC_01754.ARW.png.webpFC_01753.ARW.png.webpFC_01752.ARW.png.webpafter this simple modifications chair riding well again, seat wobbling almost gone (i think to fix wobbling completely i need to replace also swing mechanism)
one more thing, i used reinforced high-weight capable gas-elevator which is also have longer stem and larger case, so maximum height of previous gas-elevator became minimum height in new configuration, and maximum height i much larger now, it's fine for me as i have always used chair on maximum height and by doing so i have reduced lifetime of previous gas-elevator greatly.
some final photos:
FC_01777.ARW.png.webpFC_01787.ARW.png.webp