Fixing Gearbox Axel Wobble
 

Just picked this up from craigslist, anyone been down this road before?
There's quite a gap producing quite a wobble on the 3 screw plate that holds the tire on. This is an i2 adn the plate has lots of play in it. No play on the axel.

Im trying to open up the gearbox and look inside, but so far im just stripping the torx bolts :o

Is this fixable, or just replace the whole gearbox?
See attached pics

Sure its not the rim?....Looks in good shape.

Hi

It was a fairly well known problem.

Yes, you can replace the gearbox.

Or, you can fix it.
The tri-lobal plate on early models was a little weaker than needed.
If a glider bumped a kerb, yes the plate could bend a little and give you the result you describe.

To fix it you need a big tool, and a gentle hand.
A big wrench, tire lever, fencing bar, crow bar, names vary in different places.

Lie the Segway on the best wheel.
Observe the high and low points ( a long spirit level may assist ) of the skew wheel.
Gently pry the lowest point up a bit.
Re-measure and repeat.
You may need to nudge it several times to get it close to parallel and straight.

If other wheel is bent also ( which is likely ) then flip it over and repeat.

Then maybe back again to the other side.
You will home in on the solution.

Remember the wheels are plastic ( tough plastic but plastic nevertheless) so use gentle force. I repeat, gentle force.

If this works for you, then please donate $10 to the charity of your choice.



In addition, there is an elastomer between the drive motor and the gearbox input.
These do wear, and can give you a less than ideal ride.
I assume you can still buy them from a dealer.
They should be cheap enough, just a bit messy to install ( remove gear box ).

Michael
www.dgbint.com

Thanks for the great tips Michael. Much appreciated. I dont see any warp or bend of the tri plate, it seems very flat, there is just a gap. It appears as if it's missing a washer, or the axel has separated from the motor (perhaps bad elastomer ?) creating the gap shown. Perhaps it's the elastomer that has worn away and caused the space / gap on the axel. I'll just have to work my way thru the 12+ rusted and stripped torx screws and open up the gearbox to see whats going on.

In the meantime, I ordered a new (used) gearbox and new elastomer and that should do it. :thumbsup: