Cracked Frame on New NordicTrack

This was a new NordicTrack Commercial 1750. I’m not sure why NordicTrack is calling these commercial.  They are far from commercial quality.

I had a customer in Newmarket, NH called me to come look at his treadmill that he just got from his wife for Christmas, just the month before.

The complaint was that the treadmill was squeaking, so the Customer Service Representative at NordicTrack told him that he just needed to lubricate it.

Since he did not have any lubricant, nor did he know how to do this, he called me.

Upon arriving at his home, I saw no immediate issue.  I got on the treadmill and ran at about 4 or 5 mph and could not reproduce the squeaking. Since he outweighed me by about 40 pounds, I had him get on the treadmill to try to reproduce the squeak.

The treadmill bounced much more under his 230 pounds. It also began to emit a squeaking sound as the treadmill bounced on its front end suspension. I began to inspect underneath the treadmill to locate the source of the noise. As it turned out the frame was cracked in several places underneath the treadmill.

Since the frame on these is guaranteed for the life of the treadmill, NordicTrack is going to replace the treadmill.