4 Wheel Pool Cleaner With Back Wheel Broken

4 Wheel Pool Cleaner With Back Wheel Broken

This article will discuss the “The Pool Cleaner” by Poolvergnuegen automatic cleaners when one or more of the back wheels have come off, or the back wheels have broken at the securing screw.

(Click on any image to see a larger version)

Only on the 4 wheeled versions of these cleaners can the rear wheels pull out the bolt holding them to the unit dragging the wheel behind. The official fix for this is to replace the lower frame section of “The Pool Cleaner” (with part number 896584000-693) but this part alone is in the $200-400 price range.

 (pic of 2 wheeled version borrowed from homesuppliesandmore)

Note: This is not a write up on how to fix any Pool Cleaner with this rear wheel problem; this is a write up on how we fixed a specific Pool Cleaner with this issue. There is no guarantee that this will work for any other cleaner. Note that doing this fix will void any warranty still left on the Pool Cleaner.

Since the frame on this unit already needed to be replaced, there was no harm in trying to repair the cleaner with spare parts.

Parts needed

1 - 5/16 Lock Washer

4 - 5/16 Flat Washers

1 - 5/16 Nylon Lock Nut

1 - 5/16 2.5 inch Long Cap Screw

Tools needed

5/16 drill bit with power drill

1/2 inch socket wrench

1/2 inch open end wrench

Starting

The wheel with the broken bolt needs to be removed. To do this, first unscrew the 3 screws on the top of the cleaner and then pull the top shell up and off the cleaner.

With the shell removed, the damaged wheel can now be pulled out.

Pull the existing screw and nut out of the wheel. Both should freely move in and out (which is why the fix is needed).

Drilling the hole for the new bolt

The amount of space in between the other tire and the damaged wheel hub that needs to be drilled is to small fit an electric drill. However, the plastic in the hub is a thin plastic.

On the drill bit, we had to use the tip with a fine point. We were able to manually push the bit into the existing nut hole and twist the bit until the bit tip made an indent on the opposite side of the hub.

With this small indent now showing the exact middle of the existing nut hole, we had a reference point to drill from the outside to get a perfect hole through the hub’s existing nut hole.

Setting the new bolt

Place the new bolt with one flat washer already on it through wheel with the bolt hex end and washer on the outside of the tire.

Place the tire back into its normal position with the center bolt going through the new hold we just drilled and the wheel gear going in to the wheel gear set.

Use 3 flat washers, 1 lock washer, then the lock nut on the exposed bolt end (pic only shows 1 flat washer).

Using the socket and open end wrench, tighten the lock nut.

Note: The Pool Cleaner felt  flimsy while trying to tighten the nut. The nut was slowly and carefully tightened.

Place the top shell back on the Pool Cleaner. Then, screw the 3 screws back in to secure the top to the body.

The total cost was just under $6 since we already had the wrenches and drill bit. This was the first time we tried this fix so there is no information on how long it holds or possible problems that could come up from how it was done.