Treadmill Maintenance: Control Board Replacement
A couple years ago, I wrote my first blog post in this treadmill maintenance series on how to replace the rear roller of my Smooth Fitness 5.25, which blew out a day before what was literally the end of my three-year warranty. It so happens that on Christmas Eve a couple months ago, my treadmill stopped working. After turning on the treadmill, everything seemed to power up normally, but the roller would not start turning.
The folks at Smooth Fitness told me that the symptoms pointed to the need for the control board to be replaced. I searched for other potential remedies to no avail, because at the cost of $280, roughly a quarter the original cost of the treadmill, this was a significant expenditure. But I also did not want to purchase a new treadmill unless absolutely necessary, so I made the order.
During the order taking process, it was mentioned that control boards were on back order until the end of January, partially due to a recent company reorganization that apparently involved new owners. Of course, I had no choice in the matter in terms of supplier, although running outdoors during Winter season in Chicago was not immediately appealing.
My inquiry as to whether a guide to replace the control board would be included with the shipment resulted in a response that it will only involve four screws, and if needed I could make a call to Smooth Fitness for assistance. I assure you that there are more than four screws just to remove the cover of the treadmill, and that there are actually three screws to hold the control board in place, so I do not know where the number of four originated.
Removing the cover will reveal the control board, situated in the right corner when facing the treadmill at its head. If you were on the treadmill belt in a position to run, the location would be in the upper left corner, but all the photos here were taken with maintenance in mind. After five years of usage, the inside of the treadmill was fairly clean, although it gathered some dust after waiting an additional month for the order to arrive.