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If anybody is using the Invacare second generation tilt-in-space seating
please take note especially if you drive. Have somebody check your "key
slotted back canes." They are the aluminum bars that your "spreader bar"
(handle) and your back connects to. You need to check the welded aluminum
ear that the curved flat bar that holds your back up, down by the frame of the
wheelchair, to make sure they are not cracked or broken. The welded
aluminum ear is approximately 1/4" thick and after less than five years of
use one became fatigued enough to break off and the other one is
cracked.
If you lean back and are all of a sudden having trouble reaching your
toggle switch to put yourself back down this is more likely the problem. I
needed to have my toggle switch moved closer so I could reach it and I even had
to have my electronic steering wheel moved a little closer to make driving
easier. I had my son check my wheelchair because I cannot believe that my
body changed in a couple of weeks but he could not find anything wrong.
Not only did I have trouble reaching my toggle switch, I also felt I was
leaning to one side when I would tilt back. Yesterday at work the aluminum
ear broke off and made the back of the chair very loose. I was having a
hard time driving and did not realize that it broke until my wife seen the part
rubbing on the tire. My son took a flat piece of steel and bolted it
together until my new ones come sometime next week.
It was ironic that this happened yesterday because I called my wheelchair
representative to ask her about when I would be eligible for a new wheelchair
and asked her if there was parts on my wheelchair that would wear out
to make the back tilt farther than what it should be because I needed my toggle
switch and my driving controls move forward. I told her that I never had
any problems up to that point except for a set of tires and then with in a
couple of hours that part broke. When I called her to tell her that my
wheelchair broke I asked her if she was into voodoo or may be witchcraft
and all she did was laugh. Anyway, make sure you have somebody check
that part.
Jim
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