Motor mover problems

[izzy]

I am, and always have had trouble engaging my powrtouch freedom motor movers. The wheel gap is correct but they are so tight that I am on my third engaging lever and even the spindle has started to twist now.
Today I had to engage them to move the van nearer the fence to allow room for scaffolding for new roof and I slipped and cracked the wheel arch moulding (another repair job)

Has anyone any idea what can be making the things so tight, I have tried adjusting the gap to no avail.
I feel that I am missing a trick somewhere and the movers are 5 years old so just out of guarantee

 

[Hutch]

I found that on my power touch it was not the spindles that were twisting, it was the very small 1/8th inch roll pins. I punched them out and drilled the spindle and shaft to accept a 3/16th roll pin . No problems in the last 5 years, Ok maybe 50 engagements. Just had to reset my motor movers distance as the tyres are now wearing down 5 years old . Another year to go , as far as I am concerned.

 

[Hutch]

Izzy, I also found my manual engagement was getting stiff, a good spray with a brake cleaner and then sprayed all the moving parts with motorcycle chain lube.

 

[izzy]

Going to get the van jacked up so that I can get a good look at things. Mine hasn't got the roll pins but has got square tubes with grub screws so I am going to get the tubes off to check em.
Also just sent for chain lube.
Bit tricky at the moment as we are having a new roof on and scaffold makes things a bit awkward
thanks all..

 

[trevormonty]

Disconnect engagement link rod between two movers. That you only need to fix one mover at a time. Once both working as expected attach link.

 

[Hutch]

Going to get the van jacked up so that I can get a good look at things. Mine hasn't got the roll pins but has got square tubes with grub screws so I am going to get the tubes off to check em.
Also just sent for chain lube.
Bit tricky at the moment as we are having a new roof on and scaffold makes things a bit awkward
thanks all..

All the Powertouch MM have the roll pins.

Replacing the Powrbar pin. (All manual models) - Powrtouch

A guide to replacing the powrbar pin on manual engagement models. Replacing the Powrbar pin 1) Tap out the old Powrbar pin using a 4.5mm pin punch 2) Line up the hole on the Powrbar with the hole on the hex shaft 3) Tap in the replacement pin through the Powrbar/Hex shaft

www.powrtouch.com

 

[izzy]

trevormonty that was my thinking, also it will give an indication of which of the movers is causing the problem.
My link rod definitely does not have roll pins and is not a round tube like others that I have seen,
it is 20mm square box section with a nyloced pinch bolt at either end where the roll pins would be. It is adjusted by sliding a middle section held by two grub screws.
I think the tightness has also caused the loose fitting box section to twist slightly on the screws causing misalighnment of the shafts so that the handle hits the ground before engagement.

All this is frustrating because I can't get to the thing before the scaffold comes down

 

[izzy]

Roof on, scaffold down, I have removed the cross links which were slightly bent. Cleaned everything and widened gap very slightly, lubed up slides with chain oil. Better now but still not perfect but I don't want rollers slipping when going up drive slope.
I think the main improvement has come from the chain oil.

what I did find was that one of the locating pins had lost it's C clip and washer and was on it's way out.
All good now but glad that I found that one