How to Adjust and Align a Treadmill Walking Belt

This guide can be used to make small adjustments to center a treadmill walking belt, or add tension to prevent it from slipping on the rollers. Before attempting to adjust your treadmill walking belt, inspect your treadmill and ensure that a worn out or broken component is not the cause of your treadmill belt requiring adjustments. It may be necessary to have a qualified fitness equipment technician perform a service to identify any issues, or perform the adjustments to ensure everything is done properly. If adjustments are not done carefully and properly, damage can be done to the treadmill walking belt.

Most treadmill walking belts are adjusted at the rear rollers by using a hex key / allen key. The size of the hex key varies depending on the treadmill manufacturer and model.

Before making adjustments to the walking belt position, it is important to understand what causes a walking belt to move off center, which is simplified below:

• The walking belt will move towards the looser side.

• The walking belt will move away from the tighter side.

  OR

• The walking belt will move to the lower side (down slope), if the treadmill is not level.

For making adjustments at the two rear roller bolts, this gives 4 options to make adjustments:

• Tightening the right side will move the walking belt left.

• Tightening the left side will move the walking belt right.

• Loosening the right side will move the walking belt right.

• Loosening the left side will move the walking belt left.

If you have just installed a new treadmill walking belt, it is important to make sure the rear roller bolts are tightened evenly before starting the treadmill, as the walking belt edges can be damaged if the belt moves too far to the side while the treadmill is running. It is recommended to manually push the walking belt with your hands or feet at first, pushing directly backwards, to see if the belt moves either to the left or the right. Start by making rough medium sized adjustments of 1/4 to 1/2 of a turn until the treadmill belt appears to stay centered during manual movement.

Once the walking belt is staying fairly well aligned, it is time to start the treadmill at a lower speed and make finer adjustments. Turn the treadmill on, at a speed of 2 or 3 mph, and watch the belt carefully to ensure it does not move too far off center. If the walking belt is at risk of moving too far off center, stop the treadmill and manually push the belt backwards and partially sideways, to help move it back to the center. It may take a few revolutions to move it back to center. When the walking belt is staying fairly well aligned but is still slightly moving to one side, make your fine adjustments of 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn, and allow the treadmill to run for around 30 seconds for the walking belt to move and settle in position.

Once the walkimg belt is staying centered, increase the speed to 5 mph and ensure it remains centered. If more adjustments are needed, repeat the previous step.

Finally, walk on the treadmill and ensure the walking belt is still staying centered. If the walking belt was centered without you on it, but is now moving to one side when walking, it is likely that your treadmill is not level and requires levelling to solve the problem. Level the treadmill, then go back to making fine adjustments again.

If the treadmill walking belt is slipping when you're walking or running on it, tighten both roller bolts evenly 1/2 turn at a time until the slipping stops. Step hard against the direction of the belt while walking to test if it will slip or not during heavy use. If adjusting the tension of your treadmill walking belt does not solve the slipping behavior, it may be caused by other issues such as a stretched walking belt, stretched drive belt, slipping drive belt, or broken roller.

If you need additional support, feel free to email us at info@endurancetreadmillbelts.com or call us at 1-888-887-1961.