VLOG 645: inside the permobil 'slim' swing away! (retractable joystick mount)

[@ryancreech7042]

Random Google search brought me here (looking for parts for this mechanism) and holy crap, dude! I have been cobbling together wheelchairs and teaching in a refurbishment program for a good 10 years now and I was completely captivated the entire time. I mostly stayed because of the 🤬🤬🤬 tensioner/detent system, I dismantled this the other day to see what I broke ramming a door jamb (or two). Gotta replace the bushings and the bottom plate, the actual metal plate snapped at the screw 'ears'. Much thanks and respect for what you are doing, DEFINITELY subscribing!

[@DustinMaki]

If you put the sprockets in so they do not point at each other, you have 2 detents instead of one. I like one inward putting the joystick closer to the center of my body, and one outward so I can move the chair when not sitting in it. If you hit something hard head on with your joystick, the 4 outer corners of the swingaway lower casting break off. Easily repaired by adding wide washers under the 4 small corner bolts. If you lose the rosette pieces, there are more in the calf pad assembly. ARRI rosettes for camera mounts are also a mating size which allow creative joystick mounting options.

[@RiceBubbles88]

Thanks mate. I fixed mine after watching this 😊

[@WheelieAwesomeAdventures]

Dude!! Same thing just happened to me last week. My nurse bumped mine into the van door and I t bent it slightly so it's wobbling yours now. My tech guy is just swapping with their demo chair. It's our fault we bent it but it's definitely better than the old magnetic one on my quantum chair! Mine has a different attachment where it mounts to the arm rest that allows it to tilt inward vs 90 degrees fixed position like yours. My F5 VS is 2 1/2 years 1800 miles.and its been tight till my nurse crashed it!

[@keithdouglas100]

Mine wobbles some but I was worried it might be breaking but I see now how it works. Thanks

[@Gimpygladiator]

My swing-y mechanism just tried to die on me in the middle of the grocery store. The whole thing is wobbly and the teeth inside are grinding against each other in some horrifying cry for help in some corner of a Saw movie. I'm tool savvy, and do a lot of woodwork, but I tend to leave chair stuff to the experts/dealers. Unfortunately, I need to get a doctor's appointment, a referral, have them come to my house to say "yep, that sucks, gotta fix it" and then go through the long process for requesting approval to fix the joystick, then make an appointment for the actual repairs. It's a 3-6mo process, and this, after 6-9months of work to replace the batteries (fourth time's the charm, apparently)! I've cannibalized plenty of manual chairs, but Permobils are like (aggravating) pressurized think tanks.... designed and put together well.... but ... hell, it would be easier to shoot into space and fix the Mars Rover than to fix anything on this sucker! Thank you for the clear, concise, straightforward (and well-spoken!) step by step of what to expect and how to fix it! Even more-so, catering to audio learners, visual learners and kinetic learners! You're a time-saver/life-saver/SANITY-saver!

[@mikec7658]

My M3 has the same swing away and has the same play I wish it had a lockout for the inward movement so it would only swing out and a stronger center detent position

[@chriscarlin4907]

The thicker mount thickness prevented the wobble....

[@ro11erbeast]

I have put 1K miles on my M3 with the slim swingaway, and it has no discernable wobble. My old M300 with the adjustable swingaway is, and always was, wobbly just a little while after I tightened it.

[@GuyScharf]

My wife has had her M3 for almost three years and 850+ miles now, and it has the same type of joystick you have on the F3. The joystick has about the same amount of vertical play as yours. We don't know whether that play has developed over time or whether it was that way originally as we have never paid attention to that. We have adjusted the angles so that the joystick is parallel to the armrest but the detent places it slightly inside of the arm center line.

[@matthewkent9505]

The 90deg mounting bracket is designed to be mounted perpendicular to the armrest. It has a drilled hole and slotted hole. If you remove the part from the retractable joystick mount and replace it in the factory orientation and install it correctly then you will have the ability to change that "inner lean" that you like.

[@TotallyNormal-]

with stock arm rests, that's exactly that how they're designed to work. but with the arm bar adapter kit, there's no way to mount the bracket that way unfortunately. i could get a different bracket and make it work, but just haven't done it yet :^)

[@matthewkent9505]

@@TotallyNormal- I was able to zoom in a little more and see your issue. They make mount for that. It's a tube clamp and the retractable mounts to a bar that slides in. I know I have the bar and joystick attachment, I don't know if I have a spare clamp.

[@TotallyNormal-]

yea.. in the video when i installed the arm bar kit, i realized they didnt give me any of the proper hardware with it... works for now.. but just havent spent the time to order the correct parts :^)

[@JordanHaisley]

The new style they call it a parallel panel holder. I’ve been waiting on a replacement from Numotion for about six months because of stripped gears.

[@darkestnights7666]

you can 3d print in nylon those rings

[@chriscarlin4907]

Only thing, from experience, the pivot screws mounts are threaded into plastic...so when it strips it has to replaced....

[@samuelself9629]

I'll be transitioning from manual to a power chair soon; the F3 is looking best so far. I wonder if you could put one of those slim swing away mounts on The other side and mount a RAM B-ball on it for a cell phone holder? or would having a swing away on both arm rests be irritating? I haven't felt the need to binge a YT channel in YEARS. Your insight is very helpful. Domo gracias.

[@JordanLoweElevaToursCanada]

I'm glad you made this video because you may be able to answer my question to the issue that I'm having on my swing away joystick mount on my 2021 F3. Remember that Allan screw that you pointed out at the beginning where you can tighten the swing away function so your controller doesn't swing out as easy? Well mine keeps coming loose and I have to continuously tighten it. Is it possible that there is no Loctite on the Allen screw causing it to loosen overtime and should there be Loctite on that screw?

[@ChrisEldridge]

My wife's chair is on the second one now. Bushings will eventually fail. I would love to find better bushings or at least some that I can replace on her chair. The Chair is right at 5 years old this month. She does tend to hang stuff off it and drive around as well so that probably does not help.

[@kikac565]

Did you maybe find solution for bushings? Mine bushings are a worn out and make big wobbling. I don't know what to do.

[@Rollin-Rant]

I don't have anything as well designed as that on my Invacare, just two stainless steel flat bars, I think Fred Flintstone must have designed mine, it does swing away though it's just a bit basic 😂👍

[@chriscarlin4907]

Can you put a shim between the housing and the bracket?...

[@lakeshiacollins617]

Hi. I've been searching your videos to find footage of how to change batteries for a Permobil M3 Corpus on a completely dead battery. Do you have a video? Or will you make one?

[@TotallyNormal-]

its basically the same as changing batteries on an F3 :^) kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJiYZqqLe6hkbcU there's a link to the website in video description if you want to check the service manual as well

[@Ronnock]

Dan, do you ever think about advocating to CMS with respect to billing coding and service labor for CRT?

[@TotallyNormal-]

apparently there's a lot of licensing and certifications to do much, or for them to even listen at all :^/

[@randomcanadianguy853]

Where can I get the armrest conversion kit? I asked my local dealer, and they said Permobil told them it's not available.

[@tarah8919]

Just got my M3 yesterday. Finally after fighting for two years for it. Can’t remember if you did a headrest adjustment video or does anybody else remember? Would love to try and do that myself because it didn’t get done in the wheelchair adjustment session we had yesterday.TNA

[@TotallyNormal-]

there's a few versions of headrests that get put onto the chairs depending on what the dealer picks.. but there's usually some allen cap bolts that are easy to find, loosening them a little bit typically allows for adjustment.. sometimes they have a ball socket adjustment setup as well. easiest with 2 people.. one to loosen and move, and the other to sit in chair and make sure its in the right spot :^)

[@tarah8919]

@@TotallyNormal- thank you! Will try

[@joshuawinne]

Did I miss the link to the older swing away video?

[@TotallyNormal-]

yup! forgot to put it in description lol.. its been added now.. but here's it is also! :^) kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHjMd5qmm5aXbNE

[@patparada44]

My Premobil had a bad cable warning sign and my husband found it but now it turns on but doesn’t run. We don’t know what to do bc no deal wants to fix it bc it’s a custom electric wheelchair, and The place where I can go fix it hasn’t even called me for an appointment.

[@Terry-fp3dw]

Mine got loose and fell apart within the first 2 or 3 hundred miles

[@Frank-xm1sx]

Mine wobbles and it makes me nuts and then it loosens up and turns the gears rachet tightening it back down and it still wobbles

[@JohnBelknap]

What armrest are those?

[@TotallyNormal-]

they're generic waterfall style ones from invacare of all places LOL the arm bar conversion kit from permobil gives ya standard 'round bars' to mount whatever ya want onto :^)

[@Samson_Customs]

Shim it. 5:30pm 12/21