Polaris 280 wheels stop moving at steps

[Melnic]

OK,
Polaris 280. I don't know how old it is as I moved into house a year ago. Polaris cleans but once it hits any steps, it pretty much stops until the reversing valve kicks in. When it hits the steps going straight at it, the wheels won't move and it sits there. Should i be looking at a rebuild kit to fix this or is there something else I should look at when pulling it apart?
I have my VS pump running at 2500rpm when cleaning

 

[kimkats]

I am sending in a pm to someone who may know. Hold on a bit while he gets back with us!

 

[thebombardier]

The 280 runs strictly off of water pressure, so it sounds like either there's not enough to turn the wheels up a 90 degree incline. Whether or not it's actually supposed to be able to go up 90 degree inclines I don't know, I'd wait for another member to chime in. Could either be something to do with the water management system in the cleaner or just not enough pressure coming down the hose. You could try removing the restrictor plate from the wall fitting to see if that helps any.

 

[gq_wolf]

I had a 280(also inherited when we bought our house). It was never stuck once it hit the steps. The pressure from the swinging 'tail' usually kept it going. Didn't go up the 90 degree incline.

 

[Melnic]

I thought the wheel gears were good but I took another look at it again when I got home and no good. 2 of the 3 wheels are just slipping on the gears once you add some resistance. I will need wheels at least . A friend said he had a kit he will not use as he got a an electric robot now.

 

[Melnic]

So, I got the kit from my friend and I got a drive shaft from Amazon. Kit did not have the axle for the small wheel so I'll order that cause mine was worn down.
Replaced the parts (except I kept the tail as it is still flexible and works fine).

Put it back on the hose and its climbing steps and flipping over like a champ now.

I will note that there is some adjustment possible on the wheels. You take the cover off and there are 2 stainless screws holding the wheel axles down. if you loosen that, you can slide the wheel into or away from the gear. Do this on the front and the single side wheel, the back wheel only rides on the idler wheel. You can ajust the wheel placement on the rear one by pulling the small wheel back a tad then moving the wheel closer then tighten. My wheels were already over as far as they could. IN a pinch, I might have been able to dremmel the slots bigger and make it tigher.

 

[Melnic]

Video
polaris 280 getting stuck FIXED! - YouTube

 

[kimkats]

What a difference in performance! Good job!

Kim

 

[Melnic]

I knew about the need to adjust the gear mesh and idler pulley from my previous mechanical experiences and found it odd that my instructions did not even mention this stuff.

I found these 2 videos on adjusting the wheels. this was not covered in the instructions and not in some of the repair vids.
Whenever you have any sort of adjustment for gear mesh, its very important to have the right spacing when there is not some sort of spring device to adjust the gap.
Too tight and it will bind up on the gears and not spin properly forcing the gears to crunch and possibly damage the gears.
Too much of a gap and it will possibly slip.
So, if you swap everything out with a kit, you could possibly still have a non-functioning cleaner.
In my RC helicopter days, we'd slip a sheet of paper or thin plastic in, jam the gear up tight then tighten the fasteners and then rotate gears to pull the sheet out. Not so easy to do here though.

180 is pretty close to the 280 in design.

Front wheel alignment:
How to Repair a Polaris Pool Cleaner : Polaris 180 Pool Cleaner Wheel Alignment - YouTube

Rear Wheel
How to Repair a Polaris Pool Cleaner : Adjusting a Polaris 180 Pool Cleaner Back Wheel - YouTube

 

[Chappie]

I knew about the need to adjust the gear mesh and idler pulley from my previous mechanical experiences and found it odd that my instructions did not even mention this stuff.

I found these 2 videos on adjusting the wheels. this was not covered in the instructions and not in some of the repair vids.
Whenever you have any sort of adjustment for gear mesh, its very important to have the right spacing when there is not some sort of spring device to adjust the gap.
Too tight and it will bind up on the gears and not spin properly forcing the gears to crunch and possibly damage the gears.
Too much of a gap and it will possibly slip.
So, if you swap everything out with a kit, you could possibly still have a non-functioning cleaner.
In my RC helicopter days, we'd slip a sheet of paper or thin plastic in, jam the gear up tight then tighten the fasteners and then rotate gears to pull the sheet out. Not so easy to do here though.

180 is pretty close to the 280 in design.

Front wheel alignment:
How to Repair a Polaris Pool Cleaner : Polaris 180 Pool Cleaner Wheel Alignment - YouTube

Rear Wheel
How to Repair a Polaris Pool Cleaner : Adjusting a Polaris 180 Pool Cleaner Back Wheel - YouTube

I know it's an oldish thread, but those videos were quick and super helpful. I've been running on one wheel for who knows how long. I also found that the mounting bracket for the back wheel was on backwards, preventing it from even coming close to the flywheel.