Replacing cable for home gym equipment makes a difference?

[tytw00]

I have a Body Solid home gym h**ps://bodysolid-europe.com/products/body-solid-home-gym-exm2750 which is probably over 10 years old (obtained used). I have lubricated the guide rails and pulleys but I still find the home gym sticks at low weight depending on which pulley I am using (i.e. high lat pulley but not low row pulley - which use different cables).

I was wondering if others have replaced the cables to their home gym equipment and whether that made a noticeable difference in smoothness.

Over time, do the cables eventually become shaped to the various turns of the pulleys at the rest position (the body solid lat pull has lots of pulleys and turns) to affect the smoothness when in action? The nylon cover over the cable is scratched at some locations but not all the way through to the cable, but I don't think that is causing the problem.

Thanks.

[Garage Rat]

The pulleys probably need to be replaced.
The bearings on them could be worn or gunked up.
I replaced a cable on a lat pulldown only because if was frayed.

[Duplicitous]

Since it is impacted by the amount of weight on the stack, I would first clean and lubricate the guide rods. For lubricant I use a silicone spray with PTFE (Teflon) and distribute it using a rag or paper towel. If the problem persists, then I would check each pulley as you might have one that needs servicing or replacing.

[tytw00]

Since it is impacted by the amount of weight on the stack, I would first clean and lubricate the guide rods. For lubricant I use a silicone spray with PTFE (Teflon) and distribute it using a rag or paper towel. If the problem persists, then I would check each pulley as you might have one that needs servicing or replacing.

Hmm. I did lubricate the guide rails with a Teflon spray (dry lube version) and I actually took off each pulley to make sure it spun well. In any event, I take it you do not think the cable is the issue either. Thanks.

[RioDPax]

That's kind of like the Body Solid one I have. I've only got an add on leg press that uses the cable. I just put plate holders on the pec unit and keep it loaded at all times. I hate cables. They usually go thru so many pulleys that the action feels 'spongy'.

[goodworkouts]

When this has happened to me, it has usually been the pulleys. Even though they seem to spin well, they could still be giving you some drag when you actually go to use them.

You should get a one-to-one ratio of the amount of resistance on the eccentric and concentric parts of the movement. If you feel more resistance on the concentric, and less on the eccentric, that means something is giving you unwanted friction within the system.

You might actually need entirely new pulleys. Here would be a simple and not very expensive test, go to your local hardware store and get a garage door pulley for like $6. Then hang that pulley up and try using it to do something simple like a tricep press down. Then replace that pulley with one of the pulleys from your Body Solid machine. Do the same exercise again but with the different pulley. That way you can compare and see if there is more friction on your pulleys from your machine.

There are a lot of replacement police out there. So far I have had good results with garage door pulleys from the hardware store, when I made my first machine, and then the kylin pulleys from Amazon. There are more expensive pulleys out there I have found these to be good enough.

I hope this has helped, I might be wrong about you needing to replace the pulleys, but it's just my best guess. It's also possible that the cable is contributing to it. Those stranded metal cables can become too firm. If you get a new cable then it might be more flexible and therefore work better.

[sera310]

If it were me, I'd replace the cable & pulleys all at once, which would remove all remaining variables at once.

[RioDPax]

Pulleys aren't that cheap and it seems like there were around a dozen on my machine. Kamway dot com sells them for 7 bucks apiece, but charge the same in shipping. Full Circle Padding sells them at about $16, but they don't overcharge on shipping. I've never had a pulley break. I've got a 5 gallon bucket of pulleys, housings, etc. I tried to sell them for $5 apiece years ago and some guy came and bought 10 of them. He only had 1 broken pulley, but said he was going to replace them all. Like someone up above said it could be a guide rod problem.