How To Unlock IKEA Chair Wheels And Casters?

If you own an IKEA chair, you may notice that the wheels will lock when not sitting in it. The locked wheel mechanism is a safety feature, but it can be annoying if you’re trying to move the chair.

There are many ways to fix this problem. I have chosen a few to show you here.

1. How to Unlock Casters Without Any Damage

Here is a YouTube video demonstrating this method:

This first idea is my favorite because it is simple, does not require special tools, and does not cause any damage to the chair or wheels. You don’t even have to remove the wheels from the chair.

To unlock casters without causing damage, you will need two tools. The video shows a wrench   and the claw side of a hammer  . Follow the remaining steps below.

1. Use the tools to create a wedge between the two casters and pull them apart.
2. One side will pull out further than the other. Once that happens, you can pull the casters off of the wheel.
3. With the casters removed, you can access the spring’s plastic piece in place. You can pull the plastic piece out with your fingers or one of your tools.
4. Once you remove the plastic piece, you can let the spring out by lifting the chair slightly.
5. After removing the spring, you put the pieces back together by snapping them together.
6. The spring is the piece that locks the chair. Once removed, your wheels should spin freely.

2. Drilling a Hole on Top of the Wheel

Here is a YouTube video demonstrating this method:

This idea causes some damage and is a little trickier to accomplish. You will need a drill  with a few different drill bit sizes. Follow the steps below.

1. The first step is to remove the wheel from the chair. You can accomplish this by pulling on the wheel and wiggling it as you pull.

2. Second, you will locate the center of the top of the wheel lined up with the swivel post or the metal post on top of the wheel. The center was marked with orange stickers in the video.

3. You will then use a thin drill bit to drill a hole down the middle. The video shows a ⅛” drill bit . Drill until your bit begins angling toward the side.

4. He then uses a ¼” drill bit  to enlarge the hole. If you feel the drill begin to angle, you should adjust your motion to drill down the middle. Drill until you can see a shiny metal inside of the hole.

5. Once you can see the metal spring, you can now attempt to remove it. The video shows a #8 wood screw to try to pull the spring out. The screw did not work.

6. The next step is using a drill to drill slightly into the spring and then drill in reverse to pull it out.

7. With the spring removed, your wheels should spin freely.

8. He then uses a piece of black tape to cover the damage.

3. Machine Screw

Here is a YouTube video demonstrating this method:

This video shows my second favorite solution. It is simple and requires only the purchase of a small screw. The steps are outlined below.

1. First, you will remove the wheels from the chair. Actually, I don’t think you will need to do this, but the content creator removed the wheels in this video.
2. Next, you need to buy a small screw that will fit in the hole under the wheel. The video creator used a ten-millimeter metric screw (M6- 1.00 X 10 ).
3. You then drill the screw into the hole deep enough so that it will not scrape the ground and allows the casters to spin freely.
4. Once the screw is in place, your casters should spin freely.

4. Cutting the Brakes

Here is a YouTube video demonstrating this method: How to disable the safety brakes on IKEA desk chair caster wheels.

I am not a big fan of this method for a few reasons. This process involves cutting pieces off of the wheels, which can cause damage and may be dangerous because you will need a sharp blade. However, it is still an option you can use, and the steps to do so are as follows.

1. First, you can either take the wheels off or leave them on. Either way, you will need something to hold the wheels in place. The content creator uses a pair of pliers  to hold the wheel while they are still attached to the chair.

2. Then you will locate the brake pads, which are between the castors. There are two on each side, and they look like two small triangles. There will be 16 pieces total across all four wheels.

3. You can use a razor, Exacto knife, utility knife, or any knife that will fit. Using the knife, you will cut the brake pads off.

4. The content creator uses two different methods to accomplish this.

5. He cut the pads off while they were attached.

6. He also shows us how to take the castors off, which we saw in prior videos, and cuts the pads off once the castors are removed.

7. I prefer the method with the castors removed as it makes the task more manageable, and you can see what you are doing a little better.

8. Once you cut the brake pads, you can put the wheels back together, and the wheels should turn freely.

There are two types of IKEA office chair wheels. They have brake pads and others with an innerspring lock system. Options one through three deal with the wheels with the innerspring. The fourth video shows how to correct the brake pad type of the wheel locks.

This YouTube video shows the two different types of wheels and how to fix them:

Thanks for Reading!

Vance

My name is Vance, and I am the owner of To Ergonomics. Our mission is to improve your workflow by helping you create a supportive and welcoming environment. We hope that you’ll find what you’re looking for while you’re here.