Having an office chair that is slanting or leaning to one side can be very annoying. It will negatively impact your mood and will ultimately affect your productivity.
It can even cause pain on your legs and lower back because of the awkward position in which you will have to sit.
A leaning office chair should never be tolerated. This is especially true if your work requires you to sit on the chair for long hours.
Let’s jump right in and discover what causes this issue and how to fix it.
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What causes an office chair to lean to one side?
This problem is common in cheap office chairs. They often come with sub-standard metal parts that cannot hold a lot of weight for a long period of time. Pins and mounts usually bend or break if a heavier person uses the chair and he or she moves around a lot.
Although this problem is more common on cheaper office chairs, there are a number of higher-quality office chairs that experience the same problem. On these higher-quality chairs, rusting is often the culprit when it starts to lean to one side.
The mechanism that connects the chair itself to the gas cylinder is the part that takes the most damage. When you rock your chair back and forth and when you move around in your chair, this mechanism absorbs everything.
This mechanism usually cracks from all the movement, causing it to lean to one side. Depending on the design of your office chair, your mechanism may come with a set of pins to hold it in place. These pins can also bend or break over time, causing the chair to lean the same way.
How to repair an office chair leaning to one side?
The first step in repairing your office chair is to identify the problem. As we mentioned, the most common problem is a broken mechanism or mechanism pins. (Explore more: How to Take Apart an Office Chair?)
The quickest way to fix this is to order a replacement. You can follow the instructions to install the new mechanism on the manual that comes with it.
If you’re looking for replacement parts for your office chair, you can find tons of them on Amazon using this link.
It is relatively easy to replace your chair mechanism. You can watch this video to see how it’s done:
DIY Repair
If you don’t want to purchase a new mechanism or you’re afraid a new one won’t fit, you can opt to fix it yourself.
If you have a cracked mechanism, the only way to repair it would be to weld it. This isn’t the simplest fix, but if you’re good at welding then this will be an easy task for you. You might even end up with a more robust office chair than when the chair was new.
First, you need to find the crack. Make sure that your chair is aligned before welding the crack closed. You will want to weld up parts you think will soon give way as well.
If it’s a bent or broken pin, then simply finding a pin that fits and replacing it will do the job.
Conclusion
An officer chair that is leaning to one side can be very uncomfortable and ultimately lead to certain types of injuries. Getting it fixed as soon as possible is very important. We hope that this article was insightful and that you get your office chair fixed in a breeze.
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.