Bleacher parts tell stories. Check your bleacher support wheels. They may want to tell you something. You might have guessed that these wheels are not fulfilling the purpose for which they were designed.  They exist to support the bleachers and to provide a means for the bleachers to roll forward and back— to open and close.

When the wheels are suspended in mid-air they are not serving their purpose.The problem begins a few feet above where the wheels are dangling.  A vertical support is crushing against a foot support when it shouldn’t be.

The original design of the bleachers provides an operational clearance that is supposed to diminish only when the bleachers are under a load.  Over the years, gravity, lack of maintenance, and abuse have allowed those clearances to be compressed to where the bleachers are opening metal against metal.

If they are manual bleachers, this makes it harder for the bleachers to be pulled open and pushed closed.

Motors on power bleachers are strained because of the increased friction causing premature wear.

This problem can plague almost any kind of bleacher including new ones like Interkal, Hussey and others.

American Athletix restores those clearances and brings the bleachers back to like new condition.

Our gymnasium inspection report says this about clearances and compression:  All telescopic bleachers require adequate row clearance to function properly.  With telescopic bleachers, each row is cantilevered above the previous row, allowing free movement while extending or retracting the bleachers.  If the bleacher rows sag or compress on top of one another, the clearance is gone and the rows will no longer move freely.  The friction and drag of compressed rows leaves the bleachers very difficult to open and close.  When compressed bleachers are hard to open, additional force must be applied to overcome the dragging.  Often, the bleacher installation will fail to reach full extension utilizing the power system as designed.  This stress to the bleacher system in turn results in damage to other bleacher components such as rowlocks, slide rods and power system components.  Compression and loss of row clearance can occur with age, but is often accelerated by misuse of the bleachers.  Climbing on closed (stacked) bleachers damages the cantilever arms, resulting in row compression and lack of operational clearance.  All efforts should be made to keep individuals off of the stacked bleachers where permanent damage can occur.