Today a customer brought in a Bugaboo Bee Plus for repair with a severe case of wobbly front wheels. Even while pushing the stroller slowly across the even concrete floor of my workshop, the entire chassis rattled so violently that, at first, I suspected loose rivets or broken plastic components to be the cause of the problem. After checking over the stroller thoroughly however, the problem proved to be the result of regular wear on two key areas which were easily fixed without switching out any hard-to-attain original parts.
Before I give you the easy fixes to this problem, I would just like to warn that it is worth your time to make sure that there are not other causes for the rattling of your stroller's front wheels which, if left unaddressed, may lead to further and more serious problems in the future.
Firstly, you should check that the front axles are not bent. If they are, you'll need to shift out the entire axle assembly on the faulty side. Secondly, you should check the ball bearings that the axle slots into to ensure that they have not broken apart and still rotate smoothly. Lastly, you should check the ball bearings on the wheels themselves and also clean out any hair or string that has wound itself around the wheel axles. It is a good idea to oil all of the ball bearings with a spray grease such as wd-40.
After ensuring that bent axles and faulty ball bearings are not the cause of the problem, you can tighten the front wheels to prevent their wobbling simply by inserting a washer between the chassis and the wheel. The washer needs to be large enough to surround the small plastic lip at the base of the axle (where it is fastened to the chassis), not so thick that the wheel no longer locks in place (this may be a tight fit), and not so wide that the washer interferes with the forward locking mechanisms on the wheels themselves. After shoring up this gap with a washer, the wheels should sit tightly enough that there is no longer room for them to wobble.
If you have also noticed an instability in the chassis while the wheels shook, it may be useful to administer a second fix. There are two straps extending from the rear of the stroller to the footrest in the front (which the shopping net attaches to). Over time, these can become stretched out and no longer hold the front end of the stroller as tightly when the stroller is fully extended. To fix this, simply re-thread the straps such that the straps first enter the footrest from underneath, loop over the top, and then slot downwards again before attaching to the pegs. This path is slightly longer for the straps and thus restores their tension.
For help with other problems with your Bugaboo Bee or Bee Plus, check out the following videos from our YouTube channel:
Loose Handle on a Bugaboo Bee Plus
Problem Areas and General Maintenance of the Bugaboo Bee Plus
How to repair the seat adjustment mechanism on a Bugaboo Bee
How to Adjust and Remove the Seat on a Bugaboo Bee Plus
Replacing a Back Wheel to Fix the Brakes on a Bugaboo Bee
Oiling the Mechanisms on a Bugaboo Bee
Hope this has been helpful. As always, feel free to leave any questions or comments below.
