The cables connecting the telemetry and gears were tight enough, but the side with the cables for the incline motor came loose overtime, and that is why the unit stopped tilting. In other words, the cable running through the frame was inserted at an angle into the PCB/LogicBoard inside the unit. The wires were simply not plugged in “straight” so over the first couple of weeks of use, it eventually must have popped out far enough to prevent the unit from tilting entirely. That gave access to the console and revealed the connection problem.
We were prepared to drill it out, but opted to remove the belt and drive wheel instead. However, manufacturing used soft aluminum screws and tightened them to a point where the forward screw could not come out. In order to get to the electronics, I felt the it should be removed. Overtorquing of screws is also present in the metal bracket that holds the Logic (PCB) Board. Since that was enough to expose the piston, and that’s how we got the lube into the piston. We were unable to loosen the right-side bolt, but the left-side bolt did come off. The root cause of the problem is an overtorqued right-side bolt that holds the piston in place. Taking the piston partially apart and putting in some silicone lube solved the issue. It was powerful enough to jam the machine on some rotations. It was happening with each “rotation” and preventing a smooth incline/decline. After taking the unit apart and removing the motor we could swivel the machine back/forth and the pop was the piston the unit is attached to the frame. The popping noise that I recorded in the videos was not the actuator/incline-motor. Within a week of this video, the TDF Trainer seized entirely, and would not incline/decline at all. To help ProForm, or actually iConFitness, diagnose the issue I created this video. I originally complained of a loud popping noise the ProForm TDF Trainer was making while moving back and forth on the incline.
Inquired on September 26th, via Facebook and E-Mail.Order I placed in August 24th from ProForm ( ) via chat.In all fairness, 5 weeks were spent waiting on the unit, but since they contribute to my frustration I’ll count it against the ProForm/iconfitness/TDF Trainer folks. I can finally say that I closed a chapter that was effectively open for 1,848 hours (77 days), out of which I got to spend 2 on the TDF Trainer. The good news is that my ProForm Le Tour De France (TDF) Trainer is back to 100% operation.