When your gaming chair starts to wobble, it’s a clear sign that something is broken and needs to be repaired or replaced to prevent further damage. The cause for a wobbly gaming chair is usually found in the load-bearing parts that are heavily stressed in daily use.
These parts are joined to others so that the chair holds together as a whole. At these connection points, the sockets and bushings will wear out and screw connections can also loosen or the threads can be damaged if the bolts are too small.
What Causes A Wobbly Gaming Chair
Below is a brief look at the individual chair components and what may malfunction and break leading to a wobbly chair. Before you throw money at a new one, inspect whether a few replacements will fix it up – which they mostly do!
Swivel Base
The base determines the lifespan of a chair. Generally, it’s constructed from reinforced plastic, or commercial-grade steel or aluminum to last longer. However, excessive load and rough handling can break it apart. This is a common problem in star-shaped swivel bases.
If the chair’s wobbling can be localized on the base, then either;
- one of the arms cracked or broken,
- the socket for the gas spring has a crack
- one (or several) of the sockets for the castors is worn out or cracked.
In any case, there is little that can be done to fix a broken chair base, you have to buy a new one.
Castors
The wheels of a gaming or office chair are also known as castors, which are attached to the chair base to facilitate mobility. The rollers of a chair take a lot of wear, so it’s not surprising that they wear out and break, resulting in a wobbly chair.
- The stem on which the whole wheel hangs and swivels can break out. I that’s the case, it would be hard to miss as the wheel just buckles away.
- Another weak point is the center axle bearing on which the wheel rotates, it will wear out, squeak, and become loose.
- The wheel is usually made of plastic with a tread that is coated with soft Polyurethan. It is quite possible that the plastic rim of the wheel is brittle or broken.
Apart from regularly cleaning the swivel and keeping the wheel axles clean to prevent problems, there is not much you can do once those are broken, it is easiest to get new ones.
A general rule of thumb: the larger the wheels, the smoother they move around, bigger wheels are also not as hard on the floor causing fewer scuffs and damage.
Gas Lift Cylinder
The central part that connects the seat to the base is the gas lift. This is exposed to a strong pressure load but also lever forces that occur at the connection points every time you lean forward and back.
- The gas lift doesn’t lead directly to a wobbly chair, it is the sockets where the gas lift fits into the tilt mechanism and chair base. This requires you to change the tilt mechanism or the chair base.
- The hydraulic cylinder makes a chair height-adjustable. When the gas spring is old and worn out, it can no longer bear the weight of a seated person and the chair slowly sinks down again and again. If so, you need a new gas spring.
Tilt Control
The tilt system is pretty standard in modern gaming chairs. It allows the seat to rock as you lean back. Essentially, the tilting ability distinguishes an ergonomic chair from a stiff dining chair.
The tilt plate is attached to the underside of the seat pan usually with four bolts screwed into the underside of the seat.
- If the screws are not tight, then the plate wobbles, check the screws and tighten them. Be careful not to overtighten the bolts, if you over-tighten the threads you may have to replace the entire seat.
- A tilt tension knob and lock lever to control its movement are accessible from the outside but the actual mechanism is inside and is difficult to access. It is one of the crucial components yet equally prone to malfunctioning. It might cease to work with age, leaving you in an uncomfortable posture, the only thing that helps is replacing the tilt mechanism.
Reclining Bracket
The reclining function takes place in the backrest when you lean it backward. You can rest, nap, and chill – all in one bucket. The movement arc even touches 180⁰ in some models.
- The metal brackets holding the backrest are bolted to the side of the backrest, these may be loose where they are bolted on, check and tighten if necessary.
- In another common chair design, the backrest is connected directly to the chair’s tilt mechanism via a metal bracket. If the connecting bolts are loose, then the backrest of the chair wobbles, check if the bolts are tight.
However, if the backrest is wobbly and loose, and it’s not because of the metal brackets, then it is difficult to repair this yourself, as the recline mechanisms are often elaborately built into the backrest. You will probably have to buy a new chair.
Armrests
The armrests of a gaming chair are often adjustable in many directions to accommodate many people.
They endure a significant tension while you lean your arms on it. Since armrests are bolted on the frame, their moving mechanism can stop functioning in the long run. Or they might not suit your ergo preferences.
- When the armrests wobble you have to check the adjustment mechanisms, if they are defective, the only thing that usually helps is to replace them.
- Another common cause of the armrest wobbling are loose bolts where the armrest flange is bolted to the underside of the seat – check the bolted connection and tighten if necessary
Footrest
The footrest is not an essential accessory. But it optimizes comfort by allowing your legs to stretch out. The footrest can be retracted with the help of metal rods, the brackets for this are screwed to the underside of the Seat.
- Should the footrest wobble, the flange brackets should be checked to see whether the screws are properly tightened.
- If these brackets are broken, you can simply remove the whole footrest and the cause of the wobbling is gone.
How To Fix Wobbly Gaming Chair
Fixing a wobbly gaming chair can be quite easy. Above I have listed all the components that may cause trouble, so just look at each and you should quickly find what is wrong. If you don’t notice anything with a simple visual inspection then have someone sit in the chair and listen carefully to possibly isolate where the noise is coming from.
If your gaming chair wobbles and you can’t find the cause despite a long search, then you may have to disassemble the chair and inspect the individual components one after the other.
For this, you need from your toolbox, a flat-head screwdriver, rubber mallet, and a pipe wrench to carry out this plan. With it, getting rid of all sorts of creaks and wobbles this should be about an hour’s work.
Taking the chair apart
With regard to the procedure for disassembling the wobbly gaming chair, you can simply take the assembly instructions that came with your chair to hand and go through the steps listed in reverse. If you don’t have your assembly instructions, then here is one on this post that explains how to put a chair together.
It can be difficult to separate the gas spring from the wheelbase, because with long use and sitting on the chair, the spring may be really stuck in the socket of the wheelbase. How to remove the gas spring is explained in this post.
The same problem of a really stuck gas spring can also exist with the tilt mechanism. The post Replace Tilt Mechanism has tips on how to figure this out.
When you have disassembled everything then you have to check each individual component carefully to see if it has any damage.
Parts that are damaged must be replaced. You should clean the old parts thoroughly before you put everything back together. A little lubricant on the moving parts makes sure that nothing squeaks. The fittings of the gas spring and the corresponding sockets in the base and tilt mechanism free up a bit of grease, this will make it easier to disassemble everything the next time the gaming chair wobbles again.
