How to Repair a Mamas and Papas Stroller

The Mamas and Papas Sport-03 three-wheeler stroller might look the part, and its chunky tyres are handy for negotiating rough ground. However, it also suffers from a fundamental weakness which means that the front wheel can just snap off.

The plate that supports the front wheel is very thin and is made from a brittle aluminium alloy. After a while this plate simply snaps in two, which could present a serious safety risk.

In our case we had two options:

• Pay the nice Mamas & Papas people £50 to replace the defective part that they had built badly in the first place;
• Fix it ourselves, and do a proper job this time.

Clearly there are moral issues with paying someone to replace a part which should never have broken in the first place, and replacing it with a part which would probably just fail the same way. So, we took the DIY repair route.

Materials and Equipment for Repair

• T-profile or L-profile steel or aluminium bar
• 5mm or 6mm bolts, around 2-3cm long
• 6mm bolt, around 5cm long
• Metal-bonding resin kit
• Aluminium mesh
• Drill, drill bits, metal file, metal hand saw

Procedure

The first action is to drill a 6mm hole horizontally, just behind the buggy wheel hub, though the four vertical aluminium sections. Run the 5cm-long bolt through the hole and tighten it; this bolt should now be holding the broken-off section to the rest of the buggy.

Now apply the aluminium mesh and metal-bonding adhesive resin under the plate area, across the break line. Apply some of the resin to the break line on the top surface so that you have filled over any sharp metal edges. This step is more for a smooth finish than strength, but can't hurt.

Cut the new metal sections to length, bending at the end where necessary to match the profile of the broken plate. Drill holes through the sections and buggy plate, and secure them in place with the shorter bolts.

When the metal adhesive has dried, you can smooth it down with a file. Also use a file to smooth down any sharp metal edges around the repair.

Exactly how you do all this depends on the nature of the breakage and what replacement metal sections you have available.

Precautions

Check whether your buggy is still in warranty before thinking about doing your own repair. If it's under warranty, get Mama's & Papas to do the work themselves, and let them know how upset you are that the buggy has such a dangerous weakness.

Any instructions you follow here are entirely at your own risk, and it is your responsibility to verify the integrity of the repair whenever the buggy is used.

Follow all manufacturer's instructions carefully, particularly with the adhesive.

Be very careful when using tools, and do not proceed if you are not experienced with metal-working and the use of drills, saws and files.

Update: Front Plate Replaced!

After further disintegration (and fixing) of the buggy's alloy front plate, we decided to give in and leave the buggy at a Mama's & Papa's store in Norwich. For a charge of £50 the plate was replaced and returned to us a week or so later in an enormous box. We had to re-attach the front wheel into the pair of metal prongs - harder than it looks - but from then on it was as good as new. The plate looks identical to the old one, so we will need to be careful with it and try to avoid any amount of frontal impacts or loads.

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