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Hackers Help: Need help adjusting IKEA OLOV legs

marylou·
Hackers Help
·35 Comments·1 min read
Photo: IKEA.com

I have some IKEA OLOV adjustable legs. I have followed instructions many times … but they do not lock. It just slides down when I put the table upright???? HELP!

 

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35 Responses

  1. A little bit about the mechanism:
    Attached to the inner leg is a cone on a threaded bolt. One that expands the more you screw.

    The method I used is:
    1. Flipping it over, Pulling it all the way up then let it drop.
    2. Twisting it freely, until it feels tight with one hand (it can be at a random height). Lots of twisting so make it easy for yourself to get the 20+ turns. (Mechanism: the cone is being made to expand, pushing against the walls of the outer leg.)
    3. Loosen it enough to adjust the inner leg to your desired height.
    4. Tighten the last remaining bit and you’re good!
    5. Flip it over (top side) and repeat 3&4 until table it’s level, square, and no teeter!

    Just a way that worked for me, may also work with you.

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    1. I cannot pull the tubes apart. Twisting clockwise or counterclockwise makes no difference – just keeps going – 100+ turns – help!!

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  3. I did have to take it all apart, get it screwed to close to size then put it up and lock it in place before screwing it in!

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    1. Hey guys I hope this is not too late & you have given up on them. Having spent last couple of hours here trying to figure out exactly how they worked. I was just about to give in and bin them when I finally figured it out. Pull the two tubes apart – a strong pull should do it. Now take a look at the end of the smaller tube, the end which fits inside the larger tube – we’re looking at the black plastic collar. You’ll notice there are 2 slits cut into it. The slits are positioned opposite to each other. Inside both slits you can see a black plastic tab that is attached to an inner black plastic collar. The tabs protrudes nicely into the slits of the outer black collar (as mentioned above). Now try turning the outer black plastic collar around. You might need to give it a bit of force to start it off. Now as you keep twisting it around, notice how the black tabs inside the slits travels up or down – depending on which way you turn it. The effect of the position of the tab within the slit determines the tightness of this end when placed inside the outer tube. If the tab is positioned towards the end of the tube, the circumference of the black plastic collar is smaller than if the tab is positioned closer to the other end of the tube. In effect, screwing the black plastic collar around so that the black plastic tab inside the slit is positioned closer to the ‘floor’ end of the smaller tube makes the whole of the black plastic collar swell outwards – so much so that if left like this you wouldn’t be able to push this end inside the outer pole. This ‘swelling’ of the inner tube end inside the outer tube is what makes the Olov adjustable leg tighten & hold its desired height. Try maybe positioning the tab in a central position before you try to insert the smaller tube into the outer tube. Slide it up or down to the desired height. Then twist the lower leg anti-clockwise (looking down towards the floor) until it fully tightens & holds its place. Sorted.

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  5. it so happens that the lower (thin) part of the leg is not fixed even when using the Michael method (described above). I fixed it this way – I separated two parts of the leg and glued cloth tape on the locking cone. on those parts of it with which it comes into contact with the upper pipe when tightening.

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  6. Does anyone know what to do if 2 of the legs have been pulled out too far and are jammed out (not all the way)? Is there a way to screw it back into the mechanism inside or should I throw them both out and get new ones?

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  8. None of these methods worked, what worked – to decouple the decorative plastic ring which is lodged between the thicker and thinner metallic pipes.

    Basically yank out the thinner pipe (which would stand on the floor) and when you reinsert it make sure the decorative plastic ring is hanging loose somewhere down. Without it “centering” the thinner pipe they are somehow able to make an unmoving “seal” , later you can slide back and insert the decorative plastic.

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  9. I have just fixed this problem and this is what I did.

    1. First push the leg totally up so it is as short as possible. Hold it so that the leg would slide out but put your finger on it to keep it short.
    2. Then slowly start to turn the leg and every now and again pull your finger away to see if the leg is held by gravity. You want it to stop falling or only fall slowly a short distance.
    3. If the leg can pull down slowly draw it down until you get to the length you want twisting the leg slightly if it gets stuck before
    4. Tighten.

    Reply

    1. This finally worked for mi! It’s a pity that IKEA, the mother of do-it-yourself didn’t put these instructions in the package. Someone should tell them. I assume that a few worn out of trying have already returned them. sharpen up, IKEA!

      Reply

  10. i have a 23″ leg that is useless to me. the adjusting mechanism simply doesn’t work. next time i visit ikea i will seek revenge

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    1. It works! Simply loose it turning it clockwise to the left, loose it a little and then tighten counterclockwise to the right. Repeat little by little until you get the to the wished hight.

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  11. I had the problem that one of my two legs would lock and don’t move anymore. Unexpectadly, the simple solution was to keep pushing and pulling harder while turning it into the right direction.

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  12. After reading all these comments and twisting “clockwise” over and over to no avail, a lightbulb came on in my head, and I was able to make it work. “Clockwise” all depends on your perspective. If the table legs are upside down, i.e. attached to the table and the table is lying on its top, then clockwise is the way to go. I was working on a table that was already assembled and sitting in the upright position, sitting on the floor and looking at it from above. From that perspective, I actually needed to turn it *counter-clockwise*, and voila, I have tight legs on my table. I felt really stupid once I figured this out, it was a real “duh” moment. I hope that my testimonial can save others some frustration, lol :-).

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  13. So, thanks for all these comments. The legs are not so bad if you don’t overtwist. I managed to untwist one leg so much (before I knew what i was doing) it came undone from the mechanism inside the leg and was very loose and would not tighten. After pushing it all the way collapsed I twisted it and could feel it catch and become re-attached to the adjustable mechanism in the leg. After that I did not twist too far and it works very well. Turn the bottom part counter clockwise just until you can adjust the leg- I keep it pretty snug, then put the leg in the selected measurement and the twist clockwise to tighten. It’s nice because the measurement is snug when you tighten and it doesn’t slip around. On the last leg I made the adjustment to the floor so there is no table wobble. You can adjust when upright to account for uneven floors. Don’t give up.

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  14. One of the legs was not working as should.
    I had two problems.

    1. If the bottom part is not gripping into the upper part whichever way you are turning…
    I had this problem because we went past the maximum height, now I could not get the two parts to connect with eachother.

    Lay your tabletop upside down, fix the upper part to the table first. Next take the lower part and push downwards hard into the upper part and turn counterclockwise . Now it will start to grip and you can start to adjust the leg again.

    2. If you try to fix the bottom part by turning clockwise and it collapses:
    Try squeezing the stationary part of the leg near the junction with your two hands as hard as you can (See post Jared, thanks !). Ask another person to rotate the bottom part clockwise to secure it in place.

    I would suggest once this is in place to never touch this again 🙂

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  15. I was able to make the legs work. When they say turn it clockwise to tighten…. turn it a bunch…. after 10-20 revolutions, it finally started to tighten. I have 8 of these adjustable legs and they are all at the desired height – locked…

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  16. Before screwing the legs in…You have to twist the bottom/adjustable half of leg counterclockwise, adjust to height (I had to adjust a little, very little, higher than desired height). then to tighten in place, you twist bottom half counterclockwise at the same time of twisting top clockwise. It isn’t perfect but I plan to use a sticky cusion pad under the legs to help the tiny wobble..fill in the little space between leg and floor.

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  17. Try squeezing the stationary part of the leg near the junction with your other hand while you turn the adjustable end.

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  18. After much frustration I found out these legs actually do work. Turn them counter clockwise to adjust and clockwise to tighten. Good luck!

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  19. I just got these legs and one of them won’t adjust anymore I am so pissed. Does anyone know how to fix it? Also customer service keeps hanging up on me and I can’t get a hold of them!!! I am so mad at ikea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

    1. hold and turn counterclockwise to adjust to stop mark. then turn clockwise, you can find it start to tighten. if you want to adjust again hold and turn counterclockwise then adjust to desired height and then turn clockwise to lock.

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  20. Terrible! I just got these along with the table top that goes along with it and not only is it too small for me because the adjustments won’t stay in place, the legs move around which is not supposed to happen! I keep trying to take it off so I can redo the legs but they’re stuck! I know ikea is one of the cheapest places to buy furniture but that doesn’t mean that the quality has to suck this bad!! Not happy. They better accept my return and give me something that ACTUALLY works this time!

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  21. I too was struggling with adjusting the legs, but then I discovered that if you twist them to the height you want BEFORE screwing them into the table, they lock solidly very quickly. It also helped to hold them parallel to the ground while I was twisting. Table is now holding lots of weight at the maximum height. Good luck!

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  22. I am in line to return theses legs right because they collapsed under my frame. Not safe, Ikea.

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  25. I am not sure if it the same but I usually twist the other way pretty securely to make sure it is locked.

    Reply

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