you're my saviour... all those months i could've been rolling freely, i'll never get those back

YESSSS! Well done SIR! This is amazing. After watching your video I spent about 5 minutes fixing a chair I loved but have been fighting against for 5 years! And I didn't even need to use any band-aids. Just need to find my crash helmet now........

Thanks - a great fix, but my chair is rolling down the street as we speak!!

This was perfect!! I didn’t even know that the ikea chairs were designed not to roll. That will be the last time I get chairs from there. I truly found the not rolling of the wheels incredibly annoying, so this really helped me out.

Just bought two used Ikea office chairs for practically nothing, both with bad wheels. This little trick made my day. Thanks a lot.

Grant, thanks. Your video lesson is the most comical and most helpful clip I have seen on this caster isue.

This is the most useful video on KZfaq that really made a difference for me! Those hard to move ikea chair wheels have been annoying me for years

Thank you so much! And appreciate your added humor. I thought I just needed to grease the wheels as I acquired my chair from a neighbor who moved and considered they might have done something to negatively impact the wheels’ movement. But thankfully I found your video and my husband and I just cut the demons out without having to pop off the wheels (which I tried but don’t have 5-10 minutes per wheel x5 level patience). IKEA, if you’re reading this, other chair manufacturers put external wheel locks on their chairs (to lock- push down, unlock- pull up) and those work very nicely.

OMG I 've been stuck (quite literally) with this for 3 years! Thank you so much for your soluton

You've just made my chair, and my entire life approximately 5x better, and for that, I love you

My chair is not from Ikea but has the same braking stupidity. Your method worked a treat and my wife loves that it no longer drags and marks the timber flooring. Genius!

This literally saved me so much frustration…thank you a hundred times!!!

After two years of putting up with locked wheels, I watched your video and after took 5 minutes to solve my problem, thank you!!!

Just going to return my Chair to IKEA and saw your Video. My Chair is so smooth now. p.s. I started to learn computer in 80's and it was a PET system from Uni, You bring back all my old memories.

Thank you very much sir…yes ours is from IKEA too….just finished cutting all the brakes…thanks again

I noticed my wheels weren't turning smoothly and was about to try disassembling them to clean thoroughly. But instead I followed this video and it's perfect now! Thanks for saving me a lot of time and effort. It was easy enough to use a knife and cut the self locking plastic out. Your video pointed out exactly where they were!

Thank you so much for showing me how to turn my boring safe office chair into an exciting danger for life, limb and pet tails! I promise I'll try not to cut my fingers off.

You saved my chair and my wallet. Thanks❤

Thanks Graham worked perfect. Saved a couple of chairs. Easy Fix.

Thanks my son was having difficulty pushing this chair around finally it's free moving! Appreciate it.

At first I was like "this guy is crazy" but then I was like "this guy is a god". Helped immensely, thank you!

I can't believe how well this worked. Seemed very weird at first but it happened exactly as you showed

Mate that was brilliant, did mine with a small chisel and wacked them off, dead easy and now roll freely thanks. Saved me a few quid replacing wheels as that was my next move. Thanks buddy.

All this years thinking I had a broken chair! Thank you!

After the first brake, I thought about ordering new...but the need for instant gratification took over and by the last brake; it was off in a couple minutes! THANK YOU!!!!

You are very good at subtle wit - so am I - at times throughout my life - people have said, "Oh, I thought you were serious" or "are you being sarcastic?" LOL anyway - great information - very simple procedure to remove aggravation - thank you! Cheryl in SC, USA

Two weeks ago, I bought an Ikea chair with wheels. I knew about the auto-braking feature (several comments on the Ikea website complaining about it) but I thought it would not be a big deal (and I really liked the chair). After a few days using the chair, I regretted my purchase. Who came up with that "improvement"? I mean, it totally defeats the purpose of having wheels on the chair! Office chairs tend to be heavy (notably because of the gas cylinder) so if they can not roll when empty, they are very akward to move around (to park them under the desk, to open a drawer behind them, etc.). And my chair could not even slide, since its wheels are rubberized. And even when I was sitting on it, my chair barely rolled, which was uncomfortable (it did roll when insisting, but much less easily than a brakeless chair). I searched the web for a solution, without much hope... And tadaaa, I found your video! Your method is a breeze, very quick and easy. And of course, it solved all my problems with the chair. Thank you so much!!

Excelente video. I have been dealing with this problem for a long time. Lots of lubricant and frustration until I found the cause and solution in your video. Problem solved. Thanks to you!!

My new Ikea chair is driving me nuts with its auto locking - can’t wait to try this hack!

Thank you! I bought a brand new ikea chair at the thrift store today. I honestly thought the wheels were defective. Such an easy fix I never would have thought of!

thanks for your video saved me from throwing out a chair that was given to me. If I wanted a chair that didn't move I would look for a chair without wheels, thanks for helping me to get my chair rolling again.

This video saved me $20 that would cost me replacements of those wheels. Thanks!

Yay for this video! Got a chair donated and thought I'd have to replace the wheels. Saved me $ and I always appreciate that!

THANKS works a treat, and I have only knocked over 5 people today!

Thanks mate worked a treat took 2 mins and didn’t cut myself 😂

Took about 2-minutes to cut the locks off. GREAT tip saved me from buying new casters.

You saved me! Well, my sanity anyway. I was 24 hours from buying a whole new set of wheels (which probably wouldn't have fitted), and I just had a thought to see if anyone on KZfaq had managed to dismantle these damn wheels (which I couldn't figure out). Hardest thing was finding a suitable knife. Anyway I managed it and still have most of my fingers too. Thanks again.

I used some heavy shears to snip them off. I cannot thank you enough 🙏

Brilliant. I must have suffered for years. Slight modification to the above procedure was that I clamped the wheel in a vice and used a 6mm chisel.......5 minutes. Bliss.

Been searching for a solution for months and, after the wheels started scratching my new oak floor, knew I had to do something. I found your video and it's a result! Thanks dude.

Yes, you are so right. As I watch your video, two office chairs are speeding along at 30 MPH on Queens Blvd. because (I am sure) some smart alec has dismantled the brakes on Ikea's office chairs. However, despite the danger, I am laughing at your droll sense of humor. Thanks.

Thank you! Helped me. Why I found this video too late!

That's so funny. I have had the same problem, thought the wheels were faulty or seized up. Spent 30 minutes trying to figure them out, then thought I'd have to butcher them or buy new ones. Found this video and thought "Wow! That chair looks just like mine!" I bought one of these one year, and the wheels are great, bought a second one later, that one has the brakes on the wheels, really horrible. Since I do not use the chair on hills I've cut the lugs out as per the video, perfect now. Thank you.

my gosh, for years I have been struggling with these stupid wheels on my ikea office chair so I tried everything still to no avail - yet, just a short look at this video saved everything - it really worked! I can finally move around with my chair - Thanks Graham

I followed this approach and it worked very well for me. I was about to get rid of my chair and buy another one. Thank you so much!

This inspired me to attempt the project and I wound up using a wood carving chisel blade which worked really well. I made a how-to video (my first ever) and included a link to your video in the description. Thanks so much!

What a great hack! Especially useful if the chair is on a carpet. And it does break easily with a sharp knife. Thank you!!

Thank you for the excellent instruction!! My sons chair is now fixed!

Thanks mate your my saviour with this fantastic wheels

This is a great video. I found that a quarter inch sharp chisel probably works better than the knife. The breaks pop right out. Thank you so much.

Right 100%. Exactly the way he did it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you so much! I been dealing with this for over a year and finally found a good video.

Great video! Beware those office chairs!! 😂🤣😂🤣

Thank you so much sir! My chair is now moving rapidly to the next room when i push my leg a bit

Aye mate! done saved on a lotsa wheel purchases up here! Lovely tip! Bang on!!

I don't get the logic to the auto locking wheels either. It's going to tear up my new floors if I don't get the wheels rolling freely, all the time. Thank you Graham for your insights and awesome sense of humor.

A suggestion, instead of dulling a pocket knife, use a jig saw blade held with locking pliers and heat it with a flame. Goes through plastic very quickly.

My IKEA chair has exactly the same wheels. Same problem. Instead of using a knife to cut the break tab off.... a small chisel can be used. Position the chisel. appropriately.. then a small tap on the chisel will cut away the break tab. Holding the removed wheel gently in a vise will make it even easier. An excellent and helpful video. Thanks.

Thanks for addressing this with an easy fix and gave me a good laugh 😆

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Worked like a charm, Graham!

Brilliant idea graham , thanks very much , worked a treat.

my headset cord got stuck in the freakin wheel capsule by some weird ikea magic thank God I found this guide to help me out.

Thank you!!! This is exactly what I needed.

I thought I needed new casters but thanks to you I now know how to fix it or at least have the hubby fix it.

Thank you so much for this! I was going to buy new wheels because I thought they were just old and seized. Saved me 50 bucks!

Exactly what hat I need it. Bless you my friend ! Great video!

Thanks it worked. I like the way you roll!

Cheers mate, been bugging me for the last few months now. Office Grand Prix here I come.

Haha awesome!!! Always great to see humor involved ima useful video! Keep it up! Thank you!

Thanks man, was just looking for this fix of this terrible blockage.

Thank you so much for this, I'm going to try it and hopefully not make any scars to go along with it. 😂

Thank you kindly, it helped

I just used your video to fix my chair. Thanks!

Thank you for this video, in the process of disasembling the wheels I realized that if you take the wheels off entirely you can remove the spring from the center which activates the brakes, so I ended up doing that because I didn't feel like playing with knives against hard plastic being held in my hands :P

Graham thanks so much. Saved a bunch of money and time cause of your trick.

First of all, it's not just IKEA. Everyone has adapted these stupid wheels on every office chair you buy. I know because I have done my research and haven't found a chair that doesn't have them. Even the after-sales wheels are like that! So I gave your video a thumbs up, because you rock! I have only one remark; use safety gloves.

unbelievable, i have the same chair with the same color and the same issue.. it worked. thanks mate.

Thans mate. You saved me a hundred bucks.

Thanks for addressing this. I'll be sure to keep an eye on my chair now, so it doesn't go rogue on me.

it worked on the Jules chair! thank you!

You ripper, I thought I'd have to get rid of the chair. Thanks to your video, all fixed! Cheers mate

thanks, no more brakes and I am happy now.

Same armchair here!!thank u soooo much!!

Great tip! Amazing what you find.

Thank you so much for this tutorial! I thought the wheels were clogged up with hair and other crap and was looking for how to clean them out when I came across your video. I never would've guessed they were designed to unlock when someone's sitting in the chair. Now I'm wondering if the previous owner had tossed away the chair because the wheels seemed broken. Oh well.

GENIUS! It's even easier to do without taking the wheels off.

Thanks a lot for sharing your solution. Very strange "safety" system indeed

Thank you Graham for this video ! This solution works really well ! Thumbs up !

This video made my day.

Thank you for this!!! You're awesome!

helped me a lot! thank you!

Thank you, great video. One could also remove the wheel axle and get rid of the spring that creates friction when not sitting. A bit trickier but less dangerous solution!

Are the push fit casters from ikea chairs same ad any other chair? Is it universal? I have the opposite problem, got a chair with wheels and I want it steady so I can use my racing sim

I have the same chair! Thank you so much! It was bothering me a lot

I bought the same chair you are sitting in from a lady that said "it just isn't comfortable"... Thought I had a great score as the chair was literally brand new (a month) until I put it down and rolled (tried to anyway) across my office. Annoyance be gone! Going home to do this surgery now!

I had no idea they had brakes. I was going to buy new wheels. Thanks a bunch!

Tried this on my old chair without any need for plasters afterwards -- thank you!

Mine chair was totally different with those brakes but i digged little bit off the plastic and now keep rolling rolling rolling 😀😀

Aaaah Graham, your an insanity saviour. Cheers mate

Amazing! I love looking things up on youtube.