Hi all, first time poster and new glider mom.

A few weeks ago, I e-mailed AtticWorx to confirm the correct installation of the trim trax. I didn't get a response, so this morning I went to their Facebook page to send them a message there. I saw that they posted 2 days ago that they are temporarily suspending the sales of Freedom wheels and ask that owners remove them from cages, followed up by a post yesterday that says, "In the meantime you can pop the caps off of your wheels and inspect them. If you don’t see any defects, you can replace them in your cage. You can even leave the caps off if you like. Many wheels have been used with out caps in the past. Also just like any other product that you use in your pets cage, please inspect them daily." From a photo someone posted on a comment to their post, it looks like the back of the wheel, where the hole is for the bolt to go through, had cracked and a piece broke off, leading to the hole not being circle-shaped. When I went to their website, it says that Freedom wheels have temporarily been discontinued.

I followed them to get updates, but wanted to make everyone who has a Freedom aware.

In the meantime... I guess the kids are getting a Raptor Wheel for Christmas, and if the Freedoms are deemed safe, I'll have a extra wheel for tent time.

Went to their website since I don't do Facebook and saw a notice of temporary discontinuance. I hope they track the issue down soon as I think it's the best wheel I've come across.

I'll have to inspect the two I have, I really like them.

BUT KEEP IN MIND.

my other wheels are the regular, raptor and custom cuiser etc. These backs are made from the lid of 5 gallon buckets, I had
one start with a small crack (on the lid seam) and grow to 2 inches long, so I had to take it out of cage. One nail or leg in the crack would be bad.
So even with the other wheels give them a good look over when you take them out to clean them or every so often, they
can still go bad.

I looked mine over and it seems fine. I'll keep checking it along with everything else in the cage that gets checked for safety. Also, they did let me know - the TrimTrax inserts for the Freedom wheels are installed on the inside of the wheel.


Here's their update from Facebook:

"Our decision to stop sales on our website was to give us time to sort out the mass confusion created in some online forums and Facebook pages...not sure we have it all sorted out yet. In a few days we were overwhelmed by hundreds of emails, messages and texts to process during this already busy holiday season. So far, only a few actually had a problem with their wheel. Many were people who wanted reassurance. Many were people who just wanted to let us know that they loved us and supported us. And some were people who posted and messaged using up to 4 different names...or no names at all. Adding to the confusion is some wheels were bought through Amazon and authorized distributors. Many of these people can’t remember where they bought their wheel from or when.

Our distributors are independent businesses and some of them asked what they should do. At that time we were still sorting things out and we told them to use their own discretion, and to make sure that people are aware of the situation.

We don’t have many of these wheels in stock but I can assure you that once the dusts settles, we will continue to sell them. At this point we are not sure what caused a small amount of them to break but we are still waiting on the majority of them to come back to us for failure analysis. As always, it is your choice what products you feel comfortable putting in your cages.

AtticWorx has been doing business since April of 2004. We are one of the oldest companies in this community and other communities. We have seen many companies come and go. We have survived by being the leader in innovation and by taking care of you the customers.

If you have inquiries, please go to charlie@atticworx.com

As always, please feel free to copy this and paste it wherever necessary."

I hadn't seen this from Atticworks yet. Thanks for posting.

I have come to a few of my own theorys, but will wait for their results.

I have always stood behind their raptor wheels even when I had to replace the track after almost 4 years.

Thank you again for posting.

I am still very impressed with what I see in the Freedom Wheel. It is a heck of an improvement over my other wheels, including a 9-year-old Raptor. About the only thing the Raptor and similar wheels have over the Freedom is that I could expand the width of the Raptor easily if I wanted to but the Freedom is what it is.

I just removed my second freedom wheel and gave it a wash and close inspection, just like the first one it looks perfect and spins with NO sound still,
just like new.
So I decided to check the website and the freedom wheels are back on sale!! I have lots of wheels and we just downsized to 8 gliders but if I need
more it's nice to know I can another freedom wheel.

They're now selling enhancement disks to superglue around the hole in the wheel to reinforce it, as well as modified caps with the bolt attached. Mine are glad to have theirs back!!

Good news!!!!!

Thanks for the update!!!