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Rant: My $200 knee kicker upgrade turned into a week of ruined seams

I bought a new power stretcher head for my old knee kicker frame, thinking it would save my back on a big apartment job last week. The thing just wouldn't hold tension right, and I had to re-stretch three rooms because the carpet kept creeping back (total waste of a day, honestly). Anyone have a reliable brand for stretcher heads that actually lock in place?
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3 Comments
jesse_price27
My old Roberts 50 series head has never slipped on me, even on thick commercial carpet. The trick is to check the locking pawl for worn teeth before you even hook it to the carpet. I had a cheap import head do the same creep thing, and it was always that little spring inside the lock mechanism being weak. A good used brand name head from a real tool supplier is way better than a new generic one.
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the_margaret
Ugh that sounds so frustrating. Tbh I had a similar thing happen with a cheap seam roller once, just ruined a whole section of berber.
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green.reese
Tell me about it, my cheap stretcher head ruined a whole hallway last month.
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