Apply oil or leave alone? Capstan shaft, Akai GX-635D

[hertzdonut]

I have this question posted in my thread about my slow-running GX-635D, but I felt this question needs to be in its own thread and hopefully spotted by someone who can answer this question. I've pulled the motor off and it's in good shape, no burns of any kind, so I just cleaned the contact areas with 91% iso.

I was about to put it back together, but wasn't sure about whether to apply a couple of drops of sewing machine oil at the base of the capstan shaft. I remember seeing a thread somewhere about NOT applying oil to certain capstan shafts. On this motor base, there are a couple of plastic (neoprene? Hell, I don't know!) washers, perhaps those act as some form of lubrication.

There's three images I took, thanks to anyone who can answer my question!

- Jeff



This is how it looked, just after I pulled it apart. Very clean!



And now we come to the $64,000 question:

 

[Grbluen]

Sorry about lurking, but i have a interest in this deck and the Teac X-1000R!

 

[hertzdonut]

I'm surprised no one has weighed in. Oh well, no problem. Right or wrong, I decided to move forward. I decided against any oil at the base as there didn't appear to be any indication of any oil there, ever. However, looking at the exploded view of the motor in the service manual (I'm attaching the page here), I saw that a felt washer was indicated directly under the top cap. And that I figured that could use a couple of drops of oil. The service manual makes no mention anywhere of adding oil, nor does it say not to add oil, either.

I've put it all back together, and nothing has changed for better or worse, which doesn't surprise me, because the motor apparently plays no part in this ongoing saga.