Garrard 301 Maintenance Schedule

[Greg Aker]

About three years ago, I refinished a cream-colored grease bearing Garrard 301 my grandfather purchased new in 1957. I'm pretty ashamed I didn't truly understand what he was giving to me when I got it. He switched to a Thorens deck in the early '70s, and the Garrard he gave me had been in his basement ever since.

Some Photos here

Other than rewiring my tonearm last week, I've done nothing but enjoy spinning vinyl on it since I rebuilt it in early 2017. With a holiday break coming up, I figured it might be a good time to clean/lube the motor and spindle. But this got me to thinking, how often do other owners of these decks perform these tasks? The original hardback owners manual says "after a period of time" to do maintenance. What does that mean to you?

So if you own a Garrard 301 and do you own maintenance, what's your schedule?

 

[Ken Boyd]

Looks great, I would think cleaning and lube would do it, but I have never owned one.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

If I owned a 301, mine would get the "Twice Yearly" maintenance schedule. As in daytime only AM station maintenance plan. Since mine would be used at least 3 hours a day, daily.

 

[SB12345]

Just a hint if you're getting into lubing that grease bearing:

Follow the instructions in disassembling the spindle/bearing as found multiple times on the 'net. Make sure that you get it scrupulously clean.

Upon reassembling use Phil Woods Bicycle Grease as a lubricant. Your 301 was designed and built in the old days - before "trick" lubricants and synthetic greases. Woods Bicycle grease is 100% petroleum grease and surprisingly is of the correct viscosity for the 301. Not too thin (will cause lack of lubrication and might run out of the bearing assembly) and not too thick (will cause excessive warm-up times so the deck takes forever to come up to speed) this lubricant, just like in Goldilocks, is JUST RIGHT. I've been using it on my 301 for years with no problems. Try it. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

And Phil Wood Bicycle Grease is good stuff. Great option.

 

[Greg Aker]

Thanks everyone. New grease has it running a lot better. I think I'm going to keep an eye on it, but for now my plan is to re-grease yearly or perhaps more depending on if things start to feel sluggish. I used the same oil on the motor as I use for my Leslie.

thanks!