How often to lube up a turntable?

[432HzBob]

I feel guilty having run my Dual and Technics TT's for years, daily without ever lubing anything but a few drops of oil on the spindles and grease in the gears underneath when modifying the plinths.
How often and how to best lube all the tonearms and machinery below to keep em running trouble free another 30 years?

 

[trinhsman]

I guess I do overkill on my turntable. I just take my table to the dealer I bought it from once a year for a tune up. IMHO, just find a tech in your area you trust and do a tune up once a year. I’ve done this 3times so far. One time I didn’t notice any change. Two times it was a dramatic change, so I know it should be done.

 

[Steven Tate]

Of course, it depends a lot on the amount of use you give the TT. I have rebuilt several Dual TT's, and the experts say that most people who try to lubricate their mechanisms overdo it. It takes a very small amount of lubricant on the main cam and other friction producing parts. Too much gums up the system, and the aging grease, as it hardens, will seriously affect operation. If the TT is in heavy use, I would sparingly relubricate once a year, and disassemble, clean and relube every five years or so. If it gets light use, I would lube every 2-3 years and overhaul every 8-10. If you use high quality lubricants, they should last that long. Some techs might completely disagree with this timetable, but it has worked well for me.

 

[twiiii]

With my early Thorens I would set them at 78 rpm disengage the idler drive and if the turntable did not continue to turn for more than 2 minutes I would clean and re-lube the table. I did this when the TT was first turned on. After warming up it would rotate longer. With the belt driven tables its more difficult I put a speed disc on the table take the belt off and spin the table by hand to over 78 and then I time the table from the time the strobe show 78 RPM till the table stopped moving. Its about the same but less than 2 minutes as the platter has far less energy than the older tables. I haven't done it in years because I learned that if I I drained the old oil and re-lubed once a year thats all that was necessary. With the advent of synthetic oils, I have gone as long as 5 years with out re-lubing. Now when I need to change the battery on my rabco tone arm I take the TT apart, clean the contacts on the arm and lube the rollers. I use a synthetic similar to Mobile I for the spindle. When I had to disassemble older Thorens motors at the shop, again I would use Mobile one. For R2R capstans such as Revox and Ampex professional machines I would use STP. The trouble with STP is ambient room temp if you use to much. You want a light even coating. Cooler temps don't cause scaring, it just takes longer for the machine to come up to speed putting stress on the motor.

 

[Steven Tate]

On the advice of some original Dual techs, I use Shell Gadus S2 or S3 grease for those components that call for grease like the main cam. And I use it very sparingly so it doesn't gum things up. It comes in a grease gun type cartridge and one cartridge will last the rest of your life. I put a tablespoon or so of it in a 15cc syringe with a small curved tip so it is easy to apply in hard-to-get-to places. Apparently this grease is designed not to harden for a very long time.

 

[GChief]

I think my 1970ish AR XA I’ve had since 1976 has been lubed once, and that would be when I redid it 2 years ago. Motor has sealed bearing and wells probably don’t have enough going on to worry as long as they are at the correct level. Never did my automatics but probably should have.

 

[Balifly]

I feel guilty having run my Dual and Technics TT's for years, daily without ever lubing anything but a few drops of oil on the spindles and grease in the gears underneath when modifying the plinths.

How often and how to best lube all the tonearms and machinery below to keep em running trouble free another 30 years?

Don't lube the tone arms of the Dual and Technics turn tables!

Which Dual and Technics turn table do you have ?

Where in the owner's manual have you read about lubing tone arms?

 

[Steven Tate]

Don't lube the tone arms of the Dual and Technics turn tables!

Which Dual and Technics turn table do you have ?

Where in the owner's manual have you read about lubing tone arms?

This post made me want to go back and look at the Dual 1229 service manual that I have to see what it says about tone arm lubrication. It has a photo of lubrication points and two of them are in the area of the gimbal. But I don't think either of them are referring to the gimbal ball bearing points. Interestingly, it had this comment: "Re-lubrication is normally not necessary for about two years since all important bearings are provided with oil retainers and sintered bearings". So, I guess for the Dual 1229, at least,.....question answered.

 

[marcthisdate]

I think my 1970ish AR XA I’ve had since 1976 has been lubed once, and that would be when I redid it 2 years ago. Motor has sealed bearing and wells probably don’t have enough going on to worry as long as they are at the correct level. Never did my automatics but probably should have.

The XA manual recommends oiling the platter and tonearm shafts once a year.

 

[GChief]

The XA manual recommends oiling the platter and tonearm shafts once a year.

I believe it. Just saying the only oil change since at least 1976, before my uncle gave it to me, was just done before I redid the table. I played it before and listened, changed the oil in the wells, no difference. Did new wires and the normal mods, that’s where the diffence was.

 

[E-Stat]

With a 1976 Ariston RD-11s (cousin to Linn Sondek LP-12), I changed the bearing oil about one per decade.

 

[432HzBob]

Don't lube the tone arms of the Dual and Technics turn tables!

Which Dual and Technics turn table do you have ?

Where in the owner's manual have you read about lubing tone arms?

Dual CS721 and Technics SL 1600
I haven;t lubed anything on the arms or pivot assemblies, only used plastic-safe synthetic grease and oils on the gears, cams and sliders below.
I live in an area that has alot of dust and pine pollen is why I ask. I keep the dust covers on all the time but you know things still get dusty inside.

 

[Balifly]

Dual CS721 and Technics SL 1600
I haven;t lubed anything on the arms or pivot assemblies, only used plastic-safe synthetic grease and oils on the gears, cams and sliders below.
I live in an area that has alot of dust and pine pollen is why I ask. I keep the dust covers on all the time but you know things still get dusty inside.

Good reason not to lube the tone arm bearings unnecessarily.

It will just gum thing up more quickly than you can imagine.

If the tone arms are swinging freely with no grinding, just let it be.

 

[91r100gs]

I pull the platters on the VPI and the Dual once a year. the shaft on the platters are cleaned and re-lubed. Then I clean the bearing wells on the VPI and give the Dual's bottom bearing a clean and relube. On tonearms, if it isn't broke don't fix it. Also I pull and re-establish power cables and interconnects. Also I check the cart alignment just for the heck of it. Usually scheduled in the winter when I need something to do.

 

[pskaudio]

Turntables should have an oil change every 3 months or 3000 LPs. If you're using 100% synthetic, it's 15,000 LPs.

 

[Steven Tate]

Turntables should have an oil change every 3 months or 3000 LPs. If you're using 100% synthetic, it's 15,000 LPs.

This brings up an interesting question. By those guidelines, there seems to be an assumption that someone plays 1000 LP’s a month. I doubt if on old fashioned record store even did that level of playing. I personally don’t listen as often as I would like — maybe 10 LP’s a month. At that rate, according to these guidelines, I would need to relubricate every 25 years. You would have to play 100 LP’s a month to need to lube every 2.5 years. I wonder how many LP’s an “average” vinyl lover plays in a month.

 

[pskaudio]

This brings up an interesting question. By those guidelines, there seems to be an assumption that someone plays 1000 LP’s a month. I doubt if on old fashioned record store even did that level of playing. I personally don’t listen as often as I would like — maybe 10 LP’s a month. At that rate, according to these guidelines, I would need to relubricate every 25 years. You would have to play 100 LP’s a month to need to lube every 2.5 years. I wonder how many LP’s an “average” vinyl lover plays in a month.

My mistake, I was thinking cars. Often get turntables and cars mixed up since now they seem to cost about the same.
"Why is there a bottle of stylus cleaner next to my car wax and what the hell have I been using to clean my stylus?".

 

[GChief]

This brings up an interesting question. By those guidelines, there seems to be an assumption that someone plays 1000 LP’s a month. I doubt if on old fashioned record store even did that level of playing. I personally don’t listen as often as I would like — maybe 10 LP’s a month. At that rate, according to these guidelines, I would need to relubricate every 25 years. You would have to play 100 LP’s a month to need to lube every 2.5 years. I wonder how many LP’s an “average” vinyl lover plays in a month.

That’s more than mine ever had before the rebuild and it ran great!!

 

[Steven Tate]

My mistake, I was thinking cars. Often get turntables and cars mixed up since now they seem to cost about the same.
"Why is there a bottle of stylus cleaner next to my car wax and what the hell have I been using to clean my stylus?".

Ahhhh, I get it now. 3 months, 3000 miles....I’m a little slow sometimes.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Get the manuals for your specific turntables. They do give maintenance intervals often. Most idler drive Duals are often 3-5 year cleaning and lubrication in normal use, and wear parts.