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Thorens Maintenance - what is needed for a TD-166 MKII?

dbrown

dbrown

New Member
Hello,

First off, I am very appreciative of the AudioKarma community. I have learned so much reading through posts and asking questions. So thank you in advance.

I learned a bit late that my TT requires oil replacements and I am worried that I messed up my bearing as well as put a strain on my motor. I have fresh oil in there now, but wonder what else I may be neglecting. Table still starts up pretty slowly (not sure if that is an issue). Any help on how I can be a good owner would be greatly appreciated.
 
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You may need a new belt. I have had a similar TD-146 that has been very reliable for many years, needing only minimal attention. Vinylnirvana.com has info on these. There is also a Thorens thread here somewhere.
 
theanalogdept.com has all things Thorens for info. Including a good bit on upgrading if you want.
The slow start is a loose belt. If you wan exact speed, you must buy the Thorens belt. Nothing else will give you correct speed. 30 bucks but they last 20 years but many replace them after a few-5 years. I say twenty because I have an original belt that works just fine but the table needs a push start and the belt falls off if I change speeds. That new belt did the trick after trying a dozen $10 or so belts, because Mike got them and wanted me to try them. None gave an accurate speed using a strobe. Qaudio has em as do one or two other places.

A good isopropyl alcohol cleaning of the inner platter and motor pulley should be done with the belt change. Might be time to tune the suspension...see the dept for that info. Clean the contacts all along the signal path, too if it is not mentioned.
 
Thank you for the reco on the analogdept.com. I will check that out. Forgot to mention that I just purchased a new Thorens belt about five months ago. It was spinning right up at first, but I am thinking that since I ran it low on oil, I stressed the belt. Was pretty bummed about my lack of knowledge - really hope I did not screw up the bearing and motor.
 
Blue Shadow said:
A good isopropyl alcohol cleaning of the inner platter and motor pulley should be done with the belt change.
Click to expand...
I can't stress enough how important this is. There should be absolutely no oily residue on these parts, not even finger prints. No touching the belt with exposed fingers either.
 
Maintenance on Thorens is like any turntable. Proper maintenance entails a complete breakdown of the table, cleaning old grease and goo, replacing any parts that are worn such as the belt, regrease that require it on reassembly. One way of looking it is you're reconditioning the table to perform like it was new. No doubt it's labor intensive but it's sooo worth the effort. Just doing certain areas instead of the whole table is defeating your purpose.
 
Thank you both. That makes sense. My fear with tearing my table apart is that I'll end up doing more harm than good due to my inexperience.

I will try a touch of powder for now.
 
You do not need to "breakdown" your Thorens.

As Blue Shadow and tnsilver pointed out, a new belt and thoroughly cleaning the inner platter rim and motor pulley will go a long way. It is also very easy to do. After some time, a couple of years or so, the belt may need to be cleaned as well.

I have a TD 160 that I bought used in 1978, it has never been "broken down" and still has the same belt...it sounds and works beautifully...
 
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Also note that there are no grease points on a Thorens. You should clean and oil the spindle using a light machine oil only, do NOT use grease !
 
So after REALLY CLEANING the inner platter (part the belt connects to) with rubbing alcohol, the slow start issue is gone! I had to clean it about 4 times as the first 3 attempts, were pretty gentle. I think some of the alcohol got on belt, which may have helped.

THANK YOU ALL!
 
grottyash said:
Also note that there are no grease points on a Thorens. You should clean and oil the spindle using a light machine oil only, do NOT use grease !
Click to expand...

Also make sure the oil has no paraffin content in it. Also Polishing the bearing will have a huge impact on lowering the noise floor of the table.
Enjoy,
Jim
 
Hey Jim - when I had the bearing out, I could feel that some polishing was needed. That said, I was unclear how to address and did not want to make issues worse.

I used full synthetic Mobile 1, (0w 30 I believe) for the oil. Seemed to get pretty great reviews from Thorens folks.
 
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