Rock-Ola Gearbox Grease / Oil Advise

Hello all

Mechanical newbies here. Please bear with me!

On my Rock-ola 474 I found the Search Motor not turning after a selection is made. 24VAC was getting to the motor but it did not turn. I remove the motor and found the gearbox was seized. I opened it and found all the old grease dry and green. It almost looked like glue or green Loctite!

I physically remove as much junk as I could then placed the gears and the box in paint thinner. Hopefully it will clean up. Or should I use something else to clean the old grease?

What grease should i use when reassembling the gearbox? Do I put grease only on the gear or do I pack the whole box?

It looked like there was some kind of black plastic/rubber bushing when the motor enters the gearbox. I'm not sure as this could have been a plug of old dried grease. The motor shaft is supported at both ends with bronze bushing. I guess I will have to lube those bearings as well. Any recommendation for the oil to use?

Thanks a lot,

Eric

Eric,

As a rule: Use lightweight oil (3in1 or 10wt.) on any bronze bearing, gear (not bearing) grease (synthetic, greasegun) in a gearbox. Make sure that anything you use in the gearbox is not harmful to plastics or nylon if you have an output drive gear made from that material.

Moreover, I do not believe there was a rubber "seal" on the gearbox. Therefore, what you found is probably heat-baked, old grease.

If you are comfortable doing so, clean the commutator bars of the armature while you have it disassembled. Also air hose out the field housing. This may save you another extraction later.

Respectfully,

David

Thanks David

I greased and oiled the gearbox as per your recommendations and it works great. The motor is actually a shaded-pole AC motor. It does not has any brushes and commutator. I will however do a complete overall of all the other motors very soon.

Regards,

Eric

Originally Posted by DRebber

Eric,

As a rule: Use lightweight oil (3in1 or 10wt.) on any bronze bearing, gear (not bearing) grease (synthetic, greasegun) in a gearbox. Make sure that anything you use in the gearbox is not harmful to plastics or nylon if you have an output drive gear made from that material.

Moreover, I do not believe there was a rubber "seal" on the gearbox. Therefore, what you found is probably heat-baked, old grease.

If you are comfortable doing so, clean the commutator bars of the armature while you have it disassembled. Also air hose out the field housing. This may save you another extraction later.

Respectfully,

David

See? That's what I get for reading too fast and mix-mashing vinyl jukes and their CD counterparts. Unfortunately, I assumed you were using "search" as a term for "scan" aka magazine motor...

Glad you got it working, even though some dunce tried to confuse you. LOL

David