[TenTec] PTO grease

Mike Hyder --N4NT-- Mike_N4NT at charter.net
Sun Mar 28 05:22:13 PDT 2010


This is good advice from Perry.  I'll do that next time.  One thing that 
didn't work was to sit my Triton on a steam radiator with the thought that 
the warmth might rejuvenate the old grease.

Bicycle grease by Phil Woods was highly rated, but I think was a natural, 
petroleum-based grease, not the synthetic grease Perry describes.  About ten 
years ago a bicycle shop filled a 35mm film canister for me free.  There are 
two minor problems with this method:  1. The grease only remained "greasy" 
for about three years; and 2. Finding a 35mm film canister is a "trick." 
(With apologies to East Anglia University's Climate Research Unit.)

A much bigger problem with petroleum-based greases is that most of the parts 
we are lubricating are cut from brass.  My clockmaker uncle has warned me 
loudly against using a petroleum-based grease or oil on brass, saying that 
it attacks the metal over time.  For a long, long time they used fish oil to 
avoid the problem but he again steered me away from the stuff I take daily.

Once upon a time Steve Ellington's final pronouncement on PTO rebuilding was 
to clean it with EZ-Off Oven Cleaner and lubricate it with PAM.  We never 
got a report from anyone who tried his method.

The only PTO I ever thought needed parts replaced was my first Triton which 
also had a groove "worn" in the bearing race.  Many times I have wished I 
had not replaced that race because on reflection, I believe the groove was 
probably part of the design which was later omitted to reduce cost.  Wearing 
a groove like that would probably require use of the radio 24 x 7 for a few 
centuries of continuous contest use.

In summation, I'd go with Perry and use the synthetic grease.

73, Mike N4NT

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <w8au at sssnet.com>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 10:56 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] PTO grease


> At 10:41 PM 3/27/2010, Dr. Gerald N. Johnson wrote:
>>Maybe that bicycle grease isn't such a
>>bad selection.
>
> In case you're not aware of what it is:
>
> Teflon based lubricant called "Tri-Flow."
> Appears to micro-sized teflon ball "bearings?"
> held in fluid.  Available at Bicycle shops.
>
> Have used this after an alcohol bath (to loosen
> dried grease) when freeing up many TT drives.
> Never hardens or dries up.
>
> Have never found damaged worm drives in the dozen
> I have fixed, so have not had to rebuild any.
>
> Tri-Flow is a keeper, in my book...
>
> Perry  w8au



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