Hot take: over-lubricating your turntable is worse than not doing it at all

Tbh I ruined a Dual 1219 last month by dousing the spindle with 3-in-1 oil like a maniac. The platter started spinning wobbly and the pitch drifted bad, so I pulled the motor apart and found the old grease had turned to sludge mixed with my new oil. What actually worked was cleaning everything with isopropyl, then using just a tiny dab of phonolube on the main bearing and nothing else on the motor bushings. Has anyone else had a table get sluggish after oiling, or is it just me being heavy handed?

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tylermason7d ago

Man, I gotta disagree with the hot take part but agree hard with your fix. The real problem wasnt that you oiled it, it was that you used 3-in-1 on a Dual and mixed it with old grease. That stuff gums up and turns into glue, especially in those old German tables that want a light machine oil or sewing machine oil at most. Ive brought back plenty of sluggish tables just by cleaning out the dried gunk and re-oiling the right spots with the right stuff, and they run smooth for years after. So oiling isnt the enemy, wrong oil and way too much of it is. Sounds like you figured that out the hard way with the isopropyl and phonolube, which is honestly the move for a lot of these. Not doing it at all just lets the bearings wear out dry, which is worse in the long run.

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