Old timer told me to stop greasing the door tracks every month and I thought he was nuts at first

He showed me how the excess grease was actually attracting more dirt and causing binding on a 10-year-old Otis in a St. Louis office building, so now I only hit the bearing points with a dry lube once per quarter - anyone else had a senior guy change your whole maintenance routine?

2 comments

2 Comments

blakem8225d ago

The dry lube trick works because you're not just reducing dirt buildup, you're actually letting the door's own balance do its job without resistance from sticky gunk. A lot of guys never consider how excess grease masks worn bearings too, since the lubrication compensates for slop that should tell you something needs replacing. I had a similar wake-up call years back and now I keep a can of silicone spray strictly for pivot points.

karenlee25d ago

Actually, silicone spray is a dry lubricant that dries to a film, so it's fine on pivot points. But you might want to be careful with it on the track itself. I found that out the hard way when my garage door started sticking after a few months. The silicone built up on the nylon rollers and left a residue that grabbed the track when it got cold. WD-40 Specialist makes a PTFE dry lube that works better for the track since it leaves almost no film.